Writing Server and Network Code for Your Online Game

I spoke this year at the Game Developers Conference (GDC 2012) on “Writing Server and Network Code for Your Online Game”. Since I tend to talk quickly, to say the least, I thought it only fair to post my presentation slides for those who attended but didn’t manage to take notes fast enough.

I find that most slide decks are quite worthless because, while the slides outline the presentation, what the speaker has to say is far more useful. Consequently I’ve included extensive commentary in the “speaker notes” section of each page of the presentation, which I hope you’ll find useful.

Writing reliable online game services [PDF]

Incidentally, the folks who run GDC also recorded a video, which you can download (with paid membership) from GDC Vault. You may note that there’s an odd jump in the video; the first half of the video was lost due to some sort of electrical issue (record button not pressed perhaps?) so they re-recorded it with me in front of an empty hall; consequently you’ll miss the scintillating display of me interacting with a live audience for the first bit.

Happy coding!