Hi, I'd like to see a talk on what a server should look like if you want to make a game.
This is a topic that has probably been posted a thousand times, but there is no òne answer. There are virtually unlimited possible server implementations when you think of different combinations of hardware, OS, softwares and type of game.
In a single player game most games will use the game client as the host itself. A few single player games will seperate the host from the client.
When we step in to the realm of multiplayer we start asking "who will host this game"? If you play with friends on a LAN, you may have the guy with the best PC to host the game. In some LAN instances you may have a dedicated PC as server and players will join it.
When we start talking FPS games with 16+ players there will be hosts "on the net" that players meet on.
Then we have DOTA and StarCraft type games, where millions of users might be in a lobby waiting to be hooked up with a group of players.
I guess on the top we have MMO games, some games might require the server to handle thousands of players on the same map.
What I want to get out of this topic is an overview what type of server requirement will a game have. Let's forget about LAN games where a PC can host and focus on 16+ player type servers.
Here is a template:
Type of game: FPS / Strategy / MMO
What is needed between the packages you send and the packages you receive?
Required connectivity: Bandwidth / Simultanious connections
Required Hardware: PC / Xeon CPUs / Rack / Special purpose HW / Tesla GPUs
Required OS: WinXP / Win7 / Win Server / Linux
Required Softwares: SQL / Network / Host applications, threads etc