Associate Director. An opportunity has been presented in front of me for a chance to explore the networking aspects of one of our many departments.

Looking back I really no nothing about some of the basic functions of this department, and will be asking questions left and right. So instead of appearing to know nothing I've decided to ask a few general questions to get me started in the right direction.

(Not: I will switch out the product & company name for liability reasons)


Summary:
A video game console from company Q had its network shutdown after a hand full of years running, but the gaming community continued to play even after a new next Gen console had replaced the original. This next Gen console has backwards capability only for a handful of games from the original console. The gaming community was outraged, and some fans even made emulators just to play some of these non-backwards games (they were successful w/ a few).

However video game R was unable to go back online, and the small emulator revolution quieted down. From what I gather the visual aspects of the game are contained in the client, while the network protocol is handled by the server. The original online network was a tunneling vps system which hosted a friends list and connected clients to each other. It opened a vps connection on port 3074 though which video game R calls system network protcals from the original consoles dashboard network stuff itself in order to run.

Emulation is not possible because we have no data for the original consoles network service + the encryption was never broken. The truth is without the server data packets, we have nothing to build from. With the server, we also run into the problem of data encryption. The original game console is especially difficult because it utilized the original consoles online network. Now without data packets to decrypt, we have no starting point and no chance of ever getting it to work (but that won't stop the department).


To the root of what is to be expected:
Video game R has been chosen to come back on the original game console, and it has both offline & online features. But as of now the online features do not work because the original game consoles network is shut off permanently. What options do we have available now, and is their away around that kind of problem. Is their another network that can be created to replace the disconnected one.



In short that is my mess as of now, and I'm not sure how to handle what will follow...(any advice)

"Who" has "chosen" "R" to "come back on the original console"? "Who" would play this game on obsolete hardware?

What do you know about software development in general? Do you have access to for original source code of the game client? Do you have access to a development system for the original console? Do you have a method to deploy a re-compiled game to the target consoles?

I take it the goals is to make up to 1,200 players able to play some old game in "online match" mode, where such mode depends on a proprietary back-end that is now turned off. The game currently works in "system link" mode if you VPN different networks together? And all you have is the issued DVDs of the game, and you have no cooperation of the game developer, nor the publisher / system operator?


Assuming that such development requires changing the game itself, then you would have to have a way to reverse-engineer and patch the game, and then distribute such patches to other players. Do you have such a system?

The alternative is to reverse-engineer the matchmaking system, and create some piece of software that "fakes out" the part of the game looking for the old system, and re-directs it to a new system that works the same, but you operate on your own.

What's your budget, and what kind of developers do you have available to you? Do you have any developers who are experienced in developing (not just using) mod chips or similar?

One of the developers is running one of the older version of Video game R, he backwards engineered it, [font="helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif"][size="2"][color="#282828"]Video Game R does not have [/font][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]

[background=rgb(250, 251, 252)]system link but instead Split Screen, and its an RPG with online/offline modes.[/background][/font]

The number 1200 was a random figure do to more testers signing up and emailing us weekly. And you are correct in that we do not have the[background=rgb(250, 251, 252)][font="helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif"][size="2"][color="#282828"] cooperation of the game developer, nor the publisher / system operator. They feel the game console is out of date, and that with a newer version out why keep it on the market. We operate other servers so its no big deal, and we are never alone. This is just me asking on here vs having other employees approaching me with questions i should be able to direct them to and answer. [/font][/background]

[background=rgb(250, 251, 252)][font="helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif"][size="2"][color="#282828"]?Our budget saved 10k since we did not need the set licenses, but I would say we have a semi-medium budget with enough room to wast 4-7 months on a good gamble.



You had said:[/font][/background]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]

[background=rgb(250, 251, 252)]"The alternative is to reverse-engineer the matchmaking system, and create some piece of software that "fakes out" the part of the game looking for the old system, and re-directs it to a new system that works the same, but you operate on your own".[/background][/font]

[background=rgb(250, 251, 252)][font="helvetica, arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif"][size="2"][color="#282828"] That's is pretty much the idea, however we mite have contracts up and hire outside the company if time runs out.[/font][/background]

If you want to do this as a business, pretty much your only bet would be to make contact with the original systems operator (or game publisher,) and see if they would be willing to let you license the needed code. Then you need enough developers who know the system in question and networking to actually develop the feature you need.
It sounds to me as if you're very unlikely to achieve what you want with the resources you have.

[font=georgia, serif]Well I did come here for an honest evolution w/ anyone who was very unfamiliar w/ our setup, so your answers works for me. Now as for [background=rgb(250, 251, 252)][color=#282828]contacting the original systems operator (or game publisher,) and seeing if they would be willing to let us license the needed code is out for our reach. Their are a lot of draw backs by presenting ourselves openly to that company, and one would identifying our intentions by putting us right on their radar (trying to avoid that as much as possible).

However it would be easier if their source code was free for public use, but that does not look like it will happen anytime soon. So re-engineering what we have so far from the original is what we have to work w/ as of now, and its a good start. Just wish we had our own network like the original console had, because video game R ran right through that network which is a draw back for us. [/background][/font]