ImonCloud: Easing development and deployment for scalable networked games

The number of small, independent game developers has grown recently due to the widespread of game creation tools such as Flash and Unity3D. However, adding multi-user support is still uncommon due to the amount of server and network knowhow required. Small developers thus are confined to making simple single-player games. This paper presents ImonCloud, a scalable system designed to easily add multi-user and spatial interactions for otherwise single-player games. Developers only need to focus on writing the game logic in JavaScript, the game´s deployment and scaling is then done transparently. Clients connect to servers closest to them, while game logic is executed at nearby servers to reduce latency. Server redundancy is also provided to ensure the operation´s reliability. Built-in support based on Spatial Publish/Subscribe (SPS) also allows developers to perform interest management with ease. ImonCloud thus lowers the barrier of developing multi-user, spatial games that it becomes possible for small teams and even individuals to make scalable and globally deployable games.