Game Servers Server Architecture Patterns ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ SERVER ARCHITECTURES │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ DEDICATED SERVER: │ │ • Server runs game simulation │ │ • Clients send inputs, receive state │ │ • Best security and consistency │ │ • Higher infrastructure cost │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ LISTEN SERVER: │ │ • One player hosts the game │ │ • Free infrastructure │ │ • Host has advantage (no latency) │ │ • Session ends if host leaves │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ RELAY SERVER: │ │ • Routes packets between peers │ │ • No game logic on server │ │ • Good for P2P with NAT traversal │ │ • Less secure than dedicated │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Scalable Architecture SCALABLE GAME BACKEND: ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ GLOBAL LOAD BALANCER │ │ ↓ │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ GATEWAY SERVERS │ │ Authentication, Routing, Rate Limiting │ │ ↓ │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │ │ │ MATCHMAKING │ │ LOBBY │ │ SOCIAL │ │ │ │ SERVICE │ │ SERVICE │ │ SERVICE │ │ │ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ │ │ ↓ │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ GAME SERVER ORCHESTRATOR │ │ (Spawns/despawns based on demand) │ │ ↓ │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ GAME SERVERS (Regional, Auto-scaled) │ │ │ │ [US-East] [US-West] [EU-West] [Asia] [Oceania] │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ ↓ │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ DATABASE CLUSTER │ │ [Player Profiles] [Leaderboards] [Match History] [Items] │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Matchmaking System MATCHMAKING FLOW: ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 1. QUEUE: Player enters matchmaking queue │ │ → Store: skill rating, region, preferences │ │ │ │ 2. SEARCH: Find compatible players │ │ → Same region (or expand after timeout) │ │ → Similar skill (±100 MMR, expand over time) │ │ → Compatible party sizes │ │ │ │ 3. MATCH: Form teams when criteria met │ │ → Balance teams by total MMR │ │ → Check for premade groups │ │ │ │ 4. PROVISION: Request game server │ │ → Orchestrator spawns or assigns server │ │ → Wait for server ready │ │ │ │ 5. CONNECT: Send connection info to all players │ │ → IP:Port or relay token │ │ → Timeout if player doesn't connect │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Player Data Management // ✅ Production-Ready: Player Session public class PlayerSession { public string PlayerId { get; } public string SessionToken { get; } public DateTime CreatedAt { get; } public DateTime LastActivity { get; private set; }

private readonly IDatabase _db;
private readonly ICache _cache;

public async Task<PlayerProfile> GetProfile()
{
    // Try cache first
    var cached = await _cache.GetAsync<PlayerProfile>($"profile:{PlayerId}");
    if (cached != null)
    {
        return cached;
    }

    // Fall back to database
    var profile = await _db.GetPlayerProfile(PlayerId);

    // Cache for 5 minutes
    await _cache.SetAsync($"profile:{PlayerId}", profile, TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5));

    return profile;
}

public async Task UpdateStats(MatchResult result)
{
    LastActivity = DateTime.UtcNow;

    // Update in database
    await _db.UpdatePlayerStats(PlayerId, result);

    // Invalidate cache
    await _cache.DeleteAsync($"profile:{PlayerId}");
}

}

Auto-Scaling Strategy SCALING TRIGGERS: ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ SCALE UP when: │ │ • Queue time > 60 seconds │ │ • Server utilization > 70% │ │ • Approaching peak hours │ │ │ │ SCALE DOWN when: │ │ • Server utilization < 30% for 15+ minutes │ │ • Off-peak hours │ │ • Allow graceful drain (don't kill active matches) │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ PRE-WARMING: │ │ • Spin up servers before expected peak │ │ • Use historical data to predict demand │ │ • Keep warm pool for instant availability │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

🔧 Troubleshooting ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ PROBLEM: Long matchmaking times │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ SOLUTIONS: │ │ → Expand skill range over time │ │ → Allow cross-region matching │ │ → Reduce minimum player count │ │ → Add bots to fill partial matches │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ PROBLEM: Server crashes during peak │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ SOLUTIONS: │ │ → Pre-warm servers before peak │ │ → Increase max server instances │ │ → Add circuit breakers │ │ → Implement graceful degradation │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ PROBLEM: Database bottleneck │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ SOLUTIONS: │ │ → Add caching layer (Redis) │ │ → Use read replicas │ │ → Shard by player ID │ │ → Queue non-critical writes │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Infrastructure Costs Scale Players Servers Monthly Cost Small 1K CCU 10 $500-1K Medium 10K CCU 100 $5K-10K Large 100K CCU 1000 $50K-100K Massive 1M+ CCU 10000+ $500K+

Use this skill: When building online backends, scaling systems, or implementing matchmaking.

game-servers

安装