Distributed Game Engine Dynamic Compute Allocation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional client-server and peer-to-peer setups for massive multi-player online games face challenges in handling large numbers of players, leading to suboptimal gameplay experiences due to resource limitations and increased latency, particularly when players from different time zones try to join the same server realm.
Innovation Solution
A distributed game engine dynamically allocates computing resources by identifying virtual locations within the game world, monitoring user movement, and adjusting compute resources to match processing loads, allowing for the creation of sub-regions and reassignment of computes to ensure optimal resource utilization and reduce latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a traditional client-server setup is used to support massive multi-player online games, then the server can process game data for multiple players, but the server resources become stretched thin when the number of players exceeds a certain limit, resulting in suboptimal gameplay quality
Solution Approach 1:
The gaming world is divided into multiple virtual locations, and each virtual location is further divided into regions. Compute resources are assigned to specific regions rather than being centralized on a single server, allowing the system to handle large numbers of players while maintaining gameplay quality by distributing the processing load across multiple compute nodes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a spatial dimension to resource allocation by mapping compute resources to geographic regions within the gaming world. Instead of a flat client-server architecture, the system creates a multi-dimensional resource distribution model where computes are assigned to specific virtual locations and regions, enabling scalable support for massive player counts while maintaining service quality.
2Productivity
If multiple servers are used to support hundreds or thousands of players, then the processing load is distributed, but players may be assigned to server realms that are not optimal based on their geographic location, resulting in increased latency
Solution Approach 1:
Compute resources are assigned to specific virtual locations and regions within the gaming world, creating localized processing centers. Players in each region are served by nearby compute resources rather than distant centralized servers, reducing latency while maintaining overall processing capacity. This local quality approach ensures that resource allocation is optimized for each geographic area.
3Ease of operation
If compute resources are statically allocated to virtual locations, then resource management is simplified, but the system cannot adapt to dynamic player distribution, resulting in inefficient resource utilization
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically monitors player distribution across the gaming world and automatically reassigns compute resources to match changing player locations. When players concentrate in certain regions, compute resources are allocated to those areas; when player density changes, the allocation adjusts accordingly. This dynamic approach maintains efficient resource utilization while adapting to real-time gameplay conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for managing processing resources of an online game include executing the online game for one or more users. Each user is provided access to virtual locations in a gaming world of the online game. A compute is assigned for processing gaming interactivity of the one or more users in the gaming world. A number of users accessing a region within a virtual location are determined. When the number of users exceeds a predefined limit for the compute assigned to the users in the region, the region is divided into a plurality of sub-regions and additional compute is assigned for the region so that the compute and the additional compute can process gaming interactivity for the users in each of the sub-regions defined in the gaming world.