Game Feature Rule Flows for Cross-Provider Backend Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Game developers face challenges in integrating multiple backend video game features across varied hosting topologies and creators, requiring extensive custom integration code, which is difficult to modify and maintain.
Innovation Solution
A game feature integration service that integrates host-independent and creator-independent game feature components using an event bus and orchestration engine, allowing for the definition of rule flows and the use of pre-configured rule flows through a visual programming interface, eliminating the need for custom integration code.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If game developers use multiple backend video game features from different hosting providers, then the functionality and versatility of the game backend is improved, but the complexity of integration code and difficulty of maintenance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an event bus as an intermediary component that sits between multiple backend video game features from different hosting providers and the game client. This event bus standardizes communication protocols and data formats, allowing features from authentication services, matchmaking services, and game servers to interact without requiring custom integration code for each combination. The event bus translates and routes events between different providers, reducing integration complexity while maintaining versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal event bus interface that can handle events from multiple different hosting providers and feature types through a single standardized API. This universal interface allows the same event bus to work with authentication features, matchmaking features, chat features, and game server features from various providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, eliminating the need for provider-specific integration code and reducing maintenance burden.
2Adaptability or versatility
If game developers write custom integration code to connect backend features, then the features can be integrated into the game, but the time required for development and modification increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements pre-configured rule flows that define event routing and processing logic in advance. These rule flows are created and validated before deployment, establishing the integration pathways between different backend features. When new features are added or modified, the pre-configured rule flows can be reused or extended, eliminating the need to write and test custom integration code from scratch for each change, thus reducing development time while maintaining integration capability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If game developers create hybrid game backends with multiple providers, then the flexibility and choice of hosting options is improved, but the ease of modification and maintenance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the backend architecture into independent, loosely-coupled components that communicate through the event bus. Each backend feature (authentication, matchmaking, chat, game servers) operates as an independent module from different hosting providers. This segmentation allows individual features to be modified, updated, or replaced without affecting other features, as long as they continue to publish and consume events through the standardized event bus interface, thus maintaining ease of modification while preserving hosting flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
An event notification may be received, by a game feature integration service, from a first video game feature component. The game feature integration service may integrate a plurality of video game feature components that each have a respective set of one or more events for which event notifications are sent by a corresponding video game feature component to the game feature integration service and a respective set of one or more actions that are called on the corresponding video game feature component by the game feature integration service. A pre-configured or custom rule flow may trigger the game feature integration service to call an action on the second video game feature component based on the event notification. The game feature integration service, based at least in part on the rule flow, may call the action on the second video game feature component in response to the event notification.