Sumo Tatami X Serverspace
Imagine a world where sumo wrestlers don't compete in traditional dohyos but instead engage in thrilling arcade races filled with obstacles and fun challenges. This is the universe created by the Sumo Tatami project team. This startup has already gained significant support and recognition within the developer community. Let's dive into the technical challenges the team faced and Serverspace's contribution to the realization of this project.
Creation story
Konstantin Kondyukov, a programmer with 10 years of experience, dedicated the last four years to developing Sumo Tatami. It all started with a passion for startups, which grew into an ambitious project. The game, based on the idea of combining arcade racing with sumo traditions, quickly captured public attention. In Sumo Tatami players control sumo wrestlers navigating various obstacles in competitive modes. Races, duels, bowling, and even football are included into exciting gameplay.
Why were cloud servers needed?
Creating a multiplayer game requires not only a creative approach but also solving complex technical challenges. One of the main problems was ensuring stable server operation capable of handling high loads during peak times. This metric reflects the maximum number of players on the server at the same time: the more players, the higher the load. Sumo Tatami needed the capacity for several thousand users at the initial launch and beta testing stages.
«Sumo Tatami» is an international project, so all the players are scattered around the world. For this reason, besides virtual servers, the development team needed a cloud provider with a geographically distributed data center network. The ability to deploy servers in different parts of the world ensures a gaming experience for a wide global audience.
How did they use Serverspace?
The speed of infrastructure deployment is also an important metric for a project requiring dynamic development, especially for an online game. The game creators needed a quick deployment of virtual servers, a possibility to scale up or down during testing and to fix bugs immediately.
It's worth noting that pricing and quality technical support were also crucial criteria when choosing a cloud service provider. As a startup, the project has limited financial and human resources.Thus, setting up and maintaining infrastructure adds extra fees to Sumo Tatami's small budget.
The project team tried various cloud solutions from different vendors and either prices were too high or technical support worked inappropriate. So, in the context of fail-safe and protected information virtualization technology and user interaction with infrastructure resources, Sumo Tatami turned to Serverspace in search of an optimal cloud platform.
How were Serverspace servers used?
For development, the Sumo Tatami team deployed more than 10 cloud Windows servers using the hyper-converged virtualization platform vStack. VStack offers the most profitable solution for creating a strong infrastructure. Moreover, Pay-As-You-Go payment model, perfectly suited the project's requirements.
On the initial step of development Sumo Tatami specialists used small server capacities: 4 cores, 8 GB of RAM, and 50 GB of hard drive space. The main server was placed on a Serverspace virtual VPS server in Turkey, allowing players from different regions to connect to the game through a global network. To broaden geographic coverage, the team also deployed virtual servers in other locations: the USA, Canada, and the Netherlands.
Peak loads required both vertical and horizontal scaling for the project's infrastructure. The capacities of the main segment were increased almost without downtime, with configuration changes taking only a few minutes. Additionally, using data centers in other countries geographically expanded the range and reduced latency for users.
Any results to share?
Several key parameters influence the quality of the gaming experience: ping, low latency, and quick action synchronization between players. Each of these depends directly on the performance of the servers that make up the technical infrastructure.
In game development, ping is the measure of time needed for data to be sent and received between the client (player's device) and the server. Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms) and is a crucial indicator of network performance in multiplayer online games. Low ping means a fast connection to the server, resulting in minimal delays and smoother gameplay. High ping, on the other hand, can cause significant lag, negatively impacting the gaming experience.
Ping is important in the following aspects:
- Response Time: in games requiring quick reflexes (like first-person shooters or fighting games), high ping can negatively affect player performance.
- Synchronization: Low ping helps better synchronize actions among players, which is especially important in team games.
- Network Quality: High ping can indicate issues with the internet connection or server overload, leading to connection drops and other technical problems.
To reduce ping, it is recommended to use more stable and faster internet connections and choose servers located closer to the target audience's geographical location.
Using high-performance VPS servers from Serverspace in various geographic locations allowed the team to achieve a low ping of just over 30 ms at the game's initial launch stage. In the future, specialists plan to increase production capacity in other countries, which will improve network stability and game availability for users worldwide.
The term «Low Latency» refers to the minimal delay between player input and the corresponding game response. Low latency is crucial for ensuring smooth and responsive gameplay, especially in multiplayer online games and games requiring quick reactions, such as first-person shooters, fighting games, and racing games.
Important aspects of Low Latency in game development include:
- Input lag: The time between when a player performs an action (e.g., pressing a button) and when that action is displayed on the screen. Low input lag is essential for precise and responsive controls.
- Network latency: The time it takes to send data from the client (player's device) to the server and back. Reducing network latency helps decrease lag and improve synchronization among players in online games.
- Rendering latency: The time required to process and display graphics on the screen. Optimizing rendering helps reduce latency and improve image quality.
- Processing Latency: The time spent processing game data (physics, logic, AI, etc.) before displaying it. Efficient algorithms and code optimization can help reduce this latency.
To achieve low latency, Sumo Tatami developers employed various methods:
- Optimizing network code: Using more efficient data transmission protocols and reducing the amount of data transmitted.
- Using powerful and fast Serverspace equipment: Upgrading servers and gaming devices to ensure high performance.
- Choosing closely located servers: Distributing servers across different regions to reduce the physical distance between the player and the server.
- Using lag prediction and compensation technologies: Applying algorithms that predict player actions and compensate for potential delays.
With these actions, the team achieved almost no delays during the game's beta testing.
What Serverspace can offer for game development?
The Sumo Tatami developers highlighted several significant benefits that helped to realize the project successfully. First, the friendly interface allowed the team to quickly set up and launch servers without the need for complex configurations required by other providers. This enabled the Sumo Tatami programmers to configure the servers themselves without need of a separate DevOps engineer, saving both time and resources.
Second, the high stability of Serverspace servers was evident throughout the entire testing period. This is particularly important for multiplayer games, as even brief downtimes can ruin the user experience.
The third crucial aspect was time saving. The rapid deployment of cloud servers and the lack of need for constant technical support allowed the team to focus on developing the game and implementing new features. In a startup environment, where every hour counts, this time saving significantly accelerated the project implementation process.
Additionally, the high performance of the servers ensured fast data processing and smooth gameplay, which is critical for a quality user experience. Fast scaling gave the team the ability to adapt server capacities according to the project's changing needs, which is especially useful as the number of users grows. The quality of technical support also played an important role: prompt and professional assistance allowed quick resolution of issues and problems. Finally, the convenient Pay-As-You-Go pricing model allowed for cost control and efficient budget management by paying only for the resources actually used.
All these factors made Serverspace the right choice for the Sumo Tatami team, helping them grow their startup.
What's Next?
Sumo Tatami is just beginning its journey. In the near future, the team plans to launch open testing, with a full game release expected by the end of the year. Moving forward, the project team plans to attract private investments, expand server geographic coverage, improve gameplay, and scale the infrastructure.
Sumo Tatami is a prime example of how passion for development and the right cloud platform can lead to the creation of a unique product. Serverspace became the optimal solution, allowing the team to focus on the creative part of the project without worrying about technical complexities. There is still much work ahead, but Sumo Tatami has already won the hearts of its first fans and is ready to conquer the gaming world. And in this, the Serverspace team of specialists is undoubtedly ready to help them.
