This is a book about fundamentals—that is, the underlying considerations that network game designers and developers need to bear in mind when building a game that uses network communication to connect the game with the players and the players with each other.

Networks come in many flavors—from the Internet to a local area network (LAN)—each with its own advantages and disadvantages. What is common to them all is that they need to be accessed by some form of client. Some game releases are geared toward a heterogeneous client platform, from cell phones to PCs to consoles to handheld computers. Other games are released on a single platform—an approach that also has its advantages and disadvantages.

Then there is the gaming model: real-time, or turn based? A Web platform or a binary client? Text or graphics? A hybrid? And what about in-game currency? Avatars? Customization? Questions come thick and fast when the designers get hold of an idea and shake all the possibilities out of it, and developers need to know how far they can go in pursuit of the perfect game. This book lays out the fundamentals of this process not only to help everyone involved get a proper handle on what those questions might lead to, but also to help those of you who are just getting started learn what questions to ask in the first place.

If you are just about to build your first turn-based RPG delivered via the Web, then you will find many useful techniques and strategies to create your game in this book. And as you progress, creating ever-more elaborate game environments, this book will grow along with you. After all, the more ambitious the scheme, the more important these fundamentals become. Understanding all these fundamentals is the only way to make sure that the result is a quality game.

Speaking of which: Many games are mentioned herein—some have even served as case studies to examine what their issues might have been and how they might have been solved—but not every networked game. For those who take offense, wanting to know why I haven’t covered their personal favorite (“I cannot believe you didn’t mention [game], it is a perfect illustration of [whatever]”), there are three possible answers:

My objective was to pick games that helped illustrate the points I wanted to make. It’s up to you to draw the parallels with the game that you want to create, using the examples to guide you in solving the problems that you come up against.

It’s a fascinating subject, full of challenges. Good luck!