Sun's GameServer tech...

[SluX]

Does any1 know when it is due to arrive?
What are your expactations? Do u think that it will improve java game standing much?

[GameDev101]

hmm... ive heard nothing about this... elaborate please??? lol

[Jeff]

Unfortunately I am in "run silent run deep" mode at the moment at the orders of management.  I *hope* to be able to start blogging soon on it-- Im negotiating that with management right now.

I'll stick my toe out a bit over the cliff and say "expect something significant at GDC this year (March 2006) " but beyond that I can't say much right now

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Orangy Tang]

Unfortunately I am in "run silent run deep" mode at the moment at the orders of management.

Hmm... so where have we heard that before... Oh wait - It's Jogl/Joal/JInput all over again! Vauge hintings at "don't waste your time" for about two years, lots of comments about amazing new technology which will solve all problems for you, followed by about a years worth of silence and eventually a bunch of unreliable, incomplete and rushed libraries!

I can hardly wait! 

</troll>

[swpalmer]

  You expected "management" to learn from their mistakes... ?  You need to get some persepctive -->  http://www.dilbert.com/

[Bombadil]

Hmm... so where have we heard that before... Oh wait - It's Jogl/Joal/JInput all over again! Vauge hintings at "don't waste your time" for about two years, lots of comments about amazing new technology which will solve all problems for you, followed by about a years worth of silence and eventually a bunch of unreliable, incomplete and rushed libraries!

Well, Jeff is not in the management. :-)  Maybe he should. However then we'd loose a great tech guy. So better stay in the tech world.
I think Jeff (and Ken and the other few SUN guys here in the forum) do a great job. JOGL is matured now. I think it's very nice and the new JSR makes things even nicer. It's reliable, complete and evolved.
Oh, and what happens with Java3d is amazing, too.

Well, I always impress those Java devs who're not sure about performance topics with Jeff's and Steve's excellent book Java Platform Performance: Strategies and Tactics".
The good thing's many of these devs can use the performance topics discussed in the book, here in the forum (also with Jeff's nice FAQ(s)) for their non-game topics, too. See our friendly forum mate Mark for example.

Well, Java is great, really.

[princec]

Cue bitter tirade from Blah^3.

I think I've been there, too

Cas

[kevglass]

I think theres a significant difference this time. JOGL/JOAL/JInput were filling holes that were already adequately filled, just not by SUN (this isn't unusual if you look across SUNs history). However, with Sun Game Server (SGS) they're filling a very vacant hole in the Java gaming world - assuming of course its a MMOG server of some sort.

For interest Jeff hints a bit at how SGS compares to Multiverse in his recent blog entry (http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/gameguy?entry=multiverse_much_ado_about_even). I'd like to hear more if he's allowed but at worst we'll have to wait to GDC it seems.

Kev

[Jeff]

I'll let you gusy knwo if i get the clearance to blog some part of this project at least....

[Mr_Light]

can't wait!

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[blahblahblahh]

Cue bitter tirade from Blah^3.

Nah, too busy making money at the moment . We recently went over 10,000 publically visible paying players (you can check this from the game leaderboard - http://www.perplexcity.com/leaderboard/leaderboard.build?start=1 ) and now I'm concentrating on handling what happens when we go on general release in 2006.

I hear there have been some VC's sniffing around the GrexEngine technology recently, but I'm not directly involved with that any more. Lots of other exciting things happening at the moment, but can't say anything about them

[swpalmer]

...you can check this from the game leaderboard - http://www.perplexcity.com/leaderboard/leaderboard.build?start=1

So I look at that link and notice a few things.. nobody from my country (Canada) is on the first page ... and there are THREE different icons in the GENDER column!  Dare I ask? 

[Vorax]

So I look at that link and notice a few things.. nobody from my country (Canada) is on the first page ... and there are THREE different icons in the GENDER column!  Dare I ask? 

Canadians have no time for <i>hoser</i> card games, there's dog sleds to be race'n - it's <i>aboot</i> time the rest of the world try seal blubber and dog race'n to, eh?

The third sex icon is obviously for ... um... completeness 

PS: Before you Canadians get your ass's in a bind - Go get a double-double!




PPS: I am Canadian!

[swpalmer]

it's <i>aboot</i> time ..

I never understood that bit.. I mean sure the "eh?" and the beer makes sense.. but I have never heard anyone in Canada say "aboot".. in fact I have only heard that from Americans that think they are acting Canadian

[ChrisM]

Unfortunately I am in "run silent run deep" mode at the moment at the orders of management.

Hmm... so where have we heard that before... Oh wait - It's Jogl/Joal/JInput all over again! Vauge hintings at "don't waste your time" for about two years, lots of comments about amazing new technology which will solve all problems for you, followed by about a years worth of silence and eventually a bunch of unreliable, incomplete and rushed libraries!

I can hardly wait! 

</troll>

Well, not quite JOGL/JOAL/JInput...this is much bigger and is actually something that Sun is FUNDING.  So sorry if we can't disclose to you what we disclose to every other game developer that has signed an NDA   March 2006 - GDC.  Look for it then (Booth 1510 - next to Nintendo).

In the meantime, read this: http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1418&Itemid=32

From the article:

Next Generation did some digging among a few of the larger players in the MMOG space and our sources at each developer/publisher has indicated that talks have happened with Sun. In one case, a source went so far as to say that the two companies are in "close contact".

-Chris

[Vorax]

Next Generation did some digging among a few of the larger players in the MMOG space and our sources at each developer/publisher has indicated that talks have happened with Sun. In one case, a source went so far as to say that the two companies are in "close contact".

-Chris

Hmmm - now your all just tormenting us!

Will there be a press release after the GDC?  When can we expect full disclosure on this software?  Better yet - when can we try it out? 

[ChrisM]

Next Generation did some digging among a few of the larger players in the MMOG space and our sources at each developer/publisher has indicated that talks have happened with Sun. In one case, a source went so far as to say that the two companies are in "close contact".

-Chris

Hmmm - now your all just tormenting us!

Will there be a press release after the GDC?  When can we expect full disclosure on this software?  Better yet - when can we try it out? 

March 2006 - GDC

-Chris

[SluX]

hehe..my birthday is in March....this will be a really nice present

I hope that it will be a major success.

[blahblahblahh]

So I look at that link and notice a few things.. nobody from my country (Canada) is on the first page ... and there are THREE different icons in the GENDER column!  Dare I ask? 

Not on general release in north america, yet. Be patient .

[the2bears]

it's <i>aboot</i> time ..

I never understood that bit.. I mean sure the "eh?" and the beer makes sense.. but I have never heard anyone in Canada say "aboot".. in fact I have only heard that from Americans that think they are acting Canadian

Hmmm... you need to get out more   Seriously though, what I mean is I've been in the US for 5 years now and talking with friends and family back in Canada I really hear the "oot and aboot" thing.  Get teased a ton by colleagues myself so I must still have the "accent" as well.

Bill

[Vorax]

it's <i>aboot</i> time ..

I never understood that bit.. I mean sure the "eh?" and the beer makes sense.. but I have never heard anyone in Canada say "aboot".. in fact I have only heard that from Americans that think they are acting Canadian

Hmmm... you need to get out more   Seriously though, what I mean is I've been in the US for 5 years now and talking with friends and family back in Canada I really hear the "oot and aboot" thing.  Get teased a ton by colleagues myself so I must still have the "accent" as well.

Bill

I have to ask - what part of Canada are you from?  I have never heard any Canadian say "aboot" either.  West Coast thing maybe?  Newfoundland?

[ChrisM]

Not all Canadians pronounce the "oot".  Just like all Southeners in the States don't say Y'All.  However, one of my good friends from Halifax is a definate "oot-er"

-Chris

[Jeff]

Not all Canadians pronounce the "oot".  Just like all Southeners in the States don't say Y'All.

Y'all is properly deep south.  Its often commmonly misued by northerners who think they are cute.

Properl y'all is the *singular* neuter personal pronoun.
The plaural neuter personal pronoun is "all y'all"

[Jeff]

Well, I've gone so far as to write a pretty fluffy white paper for Chris to use with game companies that aren't under NDA yet.  Maybe we can work on management to let us generally release that at least...

[richardGoulter]

The third gender icon is obviously martian, but only a couple of martians can program java,
the rest wouldn't be able to program even a VB hello world if they used MSVB and their lives depended on it

[aNt]

hand it over jeff- come on; i want to check your GLOs out...

[Daire Quinlan]

Next Generation did some digging among a few of the larger players in the MMOG space and our sources at each developer/publisher has indicated that talks have happened with Sun. In one case, a source went so far as to say that the two companies are in "close contact".
-Chris

Hmm. I was just about to post a question about the sun game server but luckily decided to do a search first ...
I have to say, the above quote doesn't fill me with confidence. What are the chances of being able to pick up this for free commercial use I wonder, if the 'larger players in the MMOG space' seem interested in it ? Seems like a great opportunity for sun to make a killing on licensing. The last thing I read about it seemed to indicate it was tied in to some hardware platform aswell ?

D.

[Jeff]

This is a product and project Sun has invested a great dela of time and money in.

I can gaurantee you will not be able to use it free for commercial use.

That being said, we have some plans (these are plans not promises)  to make it very very low cost to free to develop with.  It is also *possible* that there might be something we could do to license people to deploy non-commercial projects.

But yes, if you are going to want to write a commercial game to make money on, expect to have to cut your tech providers in on the profits.  That is only fair.

[Daire Quinlan]

This is a product and project Sun has invested a great dela of time and money in.
But yes, if you are going to want to write a commercial game to make money on, expect to have to cut your tech providers in on the profits.  That is only fair.

I wasn't actually suggesting that there was anything -wrong- with Sun making money from a product they've invested in, no need to be so defensive 

Initially when reading about it though, I thought that was actually going to be the case, hence my disappointment !

Daire.

[Jeff]

Well then Im sorry you are disappointed but no, this was never  in the cards.

We DO want to make it as accessible as possible to small developers so that they can get into the game (as opposed to today where it takes a 30 million dollar budget to do an MMO) but we are expecting to particpate in the rewards out the other end.