System and method for production of multiuser network game

• US 8,583,761 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2009
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NHN Entertainment Corporation
• Original Assignee: NHN Corporation
• Inventors: Park, Chong Mok, Seong, Seok Hyon, Lee, Kangin
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): KABIR, MOHAMMAD H
• Application Number:
  US12/620,278
• Publication Number:
  US 20100124992A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,456 Days
• Field of Search: 717124-136
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/34 using peer-to-peer connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/60 Generating or modifying game content before or while executing the game program, e.g. authoring tools specially adapted for game development or game-integrated level editor
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/209 characterized by low level software layer, relating to hardware management, e.g. Operating System, Application Programming Interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6009 for importing or creating game content, e.g. authoring tools during game development, adapting content to different platforms, use of a scripting language to create content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/28 by checking the correct order of processing G06F11/08 - G06F11/26 take precedence; monitoring patterns of pulse trains H03K5/19
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B

Abstract

Provided is a system and method for production of a multi-user network game that may produce and debug a multi-user network game and simply construct a multi-user network game environment using a single game production tool to thereby reduce a game production time. A system for production of a multi-user network game being performed between a game server and a plurality of game clients via a network, may include: a game production module configured to produce and debug the multi-user network game and a multi-user network execution environment; and an emulation module configured to emulate an execution of the multi-user network game by constructing a virtual network execution environment that comprises at least one server virtual machine and at least one client virtual machine configured to execute the produced or debugged multi-user network game.

Claims

1. A system to develop a game to be performed between a game server and a plurality of game clients via a network, the system comprising:

a storage device;

one or more modules executable by a processor, the modules, stored in the storage device, comprising;

a game production module configured to develop the game and to provide an interface to test and to change configuration of the developed game associated with debugging of the developed game; and

an emulation module comprising a network emulator and a virtual machine container, the network emulator configured to emulate an execution of the developed game by providing a virtual communication network, the emulation module configured to provide one or more network identifiers (IDs) used as virtual addresses to support connections, and the virtual machine container configured to create and to control the connections among a plurality of virtual clients and a plurality of virtual game servers using the network IDs, wherein the virtual communication network is configured to permit communication between one or more of the virtual clients and the virtual servers for executing and debugging the developed game without using an actual network address, wherein the virtual communication network comprises at least one server virtual machine and at least one client virtual machine, and wherein one of the one or more network IDs corresponds to a network ID of the at least one server virtual machine, and a message is transferred from the at least one client virtual machine to the at least one server virtual machine using the network ID of the at least one server machine.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein

the virtual machine container is configured to emulate an execution of a multi-user network game by generating and controlling each of the at least one client virtual machine and the at least one server virtual machine;

and

the network emulator is configured to emulate a network communication between the at least one client virtual machine and the at least one server virtual machine by constructing the virtual network execution environment.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the virtual machine container comprises:

a client virtual machine container configured to execute the multi-user network game by generating the at least one client virtual machine, and to transfer the events, to the at least one client virtual machine or the server virtual machine via the network emulator, the events occurred by the at least one client virtual machine while a game is being executed; and

a server virtual machine container configured to generate the at least one server virtual machine, to process the events that is transferred from the client virtual machine container via the network emulator, and to transfer the events to the client virtual machine container to process the events via the network emulator.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the client virtual machine container comprises:

a client virtual machine drive module configured to generate and drive the at least one client virtual machine;

a network event management module configured to transfer, to the at least one client virtual machine via the client virtual machine drive module, a network event that is transferred through a network communication with the network emulator;

an external module interoperation management module configured to conduct interoperation of the at least one client virtual machine with a service system of an extrinsic online service of a corresponding game while the multi-user network game is being executed; and

a window control management module configured to transfer the game events to the at least one client virtual machine via the client virtual machine drive module, a window configured to display a screen of the multi-user network game and a game event.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the server virtual machine container comprises:

a server virtual machine drive module configured to generate and to drive the at least one server virtual machine;

a network event management module configured to transfer, to the at least one server virtual machine via the server virtual machine drive module, a network event that is transferred through a network communication with the network emulator;

an external module interoperation management module configured to conduct interoperation of the at least one server virtual machine with a service system of an extrinsic online service of a corresponding game while the multi-user network game is being executed; and

a thread control management module configured to provide a thread pool, wherein the server virtual machine drive module is configured to generate and to drive a plurality of server virtual machines.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the game production module comprises:

a game production user interface configured to provide a user interface to develop a multi-user network game using a game production screen;

a game edit tool configured to develop and to debug the game and a virtual network execution environment; and

a game previewer configured to display an execution process of the game on a game production screen by driving the emulation module.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the game edit tool is provided based on a script language.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the emulation module further comprises:

an information storage unit emulator configured to emulate an information transfer between the at least one client virtual machine and the at least one server virtual machine, and an information storage unit configured to store extrinsic information of a virtual game, in the virtual network execution environment.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the information storage unit emulator comprises:

an information loader configured to load extrinsic information of a corresponding game from the information storage unit in response to a request for the information transferred from the at least one client virtual machine or the at least one server virtual machine; and

a temporary storage unit configured to store the loaded extrinsic information, and to transfer the stored extrinsic information to at least one of the corresponding virtual machine among the at least one client virtual machine and the at least one server virtual machine.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the extrinsic information comprises a script file generated using a script language.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to drive at least one of the plurality of the virtual clients as a real client and one of the plurality of virtual game servers as online-game servers via an actual network environment without using the emulation module, and wherein the developed game is installed in any platform comprising a peer-to-peer (P2P) computer network and interoperable with any other server system.

12. A method for developing a multi-user network game to be performed between a game server and a plurality of game clients via a network, the method comprising:

providing a game production module to develop the game by producing a game script for the game based on a script language using the game production module, wherein

an interface is configured to test and to debug the game script; and

constructing a virtual network without using an actual network address by integrating at the least one server virtual machine and the at least one client virtual machine by providing one or more network identifiers (IDs) as virtual addresses to support connections, the at least one of the server virtual machines and the at least one of the client virtual machines being configured to execute the game script and to emulate an execution of the game script in the virtual network configured between the server virtual machines and the client virtual machines using the network IDs, wherein

the virtual network comprises at least one server virtual machine and at least one client virtual machine, and wherein one of the one or more network IDs corresponds to a network ID of the at least one server virtual machine, and a message is transferred from the at least one client virtual machine to the at least one server virtual machine using the network ID of the at least one server machine.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating and driving each of the at least one client virtual machine and the at least one server virtual machine using a virtual machine container;

constructing the virtual network execution environment to relay a network communication between the at least one client virtual machine and the at least one server virtual machine using a network emulator;

loading and executing a server game script to the at least one server virtual machine using the virtual machine container;

loading and executing a client game script to the at least one client virtual machine using the virtual machine container; and

displaying an execution result of the at least one client virtual machine.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

loading a game level that is pre-developed using the game production module, or generating a new game level; and

editing the loaded game level or the generated new game level to generate the game script.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

generating and editing a sprite or an image of the loaded game level or the generated new game level;

defining, generating, and editing a game object of the loaded game level or the generated new game level; and

editing the game script of the loaded game level or the generated new game level.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

emulating an information transfer between the at least one client virtual machine or the at least one server virtual machine, and an information storage unit configured to store extrinsic information of the game.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

loading extrinsic information of the game from the information storage unit in response to a request for the information transfer from the at least one client virtual machine or the at least one server virtual machine;

temporarily storing the loaded extrinsic game information; and

transferring the temporarily stored extrinsic information to the at least one virtual machine among the at least one client virtual machine and the at least one server virtual machine.

18. The method of clam 17, wherein the extrinsic information comprises a script file generated using a script language.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising an executable program stored thereon, which when executed by a microprocessor to perform the following method:

providing a game production module to develop the game by producing a game script for the game based on a script language using the game production module, wherein

an interface is configured to test and to debug the game script; and

constructing a virtual network without using an actual network address by integrating at least one server virtual machine and at least one client virtual machine by providing one or more network identifiers (IDs) as virtual addresses to support connections, the at least one of the server virtual machines and the at least one of the client virtual machines being configured to execute the game script and to emulate an execution of the game script in the virtual network configured between the server virtual machines and the client virtual machines using the network IDs, wherein

the virtual network comprises the at least one server virtual machine and the at least one client virtual machine, and wherein one of the one or more network IDs corresponds to a network ID of the at least one server virtual machine, and a message is transferred from the at least one client virtual machine to the at least one server virtual machine using the network ID of the at least one server machine.