Business Integration for Games
A client for games that enables access to WebSphere products, coordination of user-defined business logic, and connection of games to Web services.
Date Posted: October 9, 2003
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Update: December 22, 2003
Commerce services (integration of online shopping services within application); additional documentation and tutorials detailing new commerce API; improved example game; performance improvements.
What is Business Integration for Games?
Online games are the future of the interactive entertainment industry. They also present a number of exciting opportunities for new business models, new markets, and new growth. The main problem faced is a solution integration issue. Business Integration for games (BIG) provides a framework using Web services as the underpinning technology that can take advantage of reusable business function, distributed throughout the network. Within the framework of BIG, a game developer can easily connect multiple parties. By partitioning business logic, with all its inherent complexity and weight, outside of the game logic, game developers can be free to concentrate on the areas of game development that matter to them -- making good game play and design. The business logic can be executed outside of the game's run time, without bloating the game code and chewing up precious execution cycles.
The business logic is of paramount importance to the success of online games: A sustainable business model for the gaming industry, the flexibility to design and refine it outside of the game development, and even the game's life cycle are all critical. The ability to mix and match service providers to customers' needs without changing the game code, long after the game is released, enables the business model to support a longer lifetime and a continued revenue stream.
How does it work? Business Integration for Games provides a highly specialized client that game developers bind into their games. This client provides an API for accessing IBM WebSphere® products that co-ordinate user-defined business logic. This business logic connects the game to Web services, allowing new content to be dynamically located and made available, payments to be co-ordinated, items to be traded between players, and secure messages to be passed between games and IBM's e-business environment.
For online game companies, BIG reduces development costs and enables a continued, incremental revenue stream in some other fashion than a monthly subscription (for example, charging for new expansion packs or access to new parts of the virtual world, new weapons, magic, etc.). These charges could be captured from within the game itself. It can also allow them to combine separate functions, potentially provided by third-parties, into single function calls from the game (for example, combining capture of a payment transaction with allocation of a DRM license for a digital asset and downloading of content).
Further information is available:
Note to users of Release 1
Some of the file and network protocols have been modified in Release 2, so it is no longer compatible with Release 1. The server running at alphaWorks is being upgraded to support Release 2 clients. In order to continue using the technology, it is necessary to upgrade to Release 2. During the server upgrade, all account data will be deleted from the alphaWorks server; therefore, during the client installation process, do not specify an existing account.
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| | About the technology author(s):
Chris Sharp is an IBM senior software engineer. This technology was created by a group of software engineers at the Hursley Lab in England.
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