This is a FAQ + guide about the Stop Killing Games movement, this time aimed at developers, written by developers, including the creator of an MMO live service game! Some concerns have been brought up on the campaign as to HOW games could start having end of life plans and this presentation covers many bases of it. It gets more technical as it progresses, so this isn’t for usual viewers, but can hopefully provide more of a blueprint for developers unsure of how end of life plans could be achieved. A big thanks to Olive and Matt for making this!
0:00 Introductions
3:31 What are some ways to EOL your game?
5:55 Good examples of games with EOL plans
9:31 Designing an EOL Plan
11:29 Suggestions for existing games to support EOL
14:41 How can costs be reduced for EOL?
16:10 What is the minimum viable build to pre serve?
17:19 Replicating your server environment locally
18:39 How Docker and Virtual Machines help with EOL
19:50 Reusable patterns to use now and in the future
21:35 Should the game fail gracefully when servers are unavailable?
22:20 What are best practices for removing credentials, API keys, etc. for EOL builds?
24:04 Conditional compilation and environment specific code in preparing for shutdown
25:17 How to document the server stack for later players
26:55 How do players host servers when setup is complex?
27:57 What happens if your game is tied to platform ecosystems like Steam, PSN, or Xbox Live?
29:15 What if your core gameplay is tied to time-locked events?
30:13 Can matchmaking be replaced with LAN or Peer-to-peer solutions?
31:10 What if the game server requires authoritative logic for fairness?
32:13 Automating an EOL build alongside normal builds
33:13 What tooling can you provide to the community?
34:52 What are the differences between hosting a game server on Amazon compared to locally?
36:04 What if your game uses a lot of services such as AWS, Google Cloud, and other microservices?
37:25 Example list of microservices that could be removed
37:52 How to EOL your game if you are using a managed backend
39:35 Can dependency injection help isolate what needs to be removed at EOL?
41:01 How do you test the final state of your game in a post-server world?
42:13 Can you create a stripped-down server binary for player hosting?
43:31 How do you remove Login or DRM from games that prevent running offline?
45:07 How do you remove anti-cheat for EOL?
46:25 How do you handle data at EOL and protect user privacy?
47:35 How do we patch out authentication servers?
48:44 What if I can’t compile into binary?
50:11 What are alternative distribution methods?
51:39 What if I have secrets or private keys in my server binaries?
52:35 What’s the safest way to release server binaries if you can’t share the source code?
55:38 Communicating to your players that the final build is unsuppored
57:42 Can you delist a game from a store but still let owners re-download it?
58:26 How do you handle games that are part of a larger ecosystem?
59:28 How long should the EOL patch be available to download?
1:00:21 Providing a fallback experience for players who launch the game post-shutdown
1:01:48 How do you decouple online and offline features if the game was not built that way?
1:03:04 How to design your next game to make EOL easier from the start
1:04:14 How much would it cost to convert my game to one that can be preserved?
1:05:48 EOL Case Study – Path of Titans
Link to Olive Badger’s channel:
Link to Alderon Games:
#StopKillingGames
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