How to Build Kick Ass Games for the Cloud

Christian SchalkGoogle Developer Advocate

GDC Online 2011Austin, Texas - October 10, 2011

About the Speaker

Christian Schalk

Day Job● Developer Advocate for Google's Cloud Technology

○ App Engine, Google Storage, Prediction API, BigQuery ...

● Mostly Server-Side Java Background○ "JavaServer Faces: The Complete Reference" Co-Author

● Haven't developed video games since the Commodore-64!

Yes, I'm old school ;-)

Agenda

● PlayN Recap

● Google Cloud Tech Review○ App Engine○ Google Storage○ ...

● Hands on with PlayN - Getting Started

● Deploying your game to the cloud

● Setting up an RPC mechanism

Let's start with a Demo!

Agenda

● PlayN Recap

● Google Cloud Tech Review○ App Engine○ Google Storage○ ...

● Hands on with PlayN - Getting Started

● Deploying your game to the cloud

● Setting up an RPC mechanism

Reviewing PlayN!Formerly known as "ForPlay"

● An API for building cross-platform games

● Core game code can be platform agnostic

● Develop games in Java○ Familiar language/toolset

● Leverages Google Web Toolkit○ Compiles to JS/HTML5, (among other platforms)

● Free and Open Source (alpha)○ http://code.google.com/p/playn

Introducing PlayN!A GWT abstraction layer for games

Implementations for Java, HTML5(GWT/JS), Android, Flash

PlayN API

Components of PlayN!

Fully generic gaming components. Core game logic is fully platform independent!

Implements core.Game PlayN.*

PlayN Cross Platform Magic

● Game uses core PlayN abstractions, is unaware of which platform is running

● The only platform-specific code is in the entry point for each platform:

PlayN.run(new MyGame()); PlayN.run(new MyGame());

Other PlayN Benefits

● Built-in physics engine based on proven OpenSource technologies

● Box2D○ C++ 2D Physics engine by Erin Catto

● JBox2D○ A port of Box2D from C++ to Java

● GWTBox2D○ A port of JBox2D from Java to JavaScript

Benefits of GWT Abstraction

● GWT Compiler optimizes code for size○ Removes unused code○ Evaluates when possible at compile time○ Inlines functions○ Heavily obfuscated result code

● Smaller compiled code - faster load time

● Optimized caching, avoids unnecessary network IO

Benefits of HTML5 for Games

● New HTML elements○ 2D canvas○ Audio, Video

● Application Cache

● 3D Canvas (WebGL)○ Open GL ES 2.0 made JavaScript friendly

● CSS3○ Supports hardware accelerated transforms

Agenda

● PlayN Recap

● Google Cloud Tech Review○ App Engine○ Google Storage○ ...

● Hands on with PlayN - Getting Started

● Deploying your game to the cloud

● Setting up an RPC mechanism

Google App EngineBuild your Apps on Google's cloud

● Easy to build● Easy to maintain● Easy to scale

Introducing App Engine

Focus on building your app, let us wear the pagers!

Build and run your web apps on Google’s Cloud Infrastructure

Cloud Development in a Box

● Development SDK● Local development tools

○ DevServer, admin○ Eclipse plugin

● Language runtimes● Specialized API services ● Cloud-based dashboard● Automatic scaling

○ Built-in fault tolerance○ Automated load balancing

● Continuously evolving...

Language Runtime Options

GO JavaExperimental

Specialized APIs/Services for the Sandbox

BlobstoreImages

Mail XMPP Task Queue

Memcache Datastore URL Fetch

User Service

App Engine Evolution Through The Years

App Engine LaunchPython

DatastoreMemcachelogs export

2008 2009 2010

JavaDB Import

cron

Batch write/readHttps

Status-Dashboard

Task QueuesXMPP

incoming email

MultitenancyInstance Console

Always Onhi-perf imag

10 min tasks

BlobstoreAppstats

cursorsMapper

2011

Hi-ReplicationDatastore

Channel APIFiles API

Remote APIProsp Search

100,000+ Active developers per month

200,000+Active apps per week

App Engine - By the Numbers

App Engine - By the Numbers

1,500,000,000+Page views per day

Gaming - Share data Mobile or Web!

App Engine More Info

http://code.google.com/appengine

Google Storage for DevelopersStore your data in Google's cloud

What Is Google Storage?

● Store your data in Google's cloud○ any format, any amount, any time

● You control access to your data○ private, shared, or public

● Access via Google APIs or 3rd party tools/libraries

Sample Use Cases

Static content hostinge.g. static html, images, music, video Backup and recoverye.g. personal data, business records Sharinge.g. share data with your customers Data storage for applicationse.g. used as storage backend for Android, AppEngine, Cloud based apps Storage for Computatione.g. BigQuery, Prediction API

Google Storage Benefits

High Performance and Scalability Backed by Google infrastructure

Strong Security and Privacy Control access to your data

Easy to UseGet started fast with Google & 3rd party tools

Google Storage Technical Details● RESTful API

○ Verbs: GET, PUT, POST, HEAD, DELETE ○ Resources: identified by URI○ Compatible with S3

● Buckets ○ Flat containers

● Objects ○ Any type○ Size: 100 GB / object

● Access Control for Google Accounts ○ For individuals and groups

● Two Ways to Authenticate Requests ○ Sign request using access keys ○ Web browser login

Demo

● Tools:○ GSUtil○ GS Manager

● Upload / Download

Google Storage More Info

http://code.google.com/apis/storage

Agenda

● PlayN Recap

● Google Cloud Tech Review○ App Engine○ Google Storage○ ...

● Hands on with PlayN - Getting Started

● Deploying your game to the cloud

● Setting up an RPC mechanism

Requirements for getting started with PlayN

● Clone a copy of PlayN○ git clone https://code.google.com/p/playn

● Core Requirements○ Java 6 SDK○ Apache Ant○ Maven○ App Engine SDK○ Android SDK

● Requirements with Eclipse○ Eclipse IDE Indigo 3.7 (Or earlier version w/ Maven)○ Google Plugin for Eclipse○ Android Plugin for Eclipse

Building/Installing PlayN

● After you've cloned a copy of PlayN○ git clone https://code.google.com/p/playn

● And satisfied the core requirements, you can install via:○ cd playn (directory where your copy is location)○ mvn install (or 'ant install')

● Running 'showcase' sample app with Mvn○ cd playn/sample/showcase/core○ mvn compile exec:java

● Running 'showcase' sample app with Ant○ cd playn/sample/showcase○ ant run-java

Demo: How to get started w/ PlayN

http://code.google.com/p/playn

Building a new project in PlayN

● From the command line:○ mvn archetype:generate -DarchetypeGroupId=com.googlecode.playn

-DarchetypeArtifactId=playn-archetype○ ...

● From Eclipse○ Select File → New → Other..., then select Maven →

Maven Project in the dialog that pops up, then click Next.

■ Click Next again unless you wish to specify a custom workspace location.■ Check Include snapshot archetypes in the dialog and then double click

on the playn-archetype in the list of archetypes○ ...

Demo: Building a new Game in PlayN

Agenda

● PlayN Recap

● Google Cloud Tech Review○ App Engine○ Google Storage○ ...

● Hands on with PlayN - Getting Started

● Deploying your game to the cloud

● Setting up an RPC mechanism

Deploy your HTML project to the Cloud

● For Google App Engine Deployment, you can easily convert the project to an App Engine Project

Deploy your HTML project to the Cloud

● After converting your HTML project to an App Engine project you will have to do...

● Add a 'WEB-INF/lib/appengine-web.xml' file○ Note: Click 'Quick Fix' in the Errors console of

Eclipse

● Before deployment make sure your 'WEB-INF/lib' has the necessary runtime App Engine jar files.

Agenda

● PlayN Recap

● Google Cloud Tech Review○ App Engine○ Google Storage○ ...

● Hands on with PlayN - Getting Started

● Deploying your game to the cloud

● Setting up an RPC mechanism

Setting up an RPC mechanism

● Building Your Server○ PlayN comes with a preliminary Server example

code that uses Jetty■ Is not needed if deploying to App Engine■ Instead, you can implement your own server by

adding an HttpServlet to your project■ Have it implement the doPost() method■ Can map it to url: '/rpc' in web.xml

● Building your client code○ If Cloud is your main deployment, you can use

GWT's RequestBuilder�■ You can build your HTTP Post to send data to

your server

Setting up an RPC mechanism● Example: A client method to persist a score

private void submitScore(int score) { RequestBuilder rb = new RequestBuilder(RequestBuilder.POST, "/rpc"); rb.setHeader("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"); try { rb.sendRequest("score="+score, new RequestCallback() { public void onError(Request request, Throwable exception) { requestFailed(exception); } public void onResponseReceived(Request request, Response response) { log.info("Score sent and response received."); } }); } catch (RequestException ex) { requestFailed(ex); }}

Setting up an RPC mechanism● Example: Server method to persist score sent from

clientprotected void doPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp) throws ServletException, IOException { resp.setContentType("text/plain");

User user = UserServiceFactory.getUserService().getCurrentUser(); String id = null; if (user == null){ id = "Anonymous"; } else { id = user.getNickname(); } String score = req.getParameter("score"); if (score != null){ persistScore(score, id); } }private void persistScore(String score, String userid) {...}

New! Using the RPCService Wizard(As of version 2.4 of the Google Plugin for Eclipse)

Select the project containing any Persistent classes, and then...File > New > Other > Google > RPC Service

Generates CRUD stub code for all persistent classes

Demo: Introducing 'Cloud Warrior'

Google Storage

Game Assets(images/sounds)

Game ScoresProfile Data

App EngineDatastore

Game Play (PlayN)

PlayN Summary

● Open source, cross-platform game abstraction layer○ Core game logic is platform agnostic

● ForPlay abstracts away the core components of a game○ The game loop, I/O system, and asset management

● Write in familiar Java, get performance on multiple platforms

○ Superior Java development/debug○ GWT allows compilation to fast JavaScript/HTML5

● Your assignment:○ Download PlayN and build a game! ○ http://code.google.com/p/playn/

Announcing the New PlayN Developer Site!Announcements!

http://developers.google.com/playn/

Join us at New Game! Use coupon HTML5ROCKS for 15% off registration

Announcements!

Q&A@cschalk

Thank You!@cschalk