
Massgate – The central server for the game World in Conflict - Sytten
https://github.com/ubisoftinc/massgate
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dijit
I work at Massive (The now Ubisoft owned studio that developed world in
conflict) and everyone is super happy to have this work available to everyone.
It was sad when we had to shut the systems down before we shipped The
Division. They were not well supported to be fair but I am proud of precedent
Ubisoft is setting (or at least allowing) in open sourcing old game components
(or; current systems like sharpmake)

Just dont assume much of _this_ is relevant now. I recognise names but there
is nothing in Massive developed today that looks like this. :/

~~~
knolan
I was a big fan of World in Conflict back when it came out. Great take on the
RTS genre! Between this and Freedom Fighters we had a fun look at ‘what if’
the Cold War heated up.

I’ve never played The Division as I’ve not much interest in (or time for) MMO
style games. I presume this trend of connected gaming and associated increased
monetisation is going to continue as development costs increase at the expense
of the single player experiences of yore.

~~~
jakebasile
Just chiming in that The Division isn't a typical MMO and much of the game can
be played solo or in a small matchmaking group.

It's on sale now and worth a try! I'd happily show you (or anyone else reading
this) around.

~~~
Cthulhu_
Yup; The Division is err, a 3rd person shooter with a Diablo-style loot / gear
system, along with online functionality like co-op missions and an optional
pvp area.

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elvinyung
I love this banned string:
[https://github.com/ubisoftinc/massgate/blob/1bacdde1faec7ed1...](https://github.com/ubisoftinc/massgate/blob/1bacdde1faec7ed16ced7a145136add7e958f215/share/sql/databasestructure.sql#L3410)

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Why are "developer", "moderator", "server", "massive" (the developer), and
"worldinconflict" banned?

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edu
These words are banned to be used as user and server names, not in the chat.
Look at the three booleans that precede each of the strings.

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jlardinois
The game itself is free this week
[https://freetrial.ubisoft.com/promotions/wic/12](https://freetrial.ubisoft.com/promotions/wic/12)

~~~
cpv
are there reasons to get it from ubisoft giveaway, if you have it already on
gog (or steam)?

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WorldMaker
Not really.

There is a small case to be made in hedging against storefront shutdowns by
getting free copies as much as possible on as many storefronts as possible.
UPlay being the publisher's own storefront presumably has a different risk
assessment for shutdown than GOG or Steam. (By that logic, I love GOG Connect
for a small hedge of Steam purchases, and many of my Steam purchases in the
last five or six years have been Humble Bundle or Humble Store for a similar
reason.)

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ApostleMatthew
I'm relatively new to C++, is this style common? I refer to, for example,
putting the return of function on a separate line from the name and each of
the passed parameters on a separate line as well.

~~~
perfmode
For C++, I subscribe to Google style. It addresses this.

[https://google.github.io/styleguide/cppguide.html#Function_D...](https://google.github.io/styleguide/cppguide.html#Function_Declarations_and_Definitions)

~~~
cyberpunk0
Geez how does anyone remember all of that...

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ZeroCool2u
Your linter remembers for you.

~~~
CobrastanJorji
Indeed, the very best kind of coding convention is the automated and enforced
kind. Prevents a lot of arguing, leaving more time to argue about the code's
actual contents.

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tdburn
World In Conflict was a near perfect game! Multiplayer made for fast casual
games, that you could leave anytime and another player would replace you. So
it didn't interfere with real life. Always wish a sequel had come out.

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jorgenphi
Ubisoft just got a lot more respect from me. I wish more game developers did
this.

~~~
INTPenis
Not sure if this is made clear but the source code they released only manages
rankings, chat rooms and players.

There's still the dedicated game server software that is closed. Imo most
aspiring game developers would be more interested by the game code than the
administrative code that was released.

~~~
WorldMaker
Any potentially reusable infrastructure is better than none to an aspiring
game developer, I would hope.

For one thing, it's amazing how many incompatible chat room systems have been
developed by game developers over the years. Some have been smart enough to
build on IRC protocols or Jabber protocols and/or servers as a leg up, and I
would hope some are looking at options like Matrix today. I've not glanced
deep enough if this server is as good an option as those others, but it's
still a better option than "roll your own".

Whatever the choice, the fewer game developers that need to reinvent a chat
server every (other) game, the more time they can spend on less
"administrative" code.

Sure Slack started as "yet another game chat system" before it was decided
that the chatroom product was better than the game and a pivot cemented that.
But for every Slack there's probably easily a dozen developers that got bogged
down in administrative projects, never launched, and never found a way to
usefully pivot one of those administrative projects.

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aktau
This is fantastic. Thanks Massive/Ubisoft.

I never played World in Conflict much (though I do have it), but I was a big
fan of Ground Control (arguably the pre-predecessor of World in Conflict).

It was basically my first online game. The feeling of that small community is
something I remember fondly to this day. I remember one the members of my clan
(The Initiative) always correcting me as my 13 year old self made many a
grammar mistake; I'm not a native speaker. That, and many other things, have
been formative to me.

Some part of me would truly enjoy seeing the server infrastructure for Ground
Control open-sourced as well. Though of course I consider it possible parts of
that were controlled by the now-defunct WoN (World Opponent Network) [1].

Thanks for all the fun.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Opponent_Network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Opponent_Network)

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kiddico
You may be the first person I've ever 'met' that knows about Ground Control!

I didn't play the first, but I remember putting GC2 on an under-powered laptop
and playing for hours at 5fps! Pretty sure that game is the reason I need
prescription glasses now.

~~~
aktau
I remember playing GC1 on a 300Mhz celeron with everything turned down.
Needless to say, anything but the easiest single players missions were murder.
It ran like a dream on an AMD Athlon 700 with an ATI Radeon 9000 though, when
I finally scrounged up enough cash to buy it. GC2 was too different from GC1
in terms of gameplay mechanics for me to truly enjoy it, but I did finish the
single player campaign, messed around with online (only a few matches) and
attempted to make an old-style Ground Control map. That was released but I
don't think it ever amounted to anything.

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Thaxll
So I bet releasing the game server code is actually impossible since it's
tight to third party framework like Havok?

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dsl
This is the game server code...

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jauer
Is it? This looks like "just" the matchmaking service.

From the README:

> The dedicated game server is called Wic_ds.exe and is included in the
> distribution of the game. It is installed by Uplay upon download.

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jenshk
company of heroes is better than wic by far

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dEnigma
Context: It is one of the banned strings in chat

[https://github.com/ubisoftinc/massgate/blob/1bacdde1faec7ed1...](https://github.com/ubisoftinc/massgate/blob/1bacdde1faec7ed16ced7a145136add7e958f215/share/sql/databasestructure.sql#L3410)

