LAB-5562: Project Snowman: Developing a 3D Multiplayer Game Using Project Darkstar

Expected Duration: 120 minutes
Contacts: Daniel Templeton, Owen Kellett
Begin Product Tab Sub Links Prerequisites System Software Notations Exercises Resources Questions

Last Updated: June 26, 2009

Project Darkstar is a scalable service platform built specifically for games, virtual worlds, and the like. What the Java EE platform has done for business applications, Project Darkstar is doing for the game industry.

In contrast to traditional business applications, though, MMORPGs, virtual worlds, and other networked games require very low latency and low user response time. This is at odds with the high transactional throughput focus of today's application servers. Project Darkstar boasts a simple and intuitive API tailored for these unique requirements.

In this lab from JavaOne 2009, participants will walk through the process of building a 3D, multiplayer, capture-the-flag style snowball fighting game from the ground up. Built using Project Darkstar, Project Snowman will expose participants not only to the details of the Project Darkstar API, but also typical challenges in 3D game design.

Copyright 
Copyright  2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun, Sun Microsystems,
the Sun logo, Solaris, Java, the Java Coffee Cup logo, JavaOne, the JavaOne logo,
and all Solaris-based and Java-based marks and logos are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Prerequisites

 

This hands-on lab assumes you have some basic knowledge of, or programming experience in, the following technologies:

  • Java™ language programming

You will need to refer to the accompanying presentation 5562_gamedarkstar.pdf during the lab.

System Requirements

 
  • Supported OSes: Solaris™M 8/9/10 (x86 only), OpenSolaris™ Operating System (x86 only), Linux, Windows, Mac OS X 10.5+
  • Memory requirement: 512MB
  • Disk space requirement: 300MB

Software Needed For This Lab

 

Please install the following set of software:

Notations Used in This Documentation

 
  • <lab_root> - directory into which lab zip file is unzipped
    • This document uses <lab_root> to denote the directory under which you have unzipped the lab zip file of this hands-on lab. The name of the lab zip file of this hands-on lab is 5562_gamedarkstar.zip.
    • This document uses <darkstar_root> to denote the directory under which you have unzipped the Project Darkstar server installation package.
  • The lab machines used for this lab at JavaOne were running Java Desktop System over OpenSolaris
  • In order to open a terminal window in Java Desktop System, right click any point in the background of the desktop, and select Open Terminal in the pop-up menu.
  • The following source code editors were provided on the lab machines
    • vi (type vi in a terminal window)
    • emacs (type emacs in a terminal window)
    • jedit (type jedit in a terminal window)
    • NetBeans IDE (either click NetBeans IDE icon or type netbeans in a terminal window)

Lab Exercises

 

Additional Resources

 

Where To Go For Help

 
  • You can send technical questions via email to the authors of this Hands-on lab (and experts on the subject). Also, the Project Darkstar community is eager to help via the Project Darkstar Forums.
 

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