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Course details

Server Side Game Developer

Learn what a multiplayer game server actually does and how its messages cross the internet. You will size a tick loop, pick TCP or UDP for each kind of message, reason about IP, latency and bandwidth, and read the socket code underneath — all on one online kite-fighting game.

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Course curriculum

Server-Side Development4 lessons

Meet the authoritative server, the tick loop that drives it, the delays every player feels, and the snapshots and deltas that keep sixteen screens showing the same match.

  1. The Authoritative Server12 min
  2. The Tick Loop — The Server's Heartbeat12 min
  3. Latency, Ping and Jitter12 min
  4. State Sync — Snapshots and Deltas15 min
TCP — The Reliable Stream4 lessons

Follow the lobby server's TCP connections from the three-way handshake through segment headers, acknowledgments and retransmission, to the receive window that caps how fast a download can go.

  1. The TCP Connection12 min
  2. Inside a Segment — Header, Checksum and MSS12 min
  3. Data Transfer — ACKs, Resends and Waiting in Line12 min
  4. Windows — Flow Control and Window Scaling15 min
UDP — The Fast Datagram4 lessons

Use UDP datagrams for the live match, read their tiny header, build your own acknowledgments for the messages that must arrive, and slow down on your own when the network is struggling.

  1. The Datagram — Fire and Forget12 min
  2. The UDP Header and Its Checksum12 min
  3. Reliability — Only Where You Need It15 min
  4. Congestion Control — UDP Won't, So You Must12 min
TCP vs UDP3 lessons

Sort game messages into reliable, unreliable, ordered and sequenced channels, compare TCP's heavy stream with UDP's light datagrams, and defend the server against floods, spoofing and hijacking.

  1. Reliable vs Unreliable, Ordered vs Unordered12 min
  2. Streams vs Datagrams — Heavy vs Lightweight12 min
  3. Floods, Spoofing and Hijacking15 min
IP — The Layer Underneath4 lessons

Look under TCP and UDP at IP itself: how addresses and DNS find the server, how routers forward each packet hop by hop, what IP does not promise, and how bandwidth and MTU limit what a game can send.

  1. IP Addresses — IPv4, IPv6 and DNS12 min
  2. Routing — Hop by Hop12 min
  3. Best Effort — What IP Does Not Promise12 min
  4. Link Capacity — Bandwidth, MTU and Packet Size15 min
Socket Programming4 lessons

Read the BSD socket calls both servers make, keep the tick loop from ever blocking on a descriptor, convert addresses between text and binary, and pack kite state into exact bytes in network byte order.

  1. The BSD Socket API12 min
  2. Socket Descriptors — Handles and Blocking12 min
  3. Address Conversion — Text to Binary and Back12 min
  4. Byte Order and Packing15 min