Online / 5 & 6 February 2022

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Building an MMO browser game on Matrix

Managing auth and saves in Matrix


I'm working on a Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) browser game which uses Matrix for authentication, authorization and storing save states. Lobbies and characters are managed as Matrix rooms which allows players to have a copy of their character's data at all times, migrate it to other Matrix accounts or share a character with friends.

What if games allowed you to really own your online characters? If an online video game shuts down, your character is gone. All progress, all contacts, all items – lost to you and not available for migration.

I'm building a tiny proof of concept browser game where you log in with your Matrix account. All your characters are represented by Matrix rooms and you can migrate them to other Matrix accounts and other gaming servers.

Instead of sending all communication via Matrix this concept uses a public server software and central gaming servers (HTTP and websockets in this case). Upon character creation, a game server invites you to your character's room. Every time your character changes the server updates a state event. If the server gets shutdown, it's easy to set up a new server which allows to migrate character rooms from the old server. Furthermore, players can analyze their characters without the need to contact the gaming server.

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Photo of Christian Paul Christian Paul

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