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The RedDwarf phoenix

I was kind of shocked to hear that Project Darkstar has been shut down, and its staff laid off. My online multiplayer technology strategy was hinging on Darkstar. Major downer!

But I also learned that a couple of the original Darkstar team members, led by Owen Kellett, has forked the code and is trying to keep it alive as RedDwarf. So, that’s a very cool thing. I hope that it does thrive, because Darkstar is a pretty amazing server technology despite the fact that it’s not finished.

I hope all of Darkstar’s users will migrate to the new project and support it. Anyone can contribute code (though there is a sensible review process), so please go make your mark, and save this great server solution from the trash bin of history!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Project Darkstar, RedDwarf. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “The RedDwarf phoenix”

  1. Gdulus Says:
    March 15th, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    Do you know where can be found old documentation to DarkStar project? Oracle blocked everything and RedDwarf project has no doc at all (doc for the beginners)

  2. jason Says:
    March 15th, 2010 at 7:10 pm

    I know that the RedDwarf team is trying to get the Darkstar tutorials put back up on the RD site, but other than that I don’t know of any documentation resources. Sorry!

  3. Moncef Fadal Says:
    November 11th, 2010 at 9:58 am

    hello ,
    i’m currently experimenting with smartFox , i think it’s a great platfoorm eventhough it doesn’t provide ready to use game mechanics , but that’s not a problem , the only thing that bothers me is the limitation to 20 simultanous connection for the free pack , wich will surely push me to invest financially in the game at an early stage .
    i’m wonder on your take regarding smartFox , compared to RedWarf or even the RoarEngine . not easy to pick the final platform :) i’m in a real dilemma :)

    thanks in advance :)

  4. jason Says:
    November 11th, 2010 at 5:51 pm

    Hi Moncef,

    I guess the answer is “it depends.” :)

    Smartfox will probably work as well as anything. It does cost money, but if you’re running an online game, you’re going to need a budget even if it’s a hobby project (because server’s aren’t free). :) It gives you some nice things, and it’s easy to learn and get running quickly.

    At first, I chose RedDwarf because it is free, but now I would choose it anyway. It’s harder to get going (more to learn, and not simple to design for), but once you cross that chasm, it’s worth it. Single-threaded code model, automatic persistence, and (eventually) scaling horizontally with no extra effort are some really strong features that Smartfox doesn’t have. I am not sure I could go back to dealing with race condition debugging and the like. :)

    What to use will depend on your time, skills, goals, and preferences. If you need experience with multiplayer programming, I’d recommend starting with Smartfox. Don’t let the 20 user limit stop you from learning. If you are already an advanced programmer and want some horsepower, I’d recommend diving into RedDwarf.

    Good luck!

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