.NET interprocess communication techniques

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i am developing a .net based game where several instances of the application needs to communicate with each other effectively and display a common state in all instances irrespective of user input from any of the instances. plz suggest a good way of doing so.

Thanks in advance.
Abhishek

Posted 24-Nov-11 22:18pm

abhitechno

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4 solutions

Solution 2

Try creating a web service or WCF and run it on IIS. Use that service to interconnect your applications.

Best regards,
Eduard

Posted 24-Nov-11 22:23pm

Eduard Lu

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abhitechno 25-Nov-11 4:30am

that way my application won't be install anywhere and run type.
I would require to setup a server first and then install the client app.

[no name] 25-Nov-11 4:36am

that's the way it should be. run it on a server and call that service on your client apps.

Solution 3

hi check this link about WCF

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480210.aspx[^]

hope it helps!

Posted 24-Nov-11 22:34pm

D K N T H

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Paulo Zemek · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-25T01:40:00

Solution 4

See my article: Writing a Multiplayer Game (in WPF)[^]

The game flow is:
Clients inform the server of their states.
The server runs the game loop, and informs all the clients about the "actual" game state.

Posted 25-Nov-11 1:40am

Paulo Zemek

Comments

BobJanova 25-Nov-11 9:20am

Some interesting material in this article.

RaviRanjanKr 25-Nov-11 15:57pm

Nice Link, My 5+

OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-24T22:21:00

Solution 1

I would make them all clients of a single server instance.
Connect all the clients to the server (Sockets, probably, or WCF) and as each client updates the server, it then broadcasts to all connected clients.

Posted 24-Nov-11 22:21pm

OriginalGriff

Comments

Wayne Gaylard 25-Nov-11 4:26am

Would you use a broadcast system, or would you get the clients to poll the server for updates ?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 25-Nov-11 4:31am

I would not make if poll-only client-server -- this is very limited model (a curse in many areas, leading to insufficient responsiveness vs. overuse of resources). Same thing about broadcasting. Right solution is probably permanent sessions with dual pull/push protocol (maybe to channels per client).
--SA

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 25-Nov-11 4:28am

That was my first though as well. My 5.
--SA

abhitechno 25-Nov-11 4:28am

how do i reflect my app status across all communicating instances, do i export the entire objects or do i raise the appropriate event across all instances. moreover what would be better for this sockets or WCF???

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 25-Nov-11 4:35am

If clients interact (otherwise it's too trivial), it would be the best to keep status on service part. Sockets or WCF (by the way, self-host WCF on service) -- depends on complexity of messages are requirements for performance. I would prefer sockets via TcpListener/TcpClient, and data object sent using binary serialization.
--SA

abhitechno 25-Nov-11 4:38am

thanks but what about WCF or rather why not WCF???

OriginalGriff 25-Nov-11 4:37am

Both questions: Depends on the complexity of your model / objects - also on the type of interconnection.
If the net is involved (or likely to be), then probably I would go for WCF - complex to start with, but very, very flexible.
In the end, it will be you game - if you are constructing an FPS, then you really don't want to transfer too much info or response times go out the window! If it's connect 4, then you could get away with holding the whole state on the server, and the client becomes a thick-as-a-brick display...:laugh:

BobJanova 25-Nov-11 9:18am

I agree with this (and I'd do it with something similar to the games within my Lobby Server architecture, through messaged TCP and with localised 'broadcasts'). If you want ordinary game instances to be able to host a game, you want the server to be a component of the standard client software, and the client that is hosting should connect to its own server. See for example Quake II for a commercial example of this (I think the Unreal/Unreal Tournament series do it too but I'm not 100% on that).