Imagine. You’re working on a server emulator for game. And it’s not a bad game, but it’s so heavily client-sided that developing a server for it is somewhat uninteresting. Even simple features, like NPC shops, might be client-sided, meaning you can’t ever have custom shops without client modifications. Even simple interactions, like dropping an item, might have certain undesirable client-side checks that make it so you can’t get rid of a subset of the game’s items. Client modification is always an option, of course, but as a server developer, it’s fun to push the limits of what you can do from the server, without touching the client. Not to mention, it’s always easier to not have to modify the client.
Last week I was asked a simple question on the Discord server for my Tree of Savior server emulator, Melia, in regards to reviving a feature that had been removed from the game, which lead me down a path that would remedy all of those problems for this particular project.
Continue reading “A short story of redefining a game’s behavior”