Image of an actual automated game server rolling update of one of Edgegap’s client over time.

Game servers are the backbone of multiplayer games but ask any programmer or DevOps specialist and updating them can daunting! Every minute of downtime means lost revenue and, even with the best intention of scheduled announcement, leads to frustrated players on Discord and Twitter.

As a game developer, backend programmer or DevOps specialist, you've likely faced this choice: take your servers offline for a lengthy update process or roll the dice with manual updates and risk disrupting the player experience. Neither option is particularly exciting.

The solution: automated rolling updates for game servers. In this blog, we’ll explore the benefits, best practices, and step-by-step implementation strategies to keep your servers running smoothly and your players happy. Alongside how Edgegap’s automated orchestration solves this issue without development for game devs & studios.

How Edgegap’s Automated Rolling Updates Work

Manual updates can be time-consuming, error-prone, and detrimental to player experience. Edgegap's automated rolling updates solves this process, ensuring zero downtime and minimal disruption.

Edgegap's automated rolling updates leverages containerization to, as the name implies, roll out over time the update to users ensuring, thanks to its patented orchestration, a seamless transition between games launched with the previous version and the latest.

In other words, as players finish their matches, they are automatically transitioned to the new version without manual input. For example, here is the rollout of one of Edgegap’s client:

Here's a step-by-step breakdown:

1. Update Detection: Edgegap's system detects new updates in your game server's container registry.

2. Automated Deployment: Edgegap's orchestration layer automatically replaces individual server instances with updated versions, one at a time.

3. Health Checks: Each updated instance undergoes rigorous health checks to ensure seamless functionality.

4. Rollback Capability: If issues arise, Edgegap's platform provides the ability to roll back to the previous stable version.

Benefits of Edgegap’s Automated Rolling Updates

Edgegap's automated rolling updates bring numerous benefits to game developers and DevOps teams:

• Time and Resource Savings

  • Reduced Downtime: Zero downtime means no lost revenue and happier players.

  • DevOps: Automated updates save DevOps teams all their time from manual deployment, which can be reallocated to more critical game development tasks.

• Enhanced Player Experience: Players experience uninterrupted access to the game, even during updates.

• Increased Reliability and Security

  • Automated Rollbacks: Edgegap's system quickly reverts to stable versions in case of issues.

  • Consistent Updates: Automated updates ensure all servers run the same version, reducing security vulnerabilities.

• Scalability and Flexibility

  • Effortless Scaling: Edgegap's automated updates seamlessly integrate with scaling strategies.

  • Multi-Region Support: Updates are easily deployed across multiple regions and environments.

• Simplified Monitoring and Logging

  • Real-time Insights: Edgegap provides comprehensive monitoring and logging tools.

  • Proactive Issue Detection: Automated updates enable proactive issue detection and resolution.

Additional Benefits of Rolling Updates – A/B Testing

Edgegap's versioning also enable developers to conduct A/B testing (or Multivariate testing, or even Blue/Green testing) of changes concurrently:

• Test new features, optimizations, or configurations on a subset of players

• Compare key performance indicators (KPIs) between updated and control groups

• Validate hypotheses and refine gameplay experiences

With Edgegap, you can run as many A/B tests as you want, simultaneously or sequentially, without disrupting the entire player base. This flexibility enables:

• Targeted testing: Isolate specific regions, player segments, or server configurations

• Canary releases: Gradually roll out updates to a larger audience

• Continuous experimentation: Iterate on game development and optimization

In other words, Edgegap's rolling updates streamline A/B testing, allowing you to:

1. Quickly identify winning variations

2. Refine gameplay mechanics and balance

3. Optimize server performance and resource utilization

By integrating rolling updates into your testing strategy, you can confidently iterate on your game, ensuring data-driven decisions and improved player satisfaction.

Conclusion

Automated rolling updates are, thanks to Edgegap, available to all game developers – from solo indies to AAA studios. With Edgegap, you can ditch the downtime, disruption, and resource-intensive manual updates.

By harnessing Edgegap's automated rolling updates, you'll experience a transformative shift in your game server management. Enjoy zero downtime deployments, unlimited A/B testing capabilities to refine your game, simplified monitoring and logging to stay on top of performance, and – most importantly – enhanced player satisfaction that drives engagement and growth for your game.