October Meetup
Details
Hi everyone
Tom Clark attended the NZ Game Dev Conference (https://www.nzgdc.com/) recently where he also presented. Tom has very kindly offered to fill us in and also re-present to us his talk 'Launch Day: A Server Team's Guide for Survival and Success'.
I have pasted Tom's talk overview below, 200,000 users in two hours peaked my interest! Thanks so much for the offer to speak Tom.
Could people please, if they are able, RSVP for the meeting - it would be great to give Tom an audience for what promises to be a really interesting talk.
And finally thanks to everyone who came along last month, I enjoyed reliving PyCon AU 26 and hearing more feedback about some of the various technologies I came across at the conference. November will be informal Lightning Talks as usual.
Chris
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Launch Day: A Server Team's Guide for Survival and Success
Earlier this year I was talking with my boss about an upcoming game release. "How confident would you be," she asked, "if we were to bring on 300,000 new players at launch?"
"It's a matter of the timing," I replied. "If you mean 300,000 players over a day or two, then I wouldn't give it a moment's thought. If you mean 300,000 in two hours, then that would be... interesting."
She paused briefly and replied, "I meant in two hours."
For server teams, launch day is an excellent opportunity to contribute to a game's success. The day one audience includes core players and it is important to deliver a good experience to them. A large number of installs and positive store reviews will help grow the game in the days that follow. Launch days are also stressful and problems can have significant impacts. Prelaunch marketing and preorders lead to many new players coming on board quickly once the game is released. Scaling up to meet this dramatic influx is challenging, and no matter how well prepared your team is, something unexpected will happen. The key to success is having a good plan that guides the team through the launch period. It involves ensuring that systems are tested, running smoothly, and tools are in place to monitor these systems and correct problems that arise. It also must identify team members' roles, how to respond to incidents, and how you will communicate with stakeholders outside the team.
Launch days will always be somewhat stressful, but they can also be exciting and rewarding. A well thought out plan will give your team the confidence needed to show up on launch day ready to handle whatever challenges may arise.