We’re creating a massively-multiplayer social game. We expect up to 1 million concurrent users. The game is not real-time, instead it’s turn-based. We need reliable messaging between our clients and the server, preferably over HTTP protocol.
Besides the multiplayer functionality, we’ll also need a content delivery service.
Could you please recommend a server-side technology for us, so we’ll start searching for the right people to hire?
Is it correct assumption that no single server will hold that amount of load so it must scale horizontally?
Will Windows Azure do the job?
Thanks in advance.
[quote]a million concurrent users IS NOT a real number by any means[/quote]
There are games that have this concurrency, and more. Most of the popular Facebook games do, while they have their 15 days in the sun. That being said, having to solve that problem is a nice problem to have :-)
It's probably possible to write such a system on Azure, but you'd probably be piloting in uncharted waters, and you'd also have to pay Microsoft for the hosting. Compare to Amazon ECC for pricing, for example, and perhaps another approach would be better.
Other technologies to consider, depending on what it is you're really trying to do: - J2EE - Erlang/OTP - Python/Twisted Also, the networking and multiplayer game FAQ on gamedev.net: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/showfaq.asp?forum_id=15