Programming Microsoft Azure Service Fabric

Chapter 16. Multiplayer gaming

Like many programmers out there, my lifelong pursuit of programming started with video games. I spent most of my teenage afterhours re-creating games I liked such as Tetris, Pac-Man, and, later, Golden Axe and Wolfenstein 3D. Playing games surely is fun. Creating a virtual game world that provides amusement and adventure to players is something different—the pure creativity, the boundless imagination, and the nifty craftsmanship are almost addictive and very satisfying.

As I took on increasingly complex games, I quickly realized that creating a polished game was far beyond the capacity of a single programmer. Creating games was a dream of mine that was fading away. I have been fortunate enough to work on other interesting ...