Alberto Pareja-Lecaros
9/20/05 P.1

I.  Title:
Building a distributed server to handle an interactive 3-D game universe

II. Problem Statement: 
In most of today's game applications, a multiplayer option is included
because it adds the excitement of interaction with other human
players. This will be a distributed server because a game of this
magnitude will require many CPU resources, and by sharing CPU time with
other computers, the game universe will run considerably faster and at
a tolerable rate. It should also work on several different computer
platforms.

III. Purpose:
The purpose of building this distributed server is to gain an
understanding of systems networking and learning to build more
efficient networked systems. This will also provide insight into
building a server that can interact with multiple (at least more than
one) computer platforms, such as Windows and Linux. This server, once
established will be easy to adapt to a variety of different
applications. 

IV. Scope of Study: 
A thorough research of TCP/IP protocols, IPX protocols, and packets
will be required, as well as researching methods of distributing CPU
power among networked users.  

V. Background and review of current literature/research in this area:
Distributed servers are not something new or innovative anymore; they
are in common use. Standards of efficiency, however, will continue to
rise as the Internet becomes more widespread and more people are
becoming connected. Any documentation/books on TCP/IP and IPX
networking protocols are highly recommended, as are books on server
solutions.

VI. Procedure and Methodology:
The building of this server will begin by gradually working on the
individual parts that will make the whole project work. First a small
chat program between two computers will be created to test out the
TCP/IP protocol, and then eventually that will expand to letting many
computers connect with each other. The next step is to expand the chat
so that one computer acts as server, and the others act as clients,
sending information to the server, having the server process the
information, and then sending the information back to all the clients.
This type of progression will continue until server that can handle the
actual game universe is created. Once that is done work on the
distribution of CPU power can commence, and the IPX protocol can be
worked on. The final task will be to have multiple platforms connect to
this server. The language in which this server will be programmed is
Java, and it will process the game universe that is being built by the
other members of the team. Data gathering will be based on the
functionality of the universe across all connected clients to the
server. By storing the data the server receives and sends, and
comparing it to the results shown on the client computers, one can see whether the server-client interaction is working successfully.    
                       
VII. Expected Results & Value to Others:
Ideally the result will be a fully functional, highly efficient
distributed server that will be able to support multiple platforms and
multiple protocols. The results can easily be seen through the
functionality of the application itself, as well as a well recorded log
of CPU power distribution through the various systems, which can be
graphed on a chart for further analysis of how to improve the server.
 The only contributions this server could give to others is an analysis
of the efficiency of the system so that others may improve on the
methodology of how the server distributes its resources. As for the
time frame of this project, it will probably take until sometime in
April to complete most all of the tasks. A simple task chart can easily
track the progress of this project.