Do you love multiplayer games? The thrill, the speed, and the graphics must be very tempting for gaming enthusiasts. But did you know that creating and delivering this top-tier multiplayer experience isn’t a cakewalk for developers?
Yes, some of the primary challenges often faced by these game developers include latency and synchronization issues, scalability, security, data transfer and bandwidth, and many more. However, the dedicated game servers in India primarily took care of these issues.
Dedicated servers help games handle high workloads smoothly and thereby deliver exceptional performance. With fast internet connections, gamers can enjoy sessions without lagging issues or worrying about data security. So, these dedicated servers have proven to be the best solutions for the gaming industry in terms of improved performance, stability, better hardware, optimized network infrastructure, custom game modes, etc.
Understanding Dedicated Game Servers
A dedicated server is a physical server meant to be used by a single user or organization. Unlike shared hosting, this one helps users run their applications and websites without sharing any resources with other users. However, the hosting provider will be responsible for managing and maintaining the physical server and its resources for the users. Since the same user uses them, servers are often considered to run mission-critical applications that may require compute-intensive workloads or high availability of resources.
The benefits of using dedicated servers are:
- As the resources are solely available to be used by a single user, they can provide maximum performance for workloads. When you no longer have to share resources like storage, CPU, RAM, etc., with other users, you can use them for resource-intensive applications.
- Configurations are readily available for users at a greater level than any other hosting. One can easily configure the server ports or resources to handle workloads efficiently. Also, it can help with a complete view of memory usage, network activity, and server load for advanced optimization.
- Due to fewer entry points, the dedicated servers highly secure sensitive information and data. You can customize the configurations to develop and implement security policies, enhancing your organization’s overall Data Security posture management, and maintaining compliance regulations without hassle.
The State of Game Development in India
The gaming industry in India has seen massive growth due to the use of smartphones among the younger generation. Did you know that, according to recent statistics, the Indian gaming market has reached more than $2.2 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to $8.6 billion by 2028? A key factor contributing to this growth is the integration of AI in igaming, which enhances player experiences by making games more immersive and dynamic through intelligent NPCs and adaptive gameplay.
This industry’s continual evolution and expansion requires a powerful server that can meet specific requirements like handling workloads, security, scalability, and many more. None other than the dedicated servers play a crucial role in supporting these overgrowing needs of the gaming industry. How? To understand this, let’s get an overview of the current hassles faced by the game development teams in India:
- Feature creep, a common problem often faced by developers, refers to the situation when adding new and advanced features to the game might get worse with time. Sometimes, these updated features impact the overall customer experience, eventually leading to bugs and performance challenges.
- Finding the right set of development and the best web hosting company that can work seamlessly to support the game’s genre, concept, and art style. These tools must be selected based on the game’s specifications, graphics requirements, and budget.
- Another challenge is maintaining gaming applications. Post-production requires routine bug checks, user interactions, engagement, page loading time checks, etc. Such practices help increase the player retention rate.
- Determining application compatibility with devices and operating systems can be challenging. Companies must ensure the applications run smoothly regardless of screen sizes, OS versions, and hardware configurations.
- Security concerns are the biggest nightmares. Applications need a lot of user information for regular upgrades and other transactions. Developers always try to implement strict security policies to conceal personal information and control cybersecurity risks while developing gaming apps. Many game studios now implement the ‘pyramid of pain‘ concept from cybersecurity, where they focus most resources on defending against the attack vectors that cause the greatest damage to players and game integrity.
- Application performance and experience are critical to the game’s success. The common challenges here are crashes, slow loading times, and poor usability, which lead to a bad user experience.
- Apart from these issues, game development teams also face hurdles related to patent and copyright, application marketing, enhancing the application visibility, functional and high-performing interface, testing and debugging, technological updates, fragmentation, selecting the correct programming language, lack of resources and platforms, cost, etc.
Benefits of Dedicated Game Servers for Indian Game Studios
Here are some of the advantages of using dedicated game servers in India for game studios:
- Enhanced performance: Since the resources aren’t shared with multiple users in the case of dedicated servers, these provide exclusive features and resources to the single user that can enhance overall performance. Full access to CPU power, storage capacity, and RAM can help with faster processing power and deliver a smooth browsing experience to users.
- Low latency and high-speed gameplay: Dedicated servers are known for hosting multiple websites, software, and applications without causing lagging issues or disruptive actions. As the resources are available solely to a single user, latency issues are not present while handling high bandwidth and website traffic.
- Stability and reliability during peak times: The dedicated server is available only to the company and offers high load capacity. It is highly reliable and stable in handling website traffic, even during peak times.
- Increased control: Businesses have complete control over their server resources and environment. This helps them implement strict security policies, protect user data, and enhance the site’s overall performance.
- Complete control over server settings and configurations: Dedicated servers are known for offering custom configurations to meet your business needs. This includes selecting the operating systems, CPU and server management, disk drive selection, etc., per your hosting requirements. As one user solely uses them, the company has complete control over these resources and customizations.
- Customization options for game-specific requirements: With dedicated servers, users can customize the server settings to meet their players’ requirements. This includes adjusting the player limits, setting specific game rules, or configuring the plugins and modes.
- Better security: The dedicated servers’ lack of resource sharing helps them offer advanced security to users. Server administrators always look for ways to upgrade their security and help users maintain compliance guidelines.
- Improved security measures against DDoS attacks and hacking: DDoS, or Distributed Denial of Service attacks, are common ways to hack website data. Website owners need enhanced security policies and strategies to identify and stop these attacks. Dedicated servers help mitigate the impact of these attacks with rate limiting, traffic filtering, and network scrubbing.
- Data privacy and protection for both players and developers: Dedicated servers also effectively offer end-to-end encryption and different authentication processes to maximize security for both developers and players. This gets easier with regular updates and the implementation of the latest security patches.
Choosing the Right Dedicated Server
Here are a few things to consider while selecting the best game dedicated servers:
- Start with server specifications like CPU, RAM, and storage type, as these are key requirements for meeting your gaming performance needs. These specifications help deliver faster data access while enhancing the overall performance of the site.
- Latency refers to the time required for data transfer from one point to another. This controls the website’s overall performance, affecting the site’s loading time and responsiveness. However, this aspect is also controlled by the server’s geographical location. The nearer the hosting server’s location, the better and faster the loading times, which can ensure a smoother browsing experience. So, to minimize user delays globally for your site, select the dedicated server based on its location.
- Also, consider the availability of security features like firewalls, DDoS protection, and 24/7 customer support. Look for providers that offer an uptime guarantee and can provide services to meet your business-specific requirements within a strict budget.
Cost-Effective Hosting Solutions
While selecting the game’s dedicated servers, you must look for a provider that can balance offering you high-quality facilities and competitive prices. Sometimes, choosing the servers based on your game development features can be expensive. Look for the ones that can stick with your budget without compromising the premium features.
Remember to compare the different pricing models and plans offered by reputed companies when selecting these servers for your business. Some may provide monthly or annual plans, while others offer pay-as-you-go models, where you only pay for the features used by your company. Pricing models will also include the initial setup expenses, maintenance, hardware costs, replacement, power and networking, etc.
How do you reduce the additional costs without compromising quality? Here are a few tips to consider:
- Try minimizing the on-premises footprint as much as possible. This can eventually lower power consumption while improving server utilization and application reliability.
- Select long-term commitments with service providers, which can offer flexible pricing structures, volume discounts, and service level agreements.
- Reduce bandwidth consumption by using content delivery networks, caching, and compression. These can maximize the overall usage of your network while fixing efficiencies, if any.
- Streamline your hardware upgrades strategically, minimizing downtime while increasing resource utilization.
- Automate the server routine maintenance, which can lower the overhead expenses while increasing the colocation rates.
Setting Up and Managing Dedicated Game Servers
How do you set up the dedicated game servers? Here is a step-by-step guide for your reference:
- Identifying game and server requirements: Start by selecting the best dedicated server and its key features, including bandwidth, CPU, storage, and RAM. Also, consider how the number of players can determine the selection of these features.
- Hardware selection: Once the basic selection is made, understand the fundamental differences between virtual private and physical servers. Which of these two will be the perfect match for your business?
- Selecting the hosting provider: After this, focus on choosing the service providers who can offer you sufficient, reliable resources and ensure the installation is done appropriately. Evaluate the plans available from these providers regarding resources, bandwidth, expenses, specifications, customization, etc.
- OS & game server software installation: Select the operating system that perfectly aligns with the game server software requirements and ensure the system is updated with the latest security patches. Once done, get the dedicated server software for your gaming platform and follow the installation instructions.
- Server configuration & testing: After installation, it is essential to configure the basics of your server, including the gaming modes, player count, documentation, firewall rules, security layers, etc. After the configuration, start testing the server by connecting to the local or external network.
- Server management and maintenance: Employ appropriate administrative tools and software to monitor and manage the server software that controls the operations and game settings. Conduct thorough checks regularly to monitor the server performance and update the system and software with the latest features for maximum performance.
Conclusion
Setting up these dedicated game servers isn’t a complicated task. It is a quick process and can help companies deliver exceptional gaming experiences to their customers if they invest in the top server hosting providers available. This is the most affordable and secure way to enhance your gameplay experience while implementing stricter security policies to protect your users.
If you are still looking for superior performance and reliability, it is time to look for the best dedicated server provider today. Get in touch with the reputed names in the market and check out the pricing models to make the best selection.
FAQs
What is the difference between dedicated and shared game servers?
A dedicated server is meant for only one user, while a shared server offers resources for multiple users. Although the former might be slightly more expensive, a dedicated server offers more advanced security than shared ones.
How can dedicated servers improve game performance?
Dedicated servers are known for improving gaming performance by eliminating common challenges like instability, lagging issues, vulnerability to cheating, load management, security, and data integrity.
What are the costs associated with dedicated game servers?
The costs of dedicated game servers vary depending on various factors, such as specifications, customization options, configuration, components, server capability, bandwidth, power consumption, software licenses, backups and security features, provider’s reputation, setup and data transfer fees, maintenance and support, etc.
How do I choose the best hosting provider for my game studio?
Consider the following factors for determining the best hosting provider for my game studio:
- Server specifications
- Uptime guarantee
- Latency and network quality
- Flexible plans
- Cloud-based solutions
- Customer support and managed services
- Pricing structure
- DDoS protection
- Firewalls and encryption
- Access and control
- Configuration customization
- Provider’s reputation and customer feedback
- Trial Period and Service Level Agreements
What security measures should be taken for dedicated game servers?
Some of the security measures to be taken for dedicated game servers are:
- Implement appropriate firewalls for network security that can help with suspicious vulnerabilities detection and thereby develop required responses to block these cyber threats such as social engineering attacks.
- Employ DDoS protection for added security.
- Integrate proper access controls by employing unique passwords, multi-factor authentication, secure SSH configuration, role-based access controls, etc.
- Monitoring tools seamlessly track website traffic, server performance, loading times, security threats, error logs, access logs, etc.
- To detect potential threats and vulnerabilities, it is essential to conduct regular application and system updates.
- Data protection practices like regular data backup and encrypting business communication
- Regular checks regarding user control and access to sites and applications should be maintained.
- Security policies should be updated and maintained to prevent any data loss or detection of emerging vulnerabilities.
