The programmer’s prose – how client developers build castles out of code
Today we’re going to give you a peek into the work of our client developers. They are the creative minds behind the programs, the ones who make it possible for millions of our users to play Goodgame Empire, Big Farm, and all the other Goodgame Studios games.
Our client developers are responsible for creating the game clients. All our games are played on game clients, which are the interfaces between game and player. In Empire: Four Kingdoms, the client is the app itself, available for iOS and Android. Game client development brings everything together: the ideas from the game designers, the optimizations from the balancer, and the designs from the artists converge into one program. Goodgame Empire uses the platform Flash and the programming language ActionScript to do this. The client developers create the castles and empires which allow the players to interact.
The game client presents the game’s interface, reads the players’ interactions, and passes on this information to the server – the central computer where all game data is collected. This server processes the information and sends a reply to the game client, which then presents this reply on its platform. In practical terms, this means that every time you click on the world map in Goodgame Empire, the client loads all of the data and locations of the castles saved on the server so that your neighbor’s castles will always appear in the right place.
“Client development is more than just writing code – it’s about planning the proper structure!”
Benedikt, client developer at Goodgame Studios
A large part of their work involves creating these structures which, using the programming language, depict the game mechanics. But which variables are needed? Where are the interfaces between the game elements, the player, and the server? Highly developed logical thinking and structured work processes are essential here.
The client developers focus on establishing a well-thought-out and dynamic basic structure which can be used to develop new and existing game elements. This is especially important for our games since a good structure allows us to program new updates quickly and regularly, so that we can ensure unlimited hours of fun game play.
Since we’re a company which is constantly growing and expanding, we’re always on the lookout for new and talented client developers – so if you’re fluent in code, come join our team!
