Sun Microsystems, Inc (NASDAQ: SUNW) announced plans today at the 2007 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to open source Project Darkstar, a groundbreaking online game server platform written entirely in Java technology, at the 2007 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
The company also announced the opening of registration for the Darkstar Playground, which will enable developers to create a wide variety of games that can be provisioned through a single server platform.
Information on these and demonstrations of games running on the Darkstar platform will be on display at Sun's booth #738 in Moscone Centre.
"Project Darkstar is proving to be an important technology foundation in the exploding multiplayer online game marketplace," said Chris Melissinos, chief gaming officer, Sun Microsystems. "By open-sourcing Darkstar technology, we will help enable the widest possible market for online game developers and remove their burden of having to build enterprise-grade server solutions, leaving them to do what they do best - build great game experiences."
Game developers can download the latest version of Project Darkstar at www.projectdarkstar.com. This new release of Project Darkstar features a simpler programming interface for increased productivity; plug-in APIs to facilitate integration of third-party extensions; and enhancements for scalability, robust performance, and fault-tolerant operation. The source code for Project Darkstar will become available under a GPL licence in the coming months, and further details will be provided at Sun's JavaOne conference on 9 May in San Francisco.
Leading MMORGP developer NCsoft validates Sun technology
Validating the strength of the Project Darkstar technology, NCsoft, the leader in the worldwide Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game Platform (MMORGP) market, is currently prototyping new games on the Darkstar platform. "Project Darkstar was instrumental in helping us initiate prototyping of a new online game project internally at NCsoft," said Chris Mayer, vice-president of product development for NCsoft North America. "The Darkstar technology team proved very supportive and we were up and running quickly. We very much appreciate Sun's initial efforts in developing the kind of server technologies needed to jump-start online projects."
Sun's Darkstar Playground
In conjunction with the latest release of Project Darkstar, Sun also initiated the Darkstar Playground which will allow approved developers to gain access to server resources - provided and operated by Sun - to start developing their online games. Developers interested in participating in the Darkstar Playground are encouraged to visit Sun's booth or www.projectdarkstar.com to apply and learn more about the programme. The playground will be live at JavaOne '07 in May.
Share
A singular vision - "The Network Is The Computer" - guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.