Shockwave MMO Sherwood Dungeon hits 4000 simutaneous players
Sherwood Dungeon on maidmarian.com is a 3D massively multiplayer RPG written with Adobe Director and deployed with Shockwave and the Shockwave MultiUser Server. It’s creator, Gene Endrody, reports that over the weekend Sherwood dungeon hit 4000 simutaneous players across two servers, with each server handling 50% of the players.
While the numbers may sound low compared to World of Warcraft or even smaller MMOs, I think it’s staggering when you fator in that it’s all being powered by two instances of off the shelf products. I’ve been a champion for Director for quite some time now, but even I didn’t think Director had the power to run an online game of this size.
On the Direct-L mailing list, Gene has shared some interesting details about the game that I think is worth sharing:
Monster AI is distributed between clients. Monsters need to be aware of each others A-star paths and which player’s client is controlling them to be able to function together. I have an “Pass-the-Brain” feature that passes control of the monster to another player if they get too far away from the player. This allow me to send monster data to players only within a certain distance from the monster This keeps the MUS traffic lower. When I do a pathfind, I send the path to the MUS. Other than damage messages, this is only message required for the monsters.
Gene speaks of the servers:
The dedicated servers are running Windows 2003 at Server Beach ISP. Single CPU AMD’s with 100mbit connections (pretty basic systems) and SMUS takes almost 100 percent of the CPU time….so don’t expect the servers to do anything else once they have decent traffic.
Pretty cool stuff. Congratulatuons to Gene and maidmarian.com.
Update: Interested in more details as to how Gene pulled it off? Check out my interview with Sherwood Dungeon designer Gene Endrody on my blog.
I'm Hanford Lemoore. My parking skills are unparalleled.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
this game rules. i luv it.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:30 am
Hey I play Sherwood Dungeon and it is amazing Gene Endrody is awsome he upgraids the game every month at least and he keeps it free while othe games like Runescape charges less for a game which does not come close to Sherwood Dungeon’s amazing graphics
In Sherwood Dungeon there are many clan or groups I am a leader of and I run a website for my clan Modern Knight Templairs http://www.freewebs.com/allforgood/index.htm
!
you are welcome to visite my clan website and if you play please join!!You can Sing my guestbook well as I said before Gene, Sherwood Dungeon is awsome keep up the good work
November 9th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
When I enter the dungeon with a quest to complete i begin fighting. Whenever I meet one of my enemies i kill them. They do not fight back, but can still move. I can see all of their health go away, and afterwards they can’t move. They don’t die and i don’t get the points i need. Am i doing something wrong, or is the game? Or do i not have the right program or something?
December 3rd, 2006 at 8:44 am
It’s cool, for all I’ve played but works slowly. All goes blank at parts, My E-Mail is
snipif you know what to do please contact me, -SkaterShane.December 16th, 2006 at 8:36 pm
Yeah good…... Wish you could get a real account…... NEEDS TO GET DRAGONS IN THEIR SOON… Plus a bigger world…... with different types of merchants….... and buildings (dungeon needs a rOoF! 4 out of 5 stars!!
December 17th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Dear, Gene Endrody
I am a good fan of the great job you are doing with sherwood dungeons. I would like say thank you for making a great game, and I truly respect your proffesional mind set and goals. But even though i’m sure you get thousands of these I would like to give you my opinion. I play this game with my friend on Sundays when we have some free time from school and sports, Its fun to level up and the improvements have been made by leaps and bounds. But I find myself wondering why the hell am I playing this game or what in the world is the point. Having no level cap and so far all your ideas are great. My concern is your next updates for the game and ideas. In my opinion male/female sprites shouldn’t be the next big update. Dragons on a level 50 dungeon is a good idea because it makes you feel like your building for something. Then progress that slowly such as for the man with no life, level 200 you fight gods or something that would be sweet. Amulets should be defense against elements like poison, frost etc. or even an amulet to make monsters spawn more so you have more effective hunting. More quests is definitly a need as the game suffers from a very repetive nature. With some neat ideas or story backings with the quest would be nice but not a big thing just having quests is nice. A big though is character look you want to go with male/female sprites yet the character as of now is uni-sex, but frustrating. At level 50 not only do you want to be bad ass you want to look bad ass. With some more unique weapons or a better system for it to make leveling up more of an event then just another notch in the belt. Such as shiny graphics and sparkly stuff, doesn’t have to do anything but makes the game feel amazing, by human nature. I think that body armor would be the easiest thing to do instead of new sprites(going back to looking bad-ass). So with a shiny new health amulet. At level 50 I could sport dragon hide armor. Level 20 golden chainmal. Level 5 leather suit. You would have a change of character looks while fixing alot of problems with it to give players a goal. Not much of when but all the well a goal. Your killing two birds with one stone. If it adds to loading time it would be worth it. The community site sounds great but would it delete this character my friend and I have worked hard for? And finally before I make a total ass of myself with opinions and annoying fan mail. If you want to make money first make the repetive not so repetive yet still true to the game’s roots. Add a point, some goals, something to build towards, body armor and not the bad feeling I get with a level up but the feeling I’ve achieved something not much longer and I’ve made something of myself inside a video game….Well I once again thank you for all your hard work and the best of wishes with the game and all the changes it is undergoing
Sincerly, a loyal fan and a playa!
January 1st, 2007 at 11:30 am
I think sherwood kicks runescapes butt any day. i also have a clan DOH im looking for new member but come by my site at
http://www.freewebs.com/doh666/index.htm
January 17th, 2007 at 4:37 am
Shockwave is running kind of slow with Sherwood Dungeon.
My systems compatable, I virus scan regurarly, numerous vulnerability tests say my system is optimized for BOTH internet gaming, and security, I have 512 mbs ram, a 40 gig drive, DSL line, all my web browser extensions are compatable, and my shockwave player is up to date.
And still…shcokwave, and Sherwood, run slow as ever.
Could somebody PLEASE offer me any suggestion to WHY shockwave is running slow. My system is optimized to its very best. Hell I even double checked for graphis card/driver compatability.
The answer eludes me, and as many searches I do, on three diffrent engines, I still could not find a answer.
I’ve played Sherwood Dungeon for some time now, and when I did a system recovery, shockwave seemed to slow down on everything.
Thank you for any potential answers, all efort is appreciated:)
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:30 am
Turok Tucker Says:
December 17th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Dear, Gene Endrody
I am a good fan of the great job you are doing with sherwood dungeons. I would like say thank you for making a great game, and I truly respect your proffesional mind set and goals. But even though i’m sure you get thousands of these I would like to give you my opinion. I play this game with my friend on Sundays when we have some free time from school and sports, Its fun to level up and the improvements have been made by leaps and bounds. But I find myself wondering why the hell am I playing this game or what in the world is the point. Having no level cap and so far all your ideas are great. My concern is your next updates for the game and ideas. In my opinion male/female sprites shouldn’t be the next big update. Dragons on a level 50 dungeon is a good idea because it makes you feel like your building for something. Then progress that slowly such as for the man with no life, level 200 you fight gods or something that would be sweet. Amulets should be defense against elements like poison, frost etc. or even an amulet to make monsters spawn more so you have more effective hunting. More quests is definitly a need as the game suffers from a very repetive nature. With some neat ideas or story backings with the quest would be nice but not a big thing just having quests is nice. A big though is character look you want to go with male/female sprites yet the character as of now is uni-sex, but frustrating. At level 50 not only do you want to be bad ass you want to look bad ass. With some more unique weapons or a better system for it to make leveling up more of an event then just another notch in the belt. Such as shiny graphics and sparkly stuff, doesn’t have to do anything but makes the game feel amazing, by human nature. I think that body armor would be the easiest thing to do instead of new sprites(going back to looking bad-ass). So with a shiny new health amulet. At level 50 I could sport dragon hide armor. Level 20 golden chainmal. Level 5 leather suit. You would have a change of character looks while fixing alot of problems with it to give players a goal. Not much of when but all the well a goal. Your killing two birds with one stone. If it adds to loading time it would be worth it. The community site sounds great but would it delete this character my friend and I have worked hard for? And finally before I make a total ass of myself with opinions and annoying fan mail. If you want to make money first make the repetive not so repetive yet still true to the game’s roots. Add a point, some goals, something to build towards, body armor and not the bad feeling I get with a level up but the feeling I’ve achieved something not much longer and I’ve made something of myself inside a video game….Well I once again thank you for all your hard work and the best of wishes with the game and all the changes it is undergoing
Sincerly, a loyal fan and a playa!
basically what he said but you can get more action maybe guns into the game gurnades…... or something
February 1st, 2007 at 7:11 am
Dear Gene Endrody,I an excellent fan of Sherwod Dungeon and I really want to ask you the following updates. Don’t worry, I am very patient and I understand that it takes time to make these kinds of updates:
1) THE ABILITY TO TRADE, and of sort that the weps. will be reduced to the trader with the lower lvl.
2)The WORLD must be BIGGER but the 5 teleports updates are a good starting.
3)That is hard to make: ARCHERS and MAGES with cool spells and multiple kinds of arrows. It is hard to invent, but just make the same system than weps. (like: ice, fire, poison, darkness… arrows and spells)
4)More recents update to the how to play menu and he must be clearer (it doesn’t talks yet about the ‘’tab’’ command and I still see guys who don’t know how to change world or to use the ‘’/logout’’ command).
5)DRAGONS, who are going to be the bosses of all the bosses so I mean they can use spells, ‘’tab’’ attacks…
6) A CODE TO CHANGE THE SERVERwithout having to logout.
Well, that promises months of work so I’ll stop here
Please respond me so I’ll be sure hat you are not deleting all your Email messages With subject: Sherwood dungeon
Thank you
my Email is gha_cyr@hotmail.com
February 2nd, 2007 at 4:23 am
I think that all of the above comments are good ones, but bear in mind the difficulty of programming a new concept entirely. I agree on the ranged weps, but the meshes, scripting, and variables would have to be redesigned for these?
I think that a higher variety of opponents, not just variants of the same mesh, would make the game more interesting, whilst The armour idea is a good one I dont particularly enjoy the idea of higher level players gaining even MORE of an advantage? There’s a lot of “noob killing” going on that none of them can do about.
Also, PLEASE input player trading… It would make the game much more interesting and its addictive already. Oh, and i think perhaps limitations on the levels you can attack may be a good addition: mebbe only damaging player within 10 levels of yours? It would help with people being put off by the level 456 jerk killing new players in one hit.
Also, i keep getting playback errors with Sherwood, is that Shockwave player or sherwood? i really cant tell?
i end up having to re-install shockwave and losing my character, so i have to start again? By rights i should be level 42 by now, but i’m back down to level 18? any advice?
Thanks,
horus
February 17th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
help i love sherwood and enjoy playing the game but the game won’t let me chat with other players.
i have logged in to all three servers and all rooms but it just says that they are all empty. why is this? and how do i fix it?
if anyone has the answers please contact me at
woopohle@yahoo.co.uk
February 20th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
When I reload a PC xp Levels are Lost.
I believe this happens in Shockwave.
Is there a way to back up you xp level?
March 16th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
hey er1 is learning how to float some way on sherwood how do i float
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:42 pm
i think this game is absolutely amazing in graphics and i know it will get better. i even report in my amateur sherwood newsite at www.freewebs.com/weeklydungeon
April 11th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
I love the game and I always play it. But I have a problem. how come I can’t see the chat box or like I can’t read what others are writing? I know that I could chat with others but I can’t see it. Also everytime I log in the graphics aren’t perfect either.
Does Sherwood save levels for you? One of my friend’s computer save her levels so she won’t start from level 1 but how come I always go back to level 1 everytime I log on?
Please contact me at kiky_the_devil@Yahoo.com
April 14th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Don’t listen to these guys, The game is perfect. If they don’t like it they shouldn’t play it. They are like the people who ask facebook.com to add music. Facebook is for friends, MySpace is for music. Get what I’m saying?
Don’t require users to get “real accounts.” One of the reasons I love this game is that there are no passwords or connections to my email address.
April 19th, 2007 at 4:37 am
This game is what i consider a great leap in online muliplaying gaming. The graphics are much more sophisticated. The game has no end (unless someone already reached the end of the dungeon, but that’s highly unlikely.
I’m still not part of a clan though, if you want to know my name, i use it every time i play Sherwood, it’s “deathwatcher”
I have some requests though:
1. Change the bosses, it gets tiresome when you keep on killing the same looking boss every single time.
2. Players should choose weather they want to play in a dungeon all by themselves, letting no one come in without permission, or if they just want to go the the normal dungeon.
3. more diversity in weapons, shields, talismans, and rings. not that i dont like them already, i enjoy the fact that you have many options to choose from. But new designs for these areas will make the game much more interesting.
4. More players (archers, mages, etc..) not just a knight all the time, but some with ranged, and magic. Just use the same concept as when you are buying weapons.
5. Last, make the place bigger, and more teleport areas; this can make the game very interesting.
Enough said. I fell in love with the game the moment i started playing it. I hope that this game will continue to grow and that all players will have a great time playing this fantastic game!
April 20th, 2007 at 11:39 am
i think sereusly this game really needs some GOOD updates i mean i do like it but it does need some updates.
April 20th, 2007 at 11:41 am
does any1 know how 2 steal wepons???
April 28th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Sherwood dungeon is the best mmorpg i ever played, im not kidding, its awesome. but when i play it normally all of a sudden the window closes out by itself. it doesnt do that to any other game i play. can u tell me wats wrong???
May 4th, 2007 at 11:49 am
i cant play sherwood because a blank box comes up with a green circle red traingle blue squarE?? please help
May 6th, 2007 at 8:10 am
hey there are three servers
June 2nd, 2007 at 7:29 am
How do you report cause all these people bother me like hell. I really need to know
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:10 am
uh hi, sherwood dungeon is a really great game, well like others said the mage and stuff like that updates would be kind of a copy of runescape. but that would be good cause runescape’s graphics are pretty poor so sherwood would be like the new runescape. and sherwoods graphics are the bomb aleady. this take time i know. i have a problom though. Im a levle 15 on sherwood and i have all the amulets.
but every time i press tab it wont activate. is it because of my levle?
but yeah its a great game except there are several glitches or updates in it like:
1)People go through each other and that gets annoying.
2)there needs to be a friends list and stuff.
3)weapons are alright, you should be able to make your own character like mix not get 4 dudes only.
4)you should be able to fight anywhere.
5)and some of your monster like the lava basilk is cool looking ok, bet its basically the same thing as a sea dragon except blue and bigger. or the jade haunt is pretty much the other skeletons except ,green and maybe different weapons.
6)the updates are too slow coming, there is no offece because on runescape the updates come daily, or weekly and maybe monthly. i think they come like that because they work on more than 1 update at a time.
7)you should be able to trade.
8)the maps should be bigger.
9)there needs to be an end to the dungeon.
10)armor like leather bodies and iron chain bodies and stuff like that not just cloths.
11)when you fight someone, the levle you are should matter, and this block double attack and stuff, not very good block should just be block nothing else.
well i think ive been kinda mean but you know no game can be prefect, you gotta take that in mind.
oh and i you wanna talk to me, my guys name on sherwood is HELLKNIGHT
and i always get on ruby server and you can find me on chatroom 1,2,3,4 or 5.
so happy updating, i hope.
and i hope you update. i love your game sherwood just make it better.
bye!
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:12 am
yo sup hellknight is in da house. You know update sherwood and rock on dude!
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:16 am
You know ive done this 3 times in 1 day let me get to the point,
copying games is good. so what you should do what runescape has. Except the graphics dont take they’re graphics they suck
June 5th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
pls. tell me how to save.
i always seem to go back to level 1. pls tell me.
shatterfang@yahoo.com
June 15th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Gene stop the hackers, everyone is quiting cause of it, do something stop updating games and stop the hackers first
July 8th, 2007 at 6:13 am
THIS IS TO GENE…...............PLZZ STOP ALL BOOTERS/HACKERS… today i was playing the sherwood and i got booted for nothing….... when i ask the booter why do he boot he say to get out noobs like me… i am begging of u… the next update…pleasee ban all hackers / booter… this booter goes by the name of Sir-Boot, there is another name Immortal.. pllzz stop them!
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Join my clan its the evil and dark clan we are truly strong but need more members!
August 31st, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Hi
!
Sherwood Dungeon is an awesome game and I am level 49.
I think that the graphics are ok and the weapons really cool.
But a wider variety of weapons would be cool too, like bows, spears, crossbows….
Also, if you reach the bottom of the dungeon, it would be cool if you got something special, like an awesome spell.
Lastly, I would love it if you could ride horses or even dragons.
Sincerely, Vorbait, player of Sherwood Dungeon.
September 25th, 2007 at 11:01 am
okay, i think that when you want to save, you have to click “file” then”save” that should work. or one of the f# buttons.
email me with questins about any game, runescape, this, etc.
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:36 pm
hey gene um I hav been playing sherwood for a long time 3 and a Half years,but my computer won’t download shockwave,also u should hav new charcters like the Griffian,Elf Etc, and wepons like crossbow longbow staff and new fighting techneqs.Gene i love Sherwood all ways wold be your biggest Fan. If u r guessing i Am part of the UAClan.Your game is gonna be the next World of Warcraft,one more thing can u put a statue of the iron chapion near the bridge holding his sword down,Lady marian should have a Quarters well Bye Sherwood forever
!1
December 5th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
ok, in the pictures above, how do you get the black armor. it has been puzzling me ever since i started playing it.
(i always play in ruby, i always ise the name of duffas)
December 9th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
I have a question everytime i play i cant see other players and it says im in chatroom 0 and it will not let me change
Can someone help me
December 9th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
I log into world 0 when i first log in and cannot hop to another world.how can i fix this.
January 10th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Its and awesome game, but you should be able to do alot more. There should be more of a choice of characters. You should be able to custumize the charachter. Just make some more major adjustments and we got the next world of warcraft or guild wars!
January 10th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Also you should be able to do more mind quests, not just fighting quests. I like the fact that u actually control the characther
January 18th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
u need to be able to buy or build your own castles in this game and also put more weapons but all in all it is awsome
January 24th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
hey peeps i got a proposition, e-mail me if you want to join the dark overlord nation at charlieevert@hotmail.com, if you havnt heard of us you are a noob.
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Hey, I have been playing Sherwood Classic since 2005, and played Dungeon the day it came out. I have to say, the game is very fun, although I have come across a few big bugs.
1. You can click the top-left of the screen, and any special mouse property is displayed up there.
2. When you open a chest, and while the window is still up then hit, “Runes and Scrolls,” instead of the name of the chest being “chest,” it becomes, “Runes and Scrolls.”
Anyway, keep up the good work Gene! Good luck with the future of Sherwood, and thanks for this great game.
February 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Can anyone help me with my problem? When I get on sherwood, my person stays in chatroom 0 and never connects to other chatrooms and i’ve restarted my computer over and over but it’s like that every time I get on. If you could post a answer here i’dd really appreciate it.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
does anyone knowm how to save it? please respond soon
March 21st, 2008 at 10:15 am
i cant spell dont blame me -.- -.-
March 25th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Wow it’s like no ones listening to those people who need help because they’re stuck in room 0. I’ve been a fan of sherwood ever since 2006 but recently when i get on sherwood im stuck in room 0. This means you cant talk to other people, see other people, see any chat, and teleport out the room so basically all you can do is fight monsters. Will someone at least post an answer to this here so other people who have this problem can see it too? Thank you.
April 13th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
We need a friends list that goes according to IP. Because I don’t know what room and where my friends are during the game. And I said IP, because we may have some clones, this will be a good way to stay in contact. I play sherwood alot, and I have a huge clan named DZ. I think that u should also Put duel fights. Im sick of ppl interfiring into my fights. A duel will alllow 2 ppl to fight, and no one else could hit them as if they are ghosts. Thank u I have good ideas, Higher me for the job. Peace