Hey everyone! I'm diving into WebSockets for a game I'm developing. I've noticed that each game uses about 40kb of bandwidth, but after some optimization, I've managed to cut it down to around 10-15kb. I understand that the numbers seem quite different, but in a live production environment, does this reduction really make an impact?
6 Answers
For a small number of users, like 3, the difference between 15kb and 40kb isn't that significant. But if you're going to have a lot of users, those numbers can pile up fast. So while it's great to optimize, just remember to find the right balance between the cost of optimizing and how much it's actually needed. Optimizing is good, but don't let it overcomplicate things!
When you reach a massive user base, say around 2 billion users, those optimization efforts will pay off!
It's a long shot to get anywhere near that many users. I mean, that's like a quarter of the world's population!
A drop from 40kb to 15kb is a huge 62.5% reduction! This directly impacts your bandwidth costs, although the load on the server might not change much. Performance is more about CPU load and response times; efficient code will help your server handle more requests effectively.
I've worked with WebSockets in game development too. Both 40kb/s and 10-15kb/s are manageable, but the reduced bandwidth is great for users on slower connections. Just be mindful that while WebSockets work for many web games, real-time game programming often uses UDP instead. Only switch if you're facing specific issues with WebSockets, as it can involve a complex rewrite for networking!
Depending on where you are, companies might have to fork out cash for internet traffic. So if you're only sending essential data, you'll get faster responses. A lot of programming benchmarks don't really matter these days because internet speed is usually the bottleneck. But optimizing your network usage can save money and improve speed.
Make those optimizations now, and you'll thank yourself later!
True, but I ended up sacrificing some code readability for the sake of optimization. Now my code relies heavily on comments, which is a bit annoying.