Integrating HLA into the Spearhead Game

摘要

The primary goal of this project was to integrate HLA with Spearhead, MAK's completed, state of the art, M1A2 Abrams tank game. The game was originally written to use the DIS-Lite and VR-Link 2.4.x networking protocol and architecture developed by MAK technologies. At the commencement of this effort, Spearhead was in Beta form and all networking functionality was virtually complete. The non-HLA version of Spearhead permitted players to engage in distributed interactive games over LANs, the Internet, NULL modems and Dial up modems. A secondary goal of this project was to convert MAK's existing Spearhead-specific lobby server into an HLA application. A 'lobby server' is an application that runs on a dedicated machine connected to the internet via a TI line. The Spearhead lobby server is a C++ application written at MAK. The existing lobby server was not based on any standardized protocol or architecture, such as DIS, instead MAK created its own custom lobby server protocols. This means the lobby server would need to be re-written to use HLA and the RTI.