Resources

• With Business Integration for Games (BIG), provide a framework using Web services as the underpinning technology and take advantage of reusable business function, distributed throughout the network.
  
  
• Try Patterns for e-business Development Kit Lite (PDK Lite), a self-configuring, end-to-end skeleton Web application in one self-extracting package for implementing various Self-Service solution designs.
  
  
• Visit the IBM e-business Patterns site, a repository of pattern resources, including a walkthrough exercise that may make it easier to choose the correct patterns for your design.
  
  
• For more about developing a high-level business description and identifying patterns, review "Online game infrastructures, Part 1".
  
  
• In "Online game infrastructures, Part 2," focus on scalability options and complete the last two steps of the patterns-based solutions modeling as you integrate the runtime patterns of the online games infrastructure into a first-level solution and outline whether outsourcing is the best path.
  
  
• In "Online game infrastructures: Integrate additional device-support functions, Part 4," focus on learning patterns-based solutions to handle community interaction needs, address adding new content for users of the game environment, and provide assistance when users want it.
  
  
• To get an idea of the hundreds of sales of game accessories that occur, log on to eBay and search for Ultima or Everquest.
  
  
• Check out the The International Game Developers Association, a non-profit membership organization that advocates globally on issues related to digital game creation.
  
  
• Get a quick overview of pattern usage in "Patterns for e-business" (developerWorks, June 2000).
  
  
• Read "Business Integration for games: An introduction to online games and e-business infrastructure" for more on the technology solutions behind the business and revenue models of online game systems.
  
  
• Discover how to take Tetris game elements, wrap them as Java objects, and create reusable game components in "Tetris meets the Java bean" (developerWorks, April 2002).
  
  
• Read "'EverQuest' spins its own economy" and uncover the closed-economy boom spawned by this game.
  
  
• In "eBay, Yahoo crack down on fantasy sales" and "Sony to ban sale of online characters from its popular gaming sites," get the details of eBay's, Yahoo's, and Sony's responses to the closed EverQuest.
  
  
• Explore the game-playing lifestyle in more detail in "The Unreal Estate Boom."
  
  
• Enable collaboration capabilities for portal users with WebSphere and Lotus Sametime technologies in "Integrating WebSphere Portal Extend V4.2.1 with Lotus Sametime 3.0" (developerWorks, June 2003).
  
  
• Integrate VoIP and VXML in "Talk to my VoIP" (developerWorks, November 2002).
  
  
• Patterns for e-business: A Strategy for Reuse (IBM Press, 2001), by Adams, Koushik, Vasudeva, and Galambos, is the basis for this article. Read a chapter from the book.
  
  
• Check out Developing Online Games: An Insider's Guide (O'Reilly & Associates; 1996), by Mulligan and Patrovsky, an excellent book describing the business requirements for running an online games infrastructure.
  
  
• Find articles about every aspect of building for the World Wide Web in the developerWorks Web Architecture zone.
  
  
• Visit the Developer Bookstore for a comprehensive listing of technical books, including hundreds of Web development titles.
  
  
• Develop and test your Web applications using the latest IBM® tools and middleware with a developerWorks Subscription: You get IBM software from WebSphere®, DB2®, Lotus®, Rational®, and Tivoli®, and a license to use the software for 12 months, all for less money than you might think.