DirectPlay Lobby Architecture

The process of arranging and managing a session of a multiplayer game based on Microsoft® DirectPlay® involves five separate components. The lobby server application is an application that typically resides on a remote server and is accessed through the Internet. The remaining four components are installed on each player's computer.

• Lobby client. The lobby client is an application that communicates with the lobby server. It also communicates with the user's game application through the DirectPlay lobby client object.
• Lobbyable game application. The lobbyable game application is an application that uses the DirectPlay lobbied application object to communicate with the lobby client, and through the lobby client with the lobby server.
• DirectPlay lobby client object.
• DirectPlay lobbied application object.

The two DirectPlay objects act as links between the game application and the lobby client. They communicate with each other through private interfaces. The following graphic shows how these pieces are linked, and how they communicate.