If you're comfy with JavaScript, you've got nothing to lose by giving node.js a go: the learning curve will be gentle. It's a pretty cool server tech.
Only disadvantage with node js is of course it won't scale like java. At all. This is often fine for web apps because you can throw a caching layer in front (reverse proxy), which greatly mitigates this. I imagine this won't be reasonable for your application, since the game state will change too frequently.
Node js can "scale" though, by spinning up more instances. If one server can easily accomodate more than one "game world", then this is straightforward. If you need to split a gameworld across multiple servers, then servers must cooperate. Beware this scenario though, it's not as simple as it first may seem: it's called the "multi master" problem and is one of the hungry internet monsters.
manpreet![Tuteehub forum best answer]()
Best Answer
2 years ago
I would like to build a simple cross-browser multiplayer game (like chess or a card game) which will communicate to a server using sockets.
I have some intermediate knowledge of Ruby language, but I'm not so convinced that it is a good solution for a multi-client server, so a thought that Node.js or Socket.io might be a better one. I know that Java or C++ could be great for the job, but I am not too comfortable with none of them, so that is the reason that I'm levitating towards Server-side JavaScript.
My question is, what do you think is the best solution for a project like this one? What might be the best server-side technology on which I will build an entire game and communication logic? Maybe some combination of them? Any comment regarding speed, server load, hosting solutions and development speed for each of the technologies will be greatly appreciated.