When it comes to the world of gaming, having a fast and reliable multiplayer session is key. No one wants to experience lag or connectivity issues while they’re enjoying their favorite game. This is where serverless gaming comes in. But what exactly does “serverless” mean in the context of gaming?

When Tashi says “serverless” we do not simply mean that the server is hidden in the cloud. That’s the conventional definition used by Cloudflare and other titans quoted below:

Serverless computing is a method of providing backend services on an as-used basis. Servers are still used, but a company that gets backend services from a serverless vendor is charged based on usage, not a fixed amount of bandwidth or number of servers.

There are a number of serverless solutions out there provided by pretty much every major cloud provider (Google’s Cloud Functions, AWS Lambda, etc.). Despite the diagram below, providers will in fact charge users more (the diagonal line is a bit higher than the diagram shows) in exchange for the ease of using these services as compared to the scenarios where users rent out and configure servers themselves (provided they know how to do it).

In the case of Tashi’s multiplayer session, serverless has a literal meaning. Multiplayer sessions are completely peer-to-peer (P2P) and there is no central server hosting the game. Instead, each player’s device is communicating directly with one another. Using Tashi, a game can scale at a fraction of Google’s or AWS’ serverless cost — or no cost if you don’t care about session monitoring — while maintaining high levels of performance. You can explore our performance metrics interactively at tashi.gg.

Traditional servers can be costly to maintain and operate, especially for indie game developers. With a P2P system, the cost of running a multiplayer backend is reduced to zero (unless you choose to use our metrics services).

Not even close. The kicker is our unique consensus protocol that is baked into our multiplayer sessions. It tackles the ubiquitous issues of network reliability and cheating that come together with P2P servers in the market right now. Tashi’s anti-cheat measures offer the same security guarantees as dedicated game servers and then some.

Affordable, cheat-resistant, performant P2P multiplayer solutions matter for game development. It allows indie game developers to focus on creating the best game they can deliver, without having to worry about the cost of dedicated servers or the complexity of writing netcode that won’t have their players rage-quitting their game.

Check us out and sign up for our closed beta program here.