A multi-protocol framework for the development of collaborative virtual environments

TL;DR

The paper addresses the need for collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) that operate across heterogeneous networks while maintaining security and portability. It introduces a modular, three-layer framework with protocol-agnostic communication, a shared environment (Room), and a reusable domain-specific layer for distributed card games to validate the approach. Key contributions include the ServerCommunicator/Communicator and Discoverer/Advertiser abstractions, a Remote Proxy-enabled Room, an Observer-based client binding, and a concrete Tressette implementation with security considerations. The framework enables cross-technology CVEs and holds practical potential for education and cloud-based deployments across diverse devices and networks.

Abstract

Collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) are used for collaboration and interaction of possibly many participants that may be spread over large distances. Both commercial and freely available CVEs exist today. Currently, CVEs are used already in a variety of different fields: gaming, business, education, social communication, and cooperative development. In this paper, a general framework is proposed for the development of a cooperative environment which is able to exploit a multi protocol network infrastructure. The framework offers support to concerns such as communication security and inter-protocol interoperability and let software engineers to focus on the specific business of the CVE under development. To show the framework effectiveness we consider, as a case of study, the design of a reusable software layer for the development of distributed card games built on top of it. This layer is, in turn, used for the implementation of a specific card game.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: A multi-protocol cooperative scenario
• Figure 2: Framework architecture
• Figure 3: Framework entities
• Figure 4: Card game entities
• Figure 5: Player entities