Globula: Autoscaling seamlessly to 10,000 players and beyond

Globula is a geolocation-based augmented reality game that merges real-world exploration with multiplayer role-playing and storytelling. A science-fiction adventure, Globula combines real world player experience, multi-player mobile role playing strategy, and elaborate storytelling to immerse players in a thrilling game experience.

In this customer case, we'll explore the reasons why Globula chose Koyeb to manage their infrastructure, allowing them to focus on developing their game and providing their players the best experience.

The Challenges

Globula started with a single, dedicated server in their office—a powerful machine with 32 CPUs. While this setup was ideal for developing the pre-alpha version, it posed significant limitations:

• Single point of failure: The reliance on a single server means there is no redundancy or backup system in place. Any hardware failure, software crash, or unexpected power outage could bring the entire game offline.
• Connectivity risks: Running the server in-office meant relying on a single ISP. If the ISP experienced outages, players would be disconnected from the game. For a multiplayer game, even short connectivity interruptions have a noticeable impact.
• Release downtime: Updating backend services required restarting the server, causing 5-6 minutes of downtime and frustration for players.
• Scaling issues: While the single dedicated server was great for development and testing, it had a fixed capacity that could not meet the demands of a growing player base.

Globula needed a solution that was simple, reliable, and capable of scaling with their growth and alongside their business. After evaluating more than 20 hosting solutions, Globula picked Koyeb for its outstanding ease of use, serverless features like built-in autoscaling and continuous deployments, excellent support, and scalability.

Globula's Tech Stack

Globula's tech stack includes:

• Elasticsearch: For their in-house geolocation engine, managing 400GB of static world maps.
• Managed PostgreSQL: Used for backend services, handling user and player data.
• Microservices built in Python: Powering game logic and interactions in the backend. Globula also has a mini Telegram app for attracting new players to the game.

All these components run seamlessly on Koyeb.

Handling Dynamic Traffic with Autoscaling and Scale to Zero

Koyeb’s autoscaling capabilities allow Globula to handle sudden surges in traffic effortlessly, such as the influx of 10,000 new Telegram app users in just one hour. When these 10,000 new users joined within an hour, Koyeb's autoscaling seamlessly spun up additional resources to handle the load, ensuring a seamless playing experience for Globula's end users.

In addition to scaling effortlessly to provide a seamless experience for all users, Globula also enables scale to zero, which reduces costs when resources are idle.

Opting to use Koyeb for their infrastructure has allowed Globula to focus on developing their game and providing the best experience for their players. Their goal is to scale to over 200,000 daily players, and they are confident Koyeb is their best partner in achieving it.

Koyeb has accelerated our deployments and optimized our infrastructure. With built-in continuous deployment, we push changes to production faster and more frequently. Autoscaling and scale to zero effortlessly helped us scale effortlessly while optimizing infrastructure costs.

Optimized Performances with Multi-Region Deployments Across 3 Continents

Globula ensures low latency and high availability for their players worldwide by leveraging multi-region deployments with Koyeb. With deployments in Europe, Asia, and North America, Globula's players experience smooth gameplay regardless of their location.

In addition to multi-region deployments, Koyeb's built-in edge network helps ensure fast and reliable responses for Globula's players across the globe.

Fast Releases and Zero Downtime with Seamless Continuous Deployments

Koyeb's continuous deployment support enables Globula to release changes effortlessly, ensuring that new updates are only rolled out once they’ve passed comprehensive health checks. This streamlined process not only guarantees that the backend services remain stable but also prevents interruptions for players, which was a significant challenge in their previous setup.

Before adopting Koyeb, updating backend services involved restarting the server, causing 5-6 minutes of downtime every time a change was deployed. This downtime could impact player engagement, especially during peak usage times or live events, and often led to player dissatisfaction.

Reliability and Advanced Built-in Networking

Koyeb’s built-in advanced networking capabilities address one of Globula’s most significant challenges: Reliability. In the past, Globula was operating with only one ISP. If there was a disruption with this ISP, Globula’s entire player base would face interruptions or outages, negatively impacting user experience and engagement.

By migrating to Koyeb, Globula now runs with greater reliability and ensures uninterrupted player experiences.

Native ElasticSearch Support for Managing 400GB of Static Data

Globula built a geolocation engine in-house. The team relies on Elasticsearch to manage 400GB of static world maps. With Koyeb's native support for Volumes and Elasticsearch, Globula ensures that the engine runs smoothly, providing players with accurate and up-to-date information.

Koyeb Features Highlighted

• Autoscaling
• Scale to Zero
• Multi-Region Deployments
• Edge Network
• Continuous Deployment
• Advanced Networking
• ElasticSearch Support
• Managed Postgres Database
• Volumes
• Workers

Deploy Worldwide in 5 Minutes on Koyeb

With players across the globe and rapid growth in daily traffic, Globula trusts Koyeb to provide the critical infrastructure they need for their workloads and business. Before Koyeb, Globula’s developers spent hours troubleshooting infrastructure issues. Now, with a managed platform, they spend more time developing new game features and improving the player experience.

Looking to deploy your full stack apps, databases, APIs, and workers worldwide in minutes? Sign up and deploy your first service for free.

👾 Ready to Dive into an Epic Sci-Fi Adventure?

Globula is a science-fiction game that combines real-world exploration, multiplayer role-playing, and thrilling storytelling. Curious to see what the adventure is about? Check out Globula and start your adventure today!