Summary  - Q2 closes out with two major updates code complete  and being prepared for release to production. The client redesign  project continues to hit its milestones and our vendor has begun to  construct the production version of the duel scene (game table). The  system has continued to perform well and the user and activity numbers  continue to grow at a healthy clip.

Infrastructure Updates -  The new trade processing service has  been running in the public beta and has been extensively load tested.  In addition to improving the performance of trade transactions, this  module also has removed the escrow state machine from the system  architecture. We expect to launch this in the relatively quiet period  leading up to M11’s release. This major update’s benefits to the system  unfortunately will likely be invisible to users, as transactions will  simply resolve more quickly and efficiently, and the system will be much  less vulnerable to queues of server requests backing up and creating  delayed responses to client requests.

Our other long term development project, which will bring a single  managed client connection to the system is also code complete and being  tested and prepared for deployment. We have high hopes that this work  will eliminate some of the frustrating problems that occur when  individual connections to draft or game servers are lost for any reason.  While we can’t control user connections between their PC and our data  center, the client will not have to constantly create and manage new  connections to a variety of ports to connect to games and drafts. This  work will benefit both the existing and upcoming clients.

New Client - The new client design project is also proceeding  to schedule. Our vendor has begun development work on the first phase of  the new client. The design team is closing in on completion of the  layout and behavior specs for all game critical scenes. We will continue  to conduct usability studies and work to improve and refine the new UI.

Maintenance/Bugs - We have also completed and shipped a round  of game rules engine bug fixes for Multiplayer formats. We still need to  do server side work to support the ability for users to own games and  control the seating of players. With the increasing relevance of  multiplayer formats in the paper world, we will be tackling this task  sooner than later. But we need to ship and stabilize the single managed  connection first.

The system continues to perform well in the face of constantly  increased user counts and user activity.

The next quarterly review will talk to what services we will build  next. In general, we will continue to move transient state out of the  database and into services so that the system can support the continued  growth in users and activities. At the same time, we will be reducing  the impact of data growth on the system, which in many cases is tied to  transient state being stored.

Gordon Culp
Director – Game Systems Design
Magic: the Gathering  Digital Studio
Wizards of the Coast, LLC