Behind the Build: Road to the record

The Guinness Book of World Records—that shiny green volume coveted by every child at a primary school book fair—is a name that conjures images of humanity's most bizarre and wonderful achievements. 

From the longest fingernails to the fastest runner, the smallest person to the largest dog, Guinness World Records has consistently inspired us to excel, expand our limits, and marvel at the truly extraordinary things that simply exist.

So when the opportunity arose for MSquared to be forever immortalised within the pages of this great, green book, we of course jumped in with both feet.

Hi, it’s Tommy and for my last entry in this series, I would like to talk about the time MSquared and Yuga labs achieved the world record for the most players in an online FPS battle.

The date, July 28th, the location, Meetropolis.

MSquared witnessed as thousands of users took part in “Project Dragon”, a mass scale shooter event developed by Yuga labs on our Morpheus platform. 

Then, "Project Dragon" episode 2 dropped on August 29th, and guess what? Even more players showed up! We saw that same big jump in participation a month later with episode 3. People just kept joining the fun of, well, shooting thousands of their friends in the face.

Looking at these user numbers, MSquared and Yuga (metaphorically) looked at each other and said… 

“Let’s go big, or go home”

Planning for Season 2 of Project Dragon centered on one key goal: securing Guinness World Records involvement. We were confident that MSquared was already the most powerful multiplayer game engine on the planet. Given that the current record for the most players in an FPS battle was set nearly a decade ago, in 2015, it was clearly time for a new champion to emerge. 

The previous season of Project Dragon was powered by MSquared’s cutting-edge Action Gameplay system which sits on top of our mass concurrency networking stack allowing gameplay modes similar to that of Call of Duty or Battlefield. If we were to expect more users, we had to ensure it was going to work.

Not only that, MSquared and Yuga Labs had to also consider and work on:

• Technical Hardening & Optimization:
  • Perform comprehensive load testing on the Morpheus platform far exceeding expected record attempt player numbers.
  • Optimize the Action Gameplay system for minimal latency under peak mass concurrency.
  • Implement and test enhanced failover and redundancy protocols for the networking stack.
  • Core Feature Stability: Conduct rigorous QA for all core Project Dragon gameplay features (shooting, movement, spawning) at maximum player density.
• Capacity Management:
  • Ensure cloud infrastructure resources (servers, bandwidth, databases) were adequate to handle a 3x surge in anticipated players.
  • Ensure our pixel streaming partners could handle the influx of users
• User Acquisition & Communication:
  • Coordinate with Yuga Labs to target previous Project Dragon participants and the broader community.
  • Create clear communication channels and guides for participants to follow as we couldn’t afford to lose anyone in the joining process.
• Marketing & PR:
  • Collaborate with Guinness World Records on official announcement materials and verification procedures.
  • Develop a cross-platform marketing strategy (social media, press releases, community outreach) highlighting the record attempt.
  • Produce promotional content (trailers, dev diaries) to build hype and excitement leading up to the event.
  • Prepare post-event success communication plan and media outreach materials.

So, our work was definitely cut out for us - our response?

The world record attempt quickly transitioned from a client only project to a company-wide passion, with engineers and testers volunteering their time to help harden and test our services. The excitement around the effort dominated water-cooler conversations. You see, this pursuit is a long-standing ambition for MSquared and our parent company, Improbable, dating back to the very conception of our mass multiplayer engine. 

Execution and Initial Testing

With the extensive planning list in hand and a company-wide enthusiasm, our teams—across engineering, QA and operations—began the intensive work of execution. The goal was to systematically address every stress point of the user journey.

The technical hardening and optimization phase was paramount. We ran numerous internal simulations, pushing the Morpheus platform and the Action Gameplay system far beyond the previous peak player counts of Project Dragon episodes 1-3. The immediate feedback loop between our QA engineers and core networking team allowed us to identify and smooth out several bottlenecks when working with extreme user densities. We managed to achieve stability at concurrent user numbers that comfortably exceeded our most optimistic estimates for the record attempt.

Readying for the Test Event

In order to ensure we were ready, we decided to validate these technical achievements under real-world conditions by using Project Dragon Season 2: Episode 1 as a crucial dress rehearsal for Guinness, intended to involve a smaller group of users. The objective was twofold:

1. Technical Validation: Confirm that the end-to-end user experience—from joining the experience and pixel streaming stability to gameplay performance—held up under live conditions.
2. Process Refinement: Stress-test the in-game communication protocols, and our live operations team's ability to monitor and respond to issues during the event.

The Alpha Test was set to replicate the final record-attempt environment as closely as possible, allowing us to gather essential metrics and behavioral data before committing to the full-scale, Guinness-verified run.

Needless to say, Project Dragon Season 2: Episode 1, was a resounding success. The data gathered was highly encouraging, confirming the stability and scalability of the Morpheus platform under near-record conditions.

Key Takeaways from the Alpha Test:

• Technical Confidence: The core networking stack and the Action Gameplay system performed flawlessly, handling the intense user density without degradation. Our optimizations paid off, proving the engine was ready for the full-scale attempt.
• Operational Readiness: The live operations team successfully monitored the event, identifying and preemptively resolving minor scaling issues related to external partner integration. The communication protocols for user guidance also proved highly effective.

With this validation, the final preparations for the official Guinness World Record attempt were put into motion. The next, and final, step was to gather the full community and make history.

The Record Attempt: Making History

The final day arrived, charged with a palpable mix of excitement and tension. This was the moment of truth—the culmination of months of intense planning, engineering, and testing. With the Guinness World Records adjudicator present to verify the run, the stakes could not have been higher. Every line of code, every network optimization, and every capacity plan was about to face its ultimate test.

As the gates to the Project Dragon Season 2 finale opened, the community surged in. We watched the concurrent player numbers climb past all previous peaks, surpassing the Alpha Test results and closing in on the decade-old world record. This was a tense, minute-by-minute process. Our live operations team, fully prepared from the dress rehearsal, monitored every metric—server latency, packet loss, and pixel stream stability—with laser focus.

The moment the counter ticked past the previous record, a collective cheer went up in the war room, but the work wasn't over. For the record to be officially validated, the required number of players had to remain concurrently engaged in the FPS battle for a sustained period. Every system was under maximum duress, operating at limits previously only seen in simulations. Yet, the Morpheus platform and the Action Gameplay system held firm. The stability achieved during the technical hardening phase paid dividends; the network stack remained robust, and the core gameplay experience for thousands of users was flawless.

When the adjudicator officially confirmed the new world record—the Most players in an online FPS battle—the tension evaporated, replaced by exhilaration. It was a testament not just to the power of MSquared’s technology, but to the passion and dedication of every engineer, tester, and partner who made the impossible happen. We went big, and we did not go home. We made history.