Would it be possible to use XMPP on Google App Engine to make a realtime multiplayer game?

Question

Theoretically speaking, is such a thing possible?

I know that Google App Engine can't make socket connections, so I figured using XMPP to send messages to the clients would work.

Is XMPP on Google App engine low-latency enough to work for a realtime game?

I was looking into multiplayer game servers like Smartfox and the like, but I figured that the cost of the software combined with running it on my own server would be too much of a hassle, so I figured that running it on Google's hardware would be a good idea.

If you have any other suggestions on realtime multiplayer game servers, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for your advice!

Answer 1

As npdoty points out, we've just announced the Channel API, which is intended for exactly this use-case. It's not released yet, but a preliminary version is available in the latest SDK for you to experiment with. There's no documentation yet, but you can explore the Trivia Quiz sample app to see how it works.

Answer 2

is xmpp allowed. the terms of service specifically excludes it use... or am i mistaken??