ESL releases matchmaking API for indie games

Creating an esports video game title has never been said to be easy. But a new toolkit released by esports giant, ESL, hopes to make the process a little less painful.

Launched this week, ESL Matchmaking seeks to provide esports functionality to developing esports titles, particularly those created by indie studios. 

With more and more competitive titles hitting the market in hopes to cash in on the esports craze, having a properly functioning back-end is going to be more and more important. “The experience of playing multiplayer online games can be extremely frustrating and painful without proper matchmaking,” ESL explained in its press release. “And in many cases players will stop playing a game because their expectations are not met.”

The matchmaking toolkit will help match up players of a similar skill level, and then upon the match’s completion, alter each player’s ranking based on the result of the game.

Ensuring that each player feels rewarded when they win games, and doesn’t have to wait long to get back into another, is key for esports game design. Even for indie games with serious esports intentions, proper matchmaking “isn’t always an initial priority,” ESL Technology VP Arne Peters told Gamasutra.

The free version of the API supports up to 1,200 players in 1-v-1 matches only, but ESL claim the paid version can handle up to 12-v-12 matches and as many API calls as you can muster.

H/T Gamasutra