GP »Microservice Dungeon 2.0« (SS26)
The Microservice Dungeon (short MSD) is a game where players compete against each other to achieve the highest possible score. Each player service controls a swarm of robots. Robots move across the game board, mine resources, purchase upgrades, and battle each other. All of these actions earn points for the player. The notable difference to a regular multiplayer game is that the players are not persons but microservices, implemented by a developer or developer team. MSD 2.0 allows us to deep-dive into the hardcore specifics of distributed large systems. This guided project will focus on monitoring the system.
- Keywords
- microservices, event-based architecture, monitoring, software quality
- Study Program and Module Description
-
Master Digital Sciences (specialization Software Architecture)
(see also module description in the study program web page)
- Begin/End and Scheduling
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24.4.2026 - August 2026. Organized as an agile project with sprints every 2 weeks. Additional workshops in presence.
- Location
-
-
Room 1:
3219 (Main building on the Gummersbach campus, third floor)
-
Room 2:
COCO-S28 (Code & Context, Campus Köln Mülheim, Schanzenstr. 28, 4th floor, exact room will be determined ad hoc. Door is usually open, otherwise ring.)
-
Video conference link:
https://th-koeln.zoom-x.de/j/4425088059?pwd=K3hQOXRFa0YzUmZYSVRIejlZRklKdz09&omn=65126212919
(only in exceptional cases and if explicitly communicated in advance for the day)
- Miro Board used for brainstorming and planning our deliverables
-
During the module, you can
use this Miro Board.
- Discord Server for fast Communication
-
Discord has been proven as a very effective platform for information sharing, discussions, and consultations. Therefore, please join the ArchiLab Discord Server at
https://discord.gg/YYNYb5whU8.
Navigate to channel
#rollenzuweisung
and click on
gp.
Then you automatically get access to the channel(s) relevant for this module.
Project Description
For the general project definition, please see
the project page in the Master Digital Science web portal.
For the introduction, we meet on 24.04.2026 in room 3219. After that, we will organize ourselves in an agile way.
Sources on MSD 2.0
Literature
MSD 1.0
MSD 2.0
How to get started
Attend the kickoff workshop on 24.04.2026 in room 3219. I will give you an introduction to the Microservice Dungeon - motivation, architecture, and
history. Afterwards, you can start developing your own player, which will be the first phase of this project to get a feel for what MSD is all about.
This is how you can get started.
- If not done, install Docker on your machine. You will need it to run the game locally and to develop your player.
- Clone the local dev env repository from Gitlab: https://gitlab.com/microservice-dungeon/infrastructure/deployments/local-dev-env. It contains a docker-compose file to run the game locally on your
machine. The README of that repository contains instructions on how to set it up and run it.
- Create your player repository on Gitlab.
- If you are ok with Java, you can fork the MSD 2.0 Skeleton Player
to get a quick start.
- Scan the documentation and the sources of MSD 2.0 to understand the event protocol. The skeleton code should also help.
- As for the strategy for your player, these are probably the easiest first steps:
- Implement data structures for map and your robots
- Buy some robots
- Implement a simple strategy for moving your robots around. For example, you can just move them randomly around the map until you
find some resources.
- Or, you can implement a more complex strategy, e.g., by using graph algorithms to find the best path to the next resource.
Grading
The grading for this Guided Project will follow the
general grading scheme for Guided Projects outlined here.
Both the quality and the effort part of the grading will be based on
- commitment in contribution to the project (discussions, helping others, going the extra mile, offline work etc.)
- quality and effort in scientific research
- quality of model artefacts created in the project
- general architecture and code quality (where coding is involved)
Regular Status Meetings (via Zoom)
In addition to the workshops in presence, we will have regular online meetings to discuss the current status of the project, open questions,
blockers, and next steps.
Workshops
Fri 24.04.2026, 14:00 - 17:00: Kickoff Workshop
I will give you an introduction to the Microservice Dungeon - motivation, architecture, and history. Afterwards, we will set you up so that you can start developing your own player, which will be the first phase of this project to get a feel for what MSD is all about.
Workshop Location
Room:
3219 (Main building on the Gummersbach campus, third floor).
Goal of the day
The project is set up and ready to start.
Tue 12.05.2026, 11:00 - 17:00: First Codefight & Kickoff for Work on the Dungeon's Core Services
This workshop is marking the end of phase one of the project where you develop your own players. It should be a full day where you are able to finalize work on your player and then we make an example run and see who wins just for fun. In the second part of the day, we will take a deep dive into the topics you want to work on in the core services, and do a planning of the tasks we want to do there.
Workshop Location
Room:
3219 (Main building on the Gummersbach campus, third floor).
Goal of the day
The 2nd phase of the project is ready to start.
Mid June 2026, 13:00 - 17:00: Intermediate Workshop to Discuss Current Status
That should be half a day meeting in presence to discuss architectural questions, problems, obstacles, ideas.
Workshop Location
Room:
COCO-S28 (Code & Context, Campus Köln Mülheim, Schanzenstr. 28, 4th floor, exact room will be determined ad hoc. Door is usually open, otherwise ring.).
Goal of the day
Any issues are discussed and clarified.
End of July, 13:00 - 17:00: Final Workshop to with Another Codefight
This is the workshop to close the project. Your solution should be in a state that it can actually be applied. We will do another code fight with the players that you developed in the beginning and we will see how your enhancement(s) to the core services have improved the game.
Workshop Location
Room:
COCO-S28 (Code & Context, Campus Köln Mülheim, Schanzenstr. 28, 4th floor, exact room will be determined ad hoc. Door is usually open, otherwise ring.).
Goal of the day
Project is completed (mostly).
In September 2026 (to be seen, often after the vacation time), 13:00 - 17:00: Final Presentation on GP Presentation Day
The Guided Project Presentation Day is a kind of mini-conference where all the Guided Projects present their results.