DuelDog CS:GO Esports Platform MVP
An MVP where players pay an entry fee, play 1v1 CS:GO matches on dedicated servers and win prizes
About the project
- Client: DuelDog, a US esports startup
- Industry: Esports and online gaming
- Region: USA
- Timeline: December 2017 – December 2018
- Technologies: ASP.NET MVC, C#, SourceMod, RCON, PayPal, Azure and AWS
- Team: .NET developers, a game-server developer, a front-end developer and a project manager
DuelDog is a US esports startup. The founders wanted to test one idea with real players: two people pay an entry fee, play a 1v1 CS:GO match, and the winner receives a cash prize. So they needed a CS:GO esports platform MVP, a working first version that proves the idea, and they needed it fast.
We built this MVP: a website, the logic that runs a match on dedicated game servers, and payments through PayPal. The client prepared the mockups, and we turned them into a working product.
What we delivered
THE CHALLENGE
- Matches on dedicated CS:GO servers.
- Results that nobody reports by hand.
- Real money in and out.
- A launch in months, not years.
THE SOLUTION
- A website built from the client's mockups.
- A C# match engine for the game servers.
- PayPal deposits and admin-approved payouts.
- A matchmaker with a queue and map vote.
THE OUTCOME
- An MVP live in 2018 with CS:GO.
- Automatic results from the game servers.
- Withdrawals through an admin dashboard.
- 2v2 matches and a server manager in May 2018.
An MVP has one job: to let real players pay, play and get paid, so the idea can be tested.
From sign-up to a paid-out win
A player registers, deposits money by PayPal or card and chooses an entry. Then the matchmaker looks for an opponent of equal skill, and both players press Accept. After that, they vote on the map, and the platform assigns a free server.
The platform, not the players, reports the result. As a result, nobody has to type a score or argue about it. Finally, the winner's balance grows, and the winner can ask for a withdrawal.
The game servers
The core of the MVP is a C# application that talks to dedicated CS:GO servers. It starts the match, shows the Accept and Start Game buttons to both players on time, and kicks everyone from the server when the match ends. Meanwhile, it collects the statistics.
To find the winner, we adapted a SourceMod plugin. Out of the box it only builds a leaderboard, while the platform needs the kills and a clear winner. The application also reads the server logs and sends commands to the servers through the RCON protocol.
The website and the design
The client prepared the mockups, and we built the pages from them: the landing page, the games, About, Contact, FAQ and the legal pages, plus a player profile with a balance and cards for the entry fees. In June 2018, new mockups arrived in Zeplin with a redesigned landing page, and we rebuilt it.
The client reviewed every version in rounds. For example, the blue bar turned green to match the brand, the About block moved under the games, and the entry cards got clearer labels.
Payments and withdrawals
Players deposit with PayPal or a card. To withdraw, a player sends a request, and a row appears in the admin dashboard. If the admin presses Accept, the money goes to the player through PayPal, and if the admin presses Deny, it returns to the balance. The page tells the player to allow up to 72 hours.
From 1v1 to 2v2
In May 2018, we added 2v2 matches. For this reason, the platform got a server manager and a queue manager. The servers report when they connect, disconnect and change status, and the queue treats all waiting players as one line and sends them to the server that the manager picks. In addition, we updated the team commands and the way the platform debits the losing side.
What turned out to be hard
- Real matches break in new ways. In March 2018, the client played three test matches and met three different failures: players left right after the start, results never reached the site and the map vote timer showed the wrong text. We fixed each case.
- A database that had to change. The first match tables did not fit the map vote, so we reworked them in January 2018.
- Servers that fall asleep. In July 2018, we tested server settings so that servers never go into hibernation.
- Money and e-mail. PayPal returns a payment that nobody claims for 30 days, so we studied how payouts behave before we built withdrawals.
Result of the MVP
The MVP went live in 2018 with CS:GO as the first game. The design also shows Dota 2, Overwatch, PUBG and StarCraft as coming soon.
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