Combining Power and Simplicity in a Groupware Toolkit

Many tools exist for the development of real-time distributed groupware, but most of these tools do not provide an appropriate balance of power and simplicity for necessary for prototyping or research. To better support the middle ground in groupware development, we built a new toolkit called GT/SD. It provides solutions to problems of real-world network performance without sacrificing the simple programming approach needed for rapid prototyping. GT/SD builds on the successes both of earlier groupware toolkits and game networking libraries, and implements seven ideas that help solve problems of rapid development, network delay, quality of service, and testing. We introduce the design and the benefits of GT/SD, and demonstrate the toolkit through several examples.