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OpenDAoC

RoleDeveloper & Technical Writer
TypeSide Project
PeriodOct 2021 – Oct 2023

Background​

Dark Age of Camelot came out in 2001. Massively multiplayer online game. Most people have never heard of it; a small, stubborn community has never stopped playing. OpenDAoC is an open-source server emulator for the game, built in C# on .NET from the Dawn of Light source code.

I joined in 2021 because I wanted to help recreate the 2003-era version--the snapshot most of the community considers the golden age. Plenty of private servers have tried. Few have done it well.

I started where I usually start: documentation. The project needed someone to organize the codebase docs, the server configuration, the operational workflows. Straightforward enough. What nobody planned for--including me--was that reading code all day to document it would turn into writing code. You see things you can fix. Then things you can improve. Then features. So I did.

Within a few months I was contributing C# daily. Bug fixes, enhancements, new features across the full emulator stack: game mechanics, database queries, server config, client-server interactions. The codebase is large and old enough that every change means understanding systems designed twenty years ago by people who aren't around to explain them. Turns out the documentation habit wasn't just useful for writing--it was the only reason I could contribute code at all.

Eventually, competing private servers made our original plan impractical. The team went open source instead. Released the whole codebase. Now anyone can stand up their own server using our work, and the documentation is a big part of why that's actually possible rather than theoretical.

What I Did​

  • Contributed daily code in C# across the OpenDAoC server emulator, delivering bug fixes, enhancements, and new features with minimal regression.
  • Wrote and maintained project documentation covering codebase architecture, server configuration, database schemas, and operational workflows.
  • Performed database development and querying in MariaDB and Microsoft SQL Server to support game mechanics and server administration.
  • Participated in the transition from private server to open-source project, ensuring documentation and code quality supported community adoption.
  • Managed source control workflows using Git, GitHub, and GitLab, including branching strategies, pull requests, and code review processes.
  • Configured and maintained development environments across macOS, Windows, and Linux, including Docker containers and virtual machines.

Key Skills​

C# · .NET Core/Framework · Software Development · Programming · SQL · MariaDB · Microsoft SQL Server · Databases · Database Querying · Git · GitHub · GitLab · Source Control · Version Control · Pull Requests · SDLC · Technical Writing · Documentation · Engineering Documentation · Release Notes · Editing · Topic-Based Writing · Research · Task Management · Collaboration · Web Content · JetBrains Rider · JetBrains DataGrip · Visual Studio · Visual Studio Code · Docker · Google Cloud Engine · Virtual Machines (VMs) · Linux · macOS · Windows · SSH · Terminal · XML · JSON · Markdown · HTML · CSS · Adobe Photoshop · Parallels Desktop · Installation Guides · Reference Guides · Wiki · Open Source