"PerfectScale has been a game-changer. The insights have not only solved immediate issues but also prepared us for future growth as we expand to more platforms and users." — Rumby Osei, Senior DevOps Engineer at Riftweaver
Riftweaver Snapshot
- Industry: Gaming
- Headquarters: New Your City
- Tech Stack: AWS EKS, Datadog
- PerfectScale Plan: Free
- We spoke to: Rumby, Osei, Senior DevOps Engineer at Riftweaver (team of one)
Results
- Reduced CPU throttling by nearly 59% in critical APIs
- Improved user experience by resolving performance bottlenecks
- Enabled a single DevOps engineer to manage scaling with limited bandwidth
Who is Riftweaver?
Riftweaver is an innovative gaming studio that has made big strides in the past year. From launching its flagship game to introducing gameplay on platforms like Steam and iPads, the studio has over 80,000 downloads of its game. With a small team of just 15 employees, Riftweaver’s backend infrastructure is managed by a single DevOps engineer, Rumby Osei—who ensures the game’s infrastructure scales efficiently while delivering a seamless experience for its growing player base.
The Challenge
"When I joined Riftweaver, the game wasn’t scaling or handling production-ready load. My role was to get us there.”
Riftweaver faced challenges in scaling its Kubernetes environments to handle unpredictable game player load as it moved from closed beta to early access and public launch.
With a production cluster and multiple non-production environments running on AWS EKS, Osei relied on Cluster AutoScaler (CAS) for node scaling and Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA) for pod scaling. However, when some of their services began to have throttling issues, she looked to VPA for assistance but quickly hit several roadblocks.
"VPA didn’t provide historical data or let me generate consistent results. I couldn’t go back and see what had changed over time. I even had to write a script to pull down all the VPAs for each deployment just to compare data."
Key pain points for Riftweaver included:
- CPU throttling: Frequent throttling during load tests and live gameplay, leading to lag and poor user experiences.
- Time-consuming troubleshooting: Manual efforts to analyze performance issues, often with conflicting metrics.
- Limited visibility: Existing tools like VPA (Vertical Pod Autoscaler) lacked historical insights and actionable recommendations, making optimization cumbersome.
Why PerfectScale?
Rumby Osei began looking for a solution that could help her make more data-driven right-sizing decisions, reduce performance bottlenecks, and provide actionable insights into resource usage. After a discussion with PerfectScale’s team, Rumby saw its potential to bridge the gap between load-testing predictions and real-world user behavior to improve the resiliency of her workloads.
"PerfectScale’s UI and risk profiles gave me confidence in the recommendations. It also introduced features I hadn’t seen before—like monitoring environmental impact with CO2 tracking."
The Solution: Optimizing Scaling and Performance with PerfectScale
PerfectScale is now an integral part of Riftweaver’s infrastructure strategy.
Osei uses it to:
- Reduce CPU throttling: PerfectScale identified high-risk workloads and provided tailored recommendations for CPU adjustments.
- Simplify resource allocation: Insights into underutilized nodes and workloads enabled Osei to optimize both pod placement and node selection, reducing waste and improving efficiency.
- Improve resiliency: By prioritizing changes based on PerfectScale’s risk profiles, Riftweaver minimizes issues like dropped or duplicate API calls, which previously frustrated users.
Results: Smoother Gameplay and Operational Efficiency
The results speak for themselves. PerfectScale is helping Riftweaver scale to meet growing demand while reducing operational overhead.
Key outcomes include:
- 59% reduction in CPU throttling: Six critical APIs showed significant improvements, ensuring smoother gameplay for users.
- Improved user experience: Players experienced fewer interruptions, even during peak usage, reinforcing Riftweaver’s commitment to quality.
- Streamlined operations for a one-person DevOps team: Osei gained the ability to proactively manage scaling and resiliency with minimal manual effort.
- Cost-effective scaling: As part of PerfectScale’s Community Package, Riftweaver accessed these capabilities for free, ensuring the team could optimize their infrastructure without additional financial strain.
"PerfectScale has been a game-changer. The insights have not only solved immediate issues but also prepared us for future growth as we expand to more platforms and users."
Why PerfectScale Works for Riftweaver
PerfectScale’s intuitive interface, robust analytics, and actionable recommendations made it an essential tool for Riftweaver’s small but dynamic team. Features like environmental impact tracking and HPA visibility also aligned with the studio’s forward-thinking approach to infrastructure management.
By integrating PerfectScale, Riftweaver has optimized its Kubernetes environment, ensuring scalability, reliability, and a superior player experience. As the studio continues to grow, PerfectScale remains an important partner in its journey to deliver exciting, lag-free gameplay to players worldwide.
Ready to scale your infrastructure like Riftweaver?
Book a demo with PerfectScale today to reduce costs, boost resilience, and empower your team to deliver better experiences—faster.
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