Become a sponsor to Andrew Bates

I build connective tissue that keeps multiplayer communities alive. My work focuses on reverse engineering proprietary game protocols and re-implementing their matchmaking engines, social integrations, etc. as federated game services, using distributed server infrastructure.

What I'm working on:

• EchoTools: Lead maintainer of a complete VR game backend re-implementation, from protocol handlers to Discord-integrated matchmaking
• Federated game services: Distributed systems that let communities run their own infrastructure instead of depending on centralized servers
• Protocol reverse engineering: Cracking proprietary network protocols so they can be reimplemented in the open
• Runtime modification tools: Patchers and loaders that extend closed clients to work with community infrastructure

Why Sponsorship Matters

This work spans both code and community--matchmaking systems, debugging production issues at 3am, and coordinating with guilds and server operators to keep services running smoothly. Sponsorship lets me dedicate more time to building robust, well-documented infrastructure instead of just "good enough" hacks.

It means better matchmaking algorithms, cleaner code-bases, and tools that other communities can fork for their own preservation efforts. It also means I can spend time mentoring contributors, writing documentation, and making these systems accessible to non-experts.

When you sponsor this work, you're supporting infrastructure that outlives corporate decisions and backing communities that refuse to let their platforms die.

_{human generated, AI-edited}