Why Stoke

Who I am

Hi, I’m Ben Drussell, a self-taught software developer who has been working in the industry for the past 15 years. I love learning, tech, science and coding. With the advent of agentic coding, I wanted to use this project as a chance to put this new technology to the test and see how far it could go. So, to be upfront: most of this project is written with the help of AI coding agents (Claude, Codex and others). I bring all of my experience to it, to make it as secure and easy to use as I can. Every change is reviewed by me, covered by automated tests, and checked before it’s released.

I wanted to put this section in the documentation because I think it will matter more and more to know who is making the software tools we use, in this new era of agentic coding. The human element of projects is going to become much more important in the coming years.

How it started

I have made several attempts at a project like this over the years, but I never had the time to make it the way I truly envisioned. For the longest time I’ve used CubeCoders’ great product, AMP, but it was a bit too general for what I wanted from a game server platform. It also lacked some security features that I wanted built into the whole system, hence the launcher with the Stoke tunnel built in. And managing mods while self-hosting these servers was always a pain. Some of Stoke’s ideas come from AMP; others are my own.

Now, with the help of agentic coding, I thought I’d give it a proper try. I’ve always loved creative “craft and survival” games like Minecraft and Valheim, which is why they are the first games I added. And so Stoke was born.

Why the name?

Why did I call it Stoke? Hey man, naming things is hard. I started by getting it working with Valheim, which has a lot of fires and hearths, and fire imagery in general. Plus, I’m a sucker for a “themed” project. So I picked Stoke and went with it: you stoke a fire to keep it going, and people gather around it. That’s where the rest comes from too: the Hearth, the campfire logo, and “Come join us by the fire.”

What I want Stoke to be

My vision for Stoke is an approachable, free platform that anyone can use to self-host game servers. These are the core tenets I want for this project:

Easy installation

I want Stoke to be easy for server admins to get running quickly, and, on the flip side, easy for the people who just want to get to playing with their friends.

Secure

I feel that people who run game servers tend to go about it rather insecurely, especially beginners. So I wanted to keep security in mind from the start. That’s why securing the panel with a Let’s Encrypt certificate works out of the box, and why building the Stoke tunnel and including it with the launcher was essential to me.

Smooth maintenance

When there are updates to the Stoke server itself, I want them to be as “magic by default” as possible, while still letting more technical admins dig into the details and configure things the way they want. The same goes for the players who use it. I don’t want players to have to think about maintaining mod lists, configs and different game profiles. I want them to be able to click Play with Stoke and be playing.

Maps

I’ve had a fascination with maps ever since I followed along with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli while reading The Lord of the Rings as a kid. I wanted to make a “social” map that helps players work together in these games, so I want the map to be front and center wherever possible.

Solid backups

People invest a lot of time and creativity in game servers like these. So I wanted a solid backup system, to make sure game server updates and mod changes can always be undone if something goes wrong.

Purpose-built

I don’t want Stoke to balloon into supporting every new “crafty” game that comes out. If I tried to support every possible game, it would become too hard to maintain, and the experience I want for this project would fall apart. (More on that in Fewer games, each done properly.)

Being purpose-built also means custom server and client mods or plugins, where a game allows them, to make everything as easy and smooth as possible for admins and players alike. I plan on adding more quality-of-life features for both through these mods.

Where it’s going

All of the following are things I have planned, but I reserve the right not to do any of them: this is a side project for now. (Some of it is also on the What’s planned list.)

Moderation

In this crazy world of online communication and social media, I want these servers to be easy for parents to moderate. One of the features I plan on adding is a set of parental controls and moderation tools that can be turned on for a server, to make it easier for parents to let their children play and socialize together online.

Games

These are games on my radar to add eventually. A few of them may join, one at a time, when each can be done properly, and I reserve the right to change my mind :)

• Hytale
• Astroneer
• Satisfactory
• Terraria
• Core Keeper
• Stardew Valley
• Rust
• ARK: Survival Ascended

Windows host

I want to make the server side an easy-to-install Windows service, for those who don’t want to mess with Docker. It will come with a system tray icon and update itself, to make it very easy to maintain.

NAS templates

I would like to make Stoke easy to install on platforms like Unraid, TrueNAS and HexOS. The Docker-first way I designed it should make that fairly straightforward.

Stoke tunnel relay

If this project gains traction and there is demand for it, I may add a relay for hosts whose ISP puts them behind CGNAT, where no port can be forwarded for the Stoke tunnel. I would open-source the relay for anyone who wants to host it themselves, and also provide a public default for those who don’t want to bother.

Get in touch

Questions, ideas, or just want to say hi? Write to hello@stokeserver.com.