Add RakNet 4 in Unity by Taking it Out. Or Create an Extendable Network Interface.

It seems there are many advantages to using the later RakNet 4 build. One being native support for Steam, PSN, Xbox Live, RakVoice, etc. Also it can handle MMO to some extent.

In making this wish two thoughts comes to mind:
Could we strip out built-in networking code and then apply it back via third party plugin ?
I can already hear the groans of remedial testing shock. But in the end, game maintenance gets easier. Mobile developers have smaller builds for publishing. The Unity codebase can be managed in separate trees.

Or we leave the current interface the same and make the network component extendable for server X ?
Everything looks the same from Unity Script api's but the network engine of choice is whatever you decide.

Third parties can check list what they support in their plugin. Unity customers can compare features between vendors. The learning curve remains the same as less game code has to change from the view point of the developer.

If the thirdparty so chooses they can add more features using their current plugin method (or suggest to Unity to add a new checkbox in the builtin api). Anyway the door is open for third partiers to win over customers who rely on the Network View concept.

Thanks,
Tom Acunzo
http://www.tomogames.com

 

I'd love this too.

 

Mobile games will not change in size at all as unity networking always was completely removable if you just disabled it in the settings so nothing going to change there.

main problem when making it 3rd party is that it no longer works without pro -> skip the hopes


Otherwise I wouldn't mind a real plugin based approach as higher profiles engine do it by defining a "network api" and then allowing you to replace the dll to be used wit whatever you want as long as it complies to the specifications.

only drawback is that the browser one will never work with this and this might be a kill criteria as web is one of the major points for unity when you compare it to its competition

 

Yeah I don't know how pro vs 'non pro' pricing would work but I would imagine you could stack on free and paid networkable options e.g. Unity Asset Server, Unity MMO Basic. Also perhaps some in house plugins could be 'pro only' but not totally eliminate a liter indie version.

 

don't see what the AS would have to do with it as it does not use unity networking, raknet etc at all ... Its not even related to the topic.

Also, I am willing to bet that hell freezes before there will be an official MMO solution, the support already now is running on its teeth getting major and important minor bugs fixed in time, by adding something a magnitude worse in complexity it wouldn't get better so MMO solutions are and likely always will be 3rd party or "why the hell do even consider to use unity if you have bw indie and herocloud which save you years and 6 figure in cost" support.
Also the market does not really yield that much money, the majority of non-asian MMO games fail to make it even into the greens if they go live and asian ones are extremely unlikely to license Unity if they can get BW Indie and HeroCloud, as such teams are focused at achieving their target not running after dreams for years.

 

I was speaking in the grander scheme of things - " I wouldn't mind a real plugin based approach as higher profiles engine do it ..." and how it would impact the pro and "non pro" user community for those "would be" in house solutions (Unity MMO Basic is just a made up example) and other thirdparty offerings. Something might have to give to enable this functionality when thinking in terms of managed / non managed dlls.

 

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