Any fast ways to prototype an authoritative server game?

Are there any ways to quickly prototype and test a mutiplayer game with authoritative dedicated servers? If not, what's the fastest way to prototype even if it doesn't use authoritative dedicated servers.

 

Not that I've found. I've been working on the same authoritative server game for 4 years now, and have switched server software 3 times during that period. Finally using SmartFox. It's a long hard slog with new things to learn at every turn. A thousand google searches for this, that, and the other is the only way I've found to move forward.

 

I would recommend SmartFox too. Sometimes for prototyping I use Javascript on the server side instead of Java. Especially for the quick and dirty tests. It is quite effective.

 

Fast development and networked games don't go together. That said, I'd choose a network solution with a lot of high level functionality for the fastest means of prototyping.

 

If you're purely prototyping game mechanics for a multiplayer game, you could consider good old-fashioned split-screen?