Third Party Help on choosing the best tool for multiplayer game (Photon, GameSparks, etc.)

Hello, I'm building a multiplayer game, fast paced, with probably 10 to 16 players per map/level, kinda based on FPS gameplay.

I was developing it with Photon, but someone advised me to look into GameSparks (since Photon doesn't take care of "user management"), and which has now a realtime SDK besides their cloud server logic.

At this moment I'm a bit confused on what to choose, so I came here to see if I could find some help on this.

I read about GameSparks and thought of using it without any other service/library. But since I need the realtime side of things (like Photon), and I read that GameSparks' realtime SDK isn't suitable for this type of game, I thought that maybe I had to go back to Photon.

I would like to know your opinion on what would be the best choice for this game, if Photon + GameSparks, Photon + PlayFab or GameSparks (with their Realtime SDK), or any other option.

Thanks!

 

I would avoid photon for something like this if you want the game to be secure and a bit more dificult to hack, unless security and the ability to have server sided logic arent a big deal. Get something that has an authoritative server model. Tons of different networking libraries are available, and its a very wide topic. Photon is great dont get me wrong but running logic only on clients is not really suitable for an FPS game where you want everyone to be on an equal playing field

 

Thanks for your reply.

You're totally right, but the game isn't really a FPS game, it just has some of its gameplay, if we can put it that way.

The problem is also that going for an authoritative server model will go into costs that aren't really suitable, at least for now. GameSparks and their Realtime SDK are really appealing, the only problem is from the little information found, it probably isn't suitable for a fast paced multiplayer game...

 

I would use Bolt, I been using for years, I own most of the Networking solutions and I find Bolt easy to use even if no experience for Networking which I had no networking experience. The support is great....

Photon owns it now as well..

Games like The Forest use it as well.

 

Photon Bolt is Authoritative . Or you can have non with it... Photon Pun, is another story...

 

Thank you for your reply!

I already thought about Bolt, seemed like a great option, but I started with PUN because I could test it for free, to see how it works.

Could Bolt be used in PS4 and XboxOne, and also give the ability for cross platform multiplayer?

Also, could it be used on PlayFab as a custom server, as in using their availability on you uploading your custom server (in this case Bolt), or would I have to turn to other options for hosting?

 

Yes, contact support@boltengine.com for details. Playfab works fine dedicated server hosting.

 

Stanchion beat me to it..

 

I would highly recomend Gamesparks, photon, unet, tnet simply offer no completion. Gamesparks RealTime services are leagues ahead of Unet and photon for customization and utility, both of which lack liveOps support, scaleablity, tech support, social integrations, security, Iaps, etc etc etc. Unitys own cloud service pricing is only slightly worse than photons, which is absolutely abismal. Gamesparks gives you 100,000 monthly users for free if your an an indie or student, (Indie and student). If real time is you need Gamesparks has everything you could need, and a ton of things you didnt even know you wanted^^

 

So I could use Bolt as my custom server in playfab, is that correct?

They do have it on their page, but going further down the page they say that "Bolt is a so called 'listen server'. A listen server works like a dedicated server, but runs in the same process as the game client (Master Client).". That's not fully authoritative, I guess... But does Bolt support the full authoritative way?

Thank you for your opinion! Well, the person who talked to me about it had the same opinion, but I couldn't get much info on whether their Realtime SDK would work well with a faster paced game with 10-16 players on each map. Do you have any opinion on this? Would it work well?

 

Yes, Bolt was made for authoritative games and makes it as easy as possible. It lets you have a master client or non auth instead if you want to.

 

That's great. And hosting Bolt as custom game server on playfab, I wouldn't need Zeus and could instead use playfab's matchmaking? Would it work well and would it be able to do cross platform multiplayer?

 

Yes

 

That's great! Thank you for your help!

 

again Stanchion beat me to it, Stanchion works for Bolt, so his information is best.. and he is on there Slack for support as well, answering questions.

We are using Non Auth for a mobile game right now, and its working well, we have use Auth in the past with Bolt since it was made for it. Which worked well.

 

So does bolt handle interpolation/extrapolation, lag compensation, and all that other stuff for you as well? If so how well does it work and is it at all limiting?

 

yes, and yes and what other stuff for you?? That can mean anything, ..... It does alot out of the box for you. and easier to use if you are a new networking programmer. I can tell you this, and great for experience users as well.

 

Thanks for the insight