Is HLAPI dead?

Is there a time frame as to when a decision will be made? This month? This quarter? This year?

As a unity newbie / hobbyist. One of the hardest parts for me when creating my game is server authoritative multiplayer / lag compensation. The HLAPI was my only hope, as I don't wan't to pay the hidden windows photon tax.

Its absurd that this wheel has to be reinvented over and over and over for every multiplayer game. Why hasn't this been abstracted away yet like a graphics engine?

 

The MLAPI I suggested has built in Lag Compensation!


The thing I see is that there are lot's of UDP libs to handle the networking. But as for the layer ontop to abstract away and deal with simple game logic (object spawning etc) there is not that many alternatives. The only I've found are the MLAPI, Photon and HLAPI. I honestly suggest you guys checking out MLAPI. I think you can really benefit from it. It shares the same model as the HLAPI and you will feel very familiar. I am also activley adding advanced features at the request of users.

 

I feel like this big big change should have been mentioned in a blog post or official announcement.

I for one feel multiplayer is a big part of the engine, and assuming unity users (who the majority of by and large are not professionals) will be able to use the LLAPI to create robust networked games, and still be willing to pay you for the services, seems a bit much.

We definitely need a higher level API. And promised features, libraries etc that are suddenly being moved to "community driven" (a.k.a unsupported) should be announced officially on the main website to stop panic. If we the few who read on here are panicking, i wonder what all those unsuspecting regular non forum using users will think when they all of a sudden discover this.

I like a lot of the community were very excited to see multiplayer was being brought to the masses. Now will have to rely on third party tools, which is doable but not ideal. So yes, definitely would have preferred not to find this out by digging through forums, which is a pretty involved process and puts a lot of the accountability of knowing what decisions you are making on the user which does not seem like good communication.

Love the work that was done up till the point, would be great to get it usable or at least help the community get it usable, rather than abandoning it entirely as it seems to be.

 

Anyone else feel like unity has gone off track a little?

Their whole mission is to democratize game development for the masses, yet it seems they have only come half way. While anyone can now compile and make a single player game quickly, multiplayer development is still stuck way behind. While its true that multiplayer games require different networking solutions depending on the style of game. I feel like there may be 3-5 generic networking models that could cover the vast bulk of use cases.

Dota2 / LoL / HoN / (insert moba here) don't need different networking solutions
H1Z1 and PUBG dont need different networking solutions
Most RTS games dont need different networking solutions and could probably follow the same model as a MOBA.
Heck even some MMOs would not require different networking solutions if they follow the vanilla World of Warcraft tab target / battlegrounds / raids / seamless zones model.

If the only difference between your game and others in the game genre is the story, characters, artwork and non-technical ideas, there is a good chance you don't need a 100% unique networking solution.

Now its perfectly fair if I am simplifying things or over looking specific technical points. I am certainly not a expert. However it just feels frustrating to watch Unity spend all their man hours trying to beat Unreal in a can-you-top-these-graphics-and-fancy-rendering-features contest.

None of this matters if people are stuck trying to figure out how to minimize what their game clients are sending their server because their hit detection and frame rates go to hell when there are more than 40 players in close proximity fighting each other.

 

I will download and play with this tonight, thank you for spending the time to put this together.