Shared and split screen Vs LAN and network for multiplayer

I'm currently having trouble making a shared screen multiplayer game work but as I'm still fairly green, I'm wary to try work out networking.

What are your pros and cons for both sides?

 

Depends on the game. More details needed.

 

If you're talking about design, more details will help, like Murgilod said.

If you're talking about implementation, networking is significantly more complicated than local multiplayer. That's the big con. Here are some more pros and cons, mostly from a design perspective:

Networking
Con: Complicated
Con: Typically requires more than one machine to test, play, or demo
Con: Can be less exciting for onlookers since you typically only see one player's view
Pro: People who aren't in the same room can play together (e.g., over Internet)
Pro: Supports more players than would fit on a single screen (e.g., PUBG)

Local multiplayer
Con: Players typically have to be in the same room; getting players together in the same place can be challenging
Con: Display can get crowded
Pro: Easier to implement
Pro: Only requires one machine to test, play, or demo
Pro: More fun for onlookers since you can typically see all players; makes a better party game

 

I really like local multiplayer when it's a sports game. I don't see a point in lan then. Split screen though...I don't know. Even though we have HD these days, the awkward aspect ratios are the problem.

 

I think local multiplayer still has a place in today's internet driven gaming. One of my favorite memories of gaming was playing the Gears of War campaigns with my brother.

So I think if it has the potential for fun local multiplayer, do that. It's easier to implement as well.

 

Local multiplayer is still a good solution for console games that are either casual in nature, or at least easy for newcomers to pick up. Because you should expect 1 of the 2 players to often be a visitor who doesn't have much experience with the game.

Local multiplayer doesn't work well for PC/Mac games due to the typical screen size being much smaller than a TV and the location of the computer often being a desk made for a single person rather than the center of a living room.

If the game will be split screen, this becomes a design problem for the UI due to needing to fit the UI into half the screen at an odd aspect ratio without blocking out the game, but at the same time in single player expanding the UI to fill the full screen without it feeling empty. Your game world might need to take split screen into account, because of the limited field of view in only 1 direction. For example, If split with the two player windows on top of each other, it will be difficult for a player to navigate a world with a lot of height differences because they will be hard to see. You might want a more flat world in that case.

 

Alternatively there are a lot of people that play games as couples. I play games with my wife (kids too sometimes). If a console game doesn't have split screen, we aren't buying it. The games don't have to be casual for split screen to work.

 

Same. I have a few single player games, but they're far outnumbered by multiplayer ones. At least for console, I'm not sure I've ever even checked if any of my PC games are split screen. My two cents is that it's pretty much mandatory for a console game and nice, but not a must-have for PC. Of course, this mostly only applies to what I'd call "party games:" Smash Bros, Halo, Madden, Mario Kart...