Tips for newbies in multiplayer 2020-May

Hello everyone!

I read some posts here and i´m totally lost. I saw a tutorial on internet saying to use the multiplayer service which is inside unity, or anothers saying to use Photon. I researched a little about them and discovered that o unity will be no longer be used, but on my point of view it was the easier method i saw.

Do you guys have any site with an updated tutorial on how to start from zero, having in mind all this changes, please?

As im a indie developer, i don´t have a great bugdet to spend on servers, it is just a hobby and i want to understand how to build it, like a MMO, but with restrictions of course.

Thank you!!!

 

A tutorial would have to be specific to the networking API you choose. There is currently no fully supported networking API included with Unity (Unet is deprecated, and the next networking solution is in alpha stage). There are plenty of 3rd party API's to choose from.

For an MMO though you may want to create your own networking to fix the requirements, but there are assets on the store, like uMMORPG which uses Mirror, which can help you get one up and going relatively easily.

 

Hi Joe, thank you for the answer! Do you know any youtube video that show/explain how can i create a network, please? It sounds not so easy now, but probably with patience i can cover it.

Maybe a hosted game like Diablo style should be enough, there is no need to be a massive multiplayer, but play along with a friend is enough, in Android.

The network layer is different from Computer and Android?

Thanks!

 

A Diablo style game is very different from MMO and much easier to realize.

Pick either networking engine and go with it, except maybe uNet and the upcoming networking of Unity. All packages come with a few samples and a Youtube search will provide the tutorials you miss.
Virtually all networking solutions have a free tier, so playing with a friend is not making you bankrupt.
The Photon Cloud is free for up to 20 players at the same time (during development time, etc) and it doesn't suffer from the hurdle of hosting games in the client (it's using a server that everyone connects to and that distributes the messages).

If your game becomes the next viral hit, you'd need to come up with some scheme to make some money but that's already a problem that's good to have.

 

Hi Tobias! Thank you for the answer! I agree with you, it is a good problem haha, but im afraid of how I will handle this. Should i start with a paid mmo to keep the cash on positive or go for a free to play?
I bought a course on Udemy, and I could instantiate and control a game object in a pc and android, that was amazing! I used PUN 2 to this, but the prices was kind salty for me. The dollar on my region is really high hahaha i just had some problems with both rotations, but no big deal so far. As you said, it is not so hard!

But thank you!! , I ll keep learning more and more.

 

You should start by forgetting about the term MMO. It implies that 1000s of users can (potentially) interact in an open world and that's out of reach.
Aside from that: Start any way you like. How about you try to make a simple game as fun as you can think of and manage? Have fun learning before you worry about money. Should you use Photon Free with 20 CCUs only, there is no chance you accidentally run into costs. The drawback: You can only play with max 20 users at the same time.
There is a 100 CCU "subscription", which has a one time fee and allows 100 simultaneous players (in multiple matches/rooms). Again: No chance of this getting more expensive than what you decided to invest. To get 100 concurrent players, you already need a decent game (not everyone who downloads the game will plays all the time).

But if cost is a defining factor for you, go with Mirror, MLAPI, Forge or any other which includes the server/host in-Unity. There are several free ones. You "just" need to ask them how matchmaking is done (I don't know if everyone has to do it on their own)...

 

I highly recommend this guys Udemy course on PUN2.

https://www.udemy.com/course/build-multiplayer-games-with-unity-and-photon-pun-2/

On the other hand, if you tough it out with Unity for the next year you will have a good understanding of the new multiplayer system when it is fully implemented.

I also highly recommend Friz's uMMORPG if your interested an MMORPG framework that you can start with and build upon. His code is well written, documented and easy to add to. uMMORPG has discord and Patreon addons.

 

Hello everyone, thank you for the answer! I´ll start really small ad see what happens.. I should stay focused on the core and maybe after i´ll implement the multiplayer, and then, start expanding the game with new animations, sprites, FX etc.

Thank you!!!!

 

Focusing on the core without multiplayer can be helpful for building a working prototype, but networking ends up being integrated into pretty much every aspect of a multiplayer game. So I'd recommend integrating multiplayer from the beginning.

 

Good to know that, thank you! This make totally sense. I will work on it.

Thank you joe!