Learning multiplayer: where to start?

M

Madboy James

Member
I plan on making a prototype cooperative PvE game to learn how to make a multiplayer game.

However I'm not sure what the best approach to start off is.

I see that there is a PUN add on, but I'd rather not buy PUN, plus the add on, for a learning experience. Additionally, PUN itself is recommendeding Fusion or Quatum instead. If I can use the free PUN asset with the add on, that might be the way to go.

Ideally I'd be able to use netcode, which I see is in the add on being made by Pesadelo do Espantalho, but that asset does not exist yet, nor do I know the price.

I could do it all myself, but I'd rather have some boilerplate to get something working quicker (and have good examples to reference).

Are there decent options I didn't state, or is there some UCC networking documentation/ resources?

Any thoughts are welcome.
 
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The PUN option is by far the easiest way to get up and running with multiplayer. If you consider the time the add-on will save you, it is exceptional value. PUN itself is free, for the first 20 CCU's. So you don't have to worry about additional costs until you publish your game. This is a proven solution. I started with the UCC+PUN+BD solution and had a prototype multiplayer and NPC game working within a week.

Pesadelo's promised package looks great and from his most recent posts, sounds like this should be available early in 2024. Based on his posts, it sounds like this will work the same as the PUN solution.

I went down a different path. I used the UCC PUN add-on as a template and wrote my own netcode. I used an open source solution, Forge Alloy, for the low level transport layer. This gave me a lot more flexibility and avoided any additional costs. But this is not a path for the faint hearted.

As far as I know, there are no other multiplayer options for UCC.

If you want some background information on netcode. I highly recommend Glenn Fielders articles at https://gafferongames.com/
 
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