I have a couple questions about MatchMaker to find out if it is appropriate for my needs.
My game is designed for community servers. Can MatchMaker be used to provide Server Browser functionality. That is, can anyone that spins up an in-game or dedicated server, can register the game server as active in MatchMaker?
Can game clients search for active game servers, eg: by region, or low ping.
Will MatchMaker help with Nat Hole Punch?
Have you checked the Lobby service?
Looks like it fits exactly your need.
Lobby uses P2P by default and can be used with the Relay service which solves all the Nat problems.
Hi Zaddo,
Currently Matchmaker only supports integration with Unity Game Server Hosting (GSH, formerly called Multiplay).
When you configure Matchmaker in your Unity Dashboard, you will link a GSH fleet (bunch of servers with your game binary configured) to your Matchmaker queue/pool. As players are matched together, Matchmaker allocates a server in that fleet where players can then connect to the IP : port of that server.
When using Matchmaker/GSH, Hole punching / NAT punch-through is not needed since players will be the one initiating the network connection the server, which is already open and accepting connections at the IP: port given. So in that sense yes Matchmaker does “help”.
Matchmaker will soon (this year) be offering a Peer Hosting capability, where players themselves will be the game hosts! Other players can then join the game through the use of Lobby and Relay products.
When Peer Hosting is offered in Matchmaker, the use of Relay will definitely help with NAT issues as players will make use of Relay servers instead of establishing a direct connection to the host/each other (packets will always be sent to the relay server first and then relayed to the players).
So maybe with Peer Hosting, “game” browsing could be a possibility…would like to hear more about your use case. But as of now there’s no plans in the works to support provided game servers.
Hope that answers some of your questions!
You’re 2 fast @FlorianAtUnity !