Can we start a discussion of network game infrastructure for unity?
Of course Unity does not yet have realtime network play but eventually it will.
I wanted to start a discussion that may begin to answer some of the hardware/software questions.
Hopefully as this discussions progresses we can develop answers to questions such as:
server infrastructure
getting game ready for realtime multiplay
security
I’ll set up a scenario and ask a question:
Lets say I have a racing game, in that game a maximum of eight players will be interacting in realtime. So, at anytime 1-100+ races of eight players could be occurring simultaneously.
How should I plan for hardware for such a scenario?
Will an instance of Unity need to be run for each race on the server?
Should I be looking at some type of load-balancing solution?
What types of things should I be designing into a single player game to make it easier to enhance it to multiplay?
I know some of these may be pre-mature some may be idiotic. But figure the best way to get knowledge on this and get myself prepared is to just start asking questions.
All good questions to my mind and none are premature or even far fetched at all. I’m starting to think about these things too and have PMed Jonathan Czeck to try to get a project coded that will involve some of these elements … what if I have 100 simultaneous (card-like) games running with 2-4 players each … how am I going to accomplish this?
Sorry I can’t offer answers but I’m behind you 100% to explore these.
Could the silence indicate a possible network announcement for Unity at GDC?
Another thing I am trying to put in the game design plan is:
What if someone’s browser crashes? How would that impact gameplay, would the users character/auto disappear out of the game? Should the game pause on all other nodes to allow for the person to log back in?
sure i want to discuss this! just never have the time to seriously think about it.
you wouldn’t want to pause everyone if someone’s browser crashes. i’ve played where the avatar stays frozen in the game until a respawn. you also could remove it if they’ve timed out for x seconds (probably would want to let that be adjustable by the server admin).
also, your first post sounds like you plan to host all the games. i also plan to explore a set up with a master server where players can host their own. the master server acts a central point where players go to join the game but the game is played on the host server.
i don’t think you need to worry too much about differences in single and multi player. in most of what i’ve seen (which isn’t a ton), the multi player is totally different.
