The FAQ appears to be empty, so I’ll just go ahead and ask here. I’m not looking for very elaborate answers, just a few pointers =)
SO, I want to develop a 2D (maybe 2.5D) multiplayer platform game where four to eight players can fight in real time over the internet. Think online super smash bros. brawl.
Q1: Is setting up this kind of networking feasible using Unity 4 (free) ? Do I need anything in addition?
Q2: Will I need to set up a custom server, or can a player host the game? Pros/cons?
Q3: Will Android and iOS users be able to play with each other?
Q4: Where is the best place for further reading on this subject?
Aside: Will a unity powered game perform well enough compared to a native Android/iOS game? There will probably be parallaxing and about ten sprites/models onscreen at once.
What I would look at is Photon Unity Networking. Search “Photon” in the asset store and that should pop up. It has good documentation and it will allow your users to have hosts rather than a server on your side (how ever you may want PHP and MYSQL for leaderboards or something right?). From what I can tell you would be able to have cross platform, I don’t see why not. For further reading I would go here: Multiplayer Game Development Made Easy | Photon Engine
I personally don’t have a lot of experience with Photon, but I made a sample thing with it once where you could change the material on the other players block or something along those lines. If you know how to program it will be pretty easy to pick up.
If you have any questions feel free to PM me
Q1:
Any thirdparty networking solution usually uses “DotNet Sockets” and those require the “Pro” licenses for the mobile platforms.
In short: Unity free will only work with Unity’s built-in networking.
Q2:
Assuming you stick with Unity Networking, you will need a “Master Server” which lists the games that your customers host.
Q3:
I’m not sure if this is still a term in Apple’s store but afaik: iOS users should not be able to interact with any others. Ignore this rule at will
