Unity 5 and Networking

Is there any gossip about networking in Unity 5? For example I would like to see:

  • Networking API for Windows Store/Phone
  • Better Unity Master Server for testing (it keeps going off!)
  • Perhaps a cloud based Master Server for commercial use (like Photon - but cheaper and less restrictive)
  • Cloud based services for games like highscores so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.

In the video it said there were going to be new “cloud based services” for Unity. But it didn’t say what these might be!??

I know things like cloud based highscores, peer matching, social network integration, would be amazing. (Google Play has some of these cloud services but it would be nice if they were integrated into Unity).

Basically anything that would help making an online or multiplayer game easier.

I would imagine things to do with networking are the hardest thing to implement. But also the thing most game players (rather than developers) want!

So whats the goss?

They were referring to upcoming Unity Cloud, which is apparently currently in beta.

Initially Unity Cloud will offer features such as advertising and cross promotion of games made with Unity.

What else the future holds, we don’t know, but it might very well become something similar to Game Center, etc.

Unity 5.0 will not have any updates on the in game networking (Unity Cloud is unrelated to that). But we are planning big updates to our networking tech for the 5.x release cycle, as we have publicly announced at Unite Tokyo today. In Unity 5.x we plan to introduce a completely new network system we built from scratch called UNET.

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Great news! When/Where will more information be released? I can’t find anything from Unite Tokyo.

The single biggest advantage Unreal has over Unity IMO, is great networking. If you want to make a moderately fast-paced game in Unity right now, you need to spend a LOT of time on networking. So far, there hasn’t been a single fast-paced Unity game to my knowledge without absolute shit networking.

Thats is good news! Can we get some more info about this?

That’s interesting news. Well I guess unity 5.1 won’t be out for a year or so, so I won’t use it for my current game.

Can I suggest UNET should have an optional cloud based service like Photon? At the moment compiling and installing your own Master Server seems a bit like something from 2010. Old school. Retro.

I pray that this information is incorrect, LOL! What about Photon is that fast?

Well, to some the prices are decent. But if you are expecting more than a handful of players on at the same time it gets pretty expensive IMO. I would prefer something free! (Like many cloud services are in this day and age - such as Google Plays multiplayer API) And not have to worry about how many players are playing at the same time.

The pricing tiers for Photon cloud would work out for our projects if they had custom server side logic.

[quote]
All custom logic takes place on the application client to allow a zero-hassle experience.
[/quote]

:cry:

So what will UNET do?

I am primarily looking for a cross platform solution - Windows and Linux that has a client-server architecture and low latency.
I am not looking for a cloud solution personally… I am looking for a solution that can be hosted by the end user with relative ease.

But these are my needs…

  • HeadClot

Also sorry for the bump…

So… earliest functional in version 6.4? Don’t throw out the current implemenation before that…

Sounds pretty nice.

+ I got one suggestion for the network part.
This game-creating-engine needs a better built-in Voice networking system.

So if I understand correctly, when UNET and Unity 5.x will be released, playing in multiplayer games made in Unity will not require the Unity plugin installation?

But before that happens will it be possible to play multiplayer games made in Unity 5.0 without Unity plugin? Maybe Unity 5.0 + RakNet or Unity 5.0 + Photon?

uhhhh what are you talking about

The Unity plugin is for games embedded in a web page. It has nothing to do with multiplayer.

I was thinking about multiplayer games embedded in a web page:

So if I understand correctly, when UNET and Unity 5.x will be released, playing in multiplayer games made in Unity and embedded in a web page will not require the Unity plugin installation?

But before that happens will it be possible to play multiplayer games made in Unity 5.0 and embedded in a web page without the Unity plugin? Maybe Unity 5.0 + RakNet or Unity 5.0 + Photon?

Like Dallon said:

You can do multiplayer with raknet or photon or “soon” with unet.

You can do browser games with the webplayer plugin now or with webgl later.

It would be cool if Unity has such features built-in. In the meantime, Parse has Unity integration. It’s a pretty easy cloud-based way of doing account systems, metrics, high score charts, etc. without having to run the backend yourself. https://parse.com/products/unity