Which networking solution is best for me

Unity Engine
1

Hello, I am currently looking into networking solutions for my billiard game and i would like some advice.

Obviously the game is highly physics based, in which I use bullet physics for unity.

As I was reading into networking as I am new to this, I realized that allot of variation may happen when doing physics on separate devices. which can cause paradoxes and the game to breakdown… so i though that it is best to have the game be run on a server and only input be taken from the seperate devices, that way only one physics calculations set is being done, and no discrepancy arise…

i have looked into forge networking and photon bolt, also there is photon Server which seems to be similar to Forge networking in respect to you yourself provide the servers…

i liked photon bolt but i wasnt sure it could host the game on the server… i like forge but i need to provide the servers which may be costly and also i have read some post that not much has been made with forge networking being truly successfull…

any comments and also other networking solutions are welcome.
thanks in advance.

2

Why are you against having a server? Due to pretty much everyone on the internet being behind a NAT router, games require a server even if it is just to facilitate the connection. So your decision isn’t about whether you want a server or not, but whether you want to manage your own server or pay a premium for someone else to manage the server.

(LAN games and expecting your users to manually enter port forwarding settings into their router are the exception to requiring a server)

As far as deciding on your network API, part of the decision should be on who do you want to manage the server(s) and how much of your game do you want managed server side. The server can be as simple as a match making and hole punching server, to a fully authoritative game server, and anything in between.

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