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DevBlog #31 - Game

     We are back!!!

    After several months of not wanting anything to do with my game due to the sudden and unfortunate realization that I would have to restart everything, and also have to figure out how networking worked, I am back! I have done a lot of thinking, a lot of school, and a lot of everyday life things, but now I am back, and I have made some progress that I am wanting to share.

    First things first, Steam Multiplayer...

    Multiplayer is a very difficult thing to do for Unity, even more so on a very small budget ($0), and a very small amount of networking knowledge. In total, I have probably watched somewhere around 100-200 hours of networking tutorials for Unity, and I have only just scratched the surface of what I need to know and do. However, that does not mean that I have not made some progress, because I have. I just completed the most basic implementation of Steam matchmaking/multiplayer/lobby systems in the world. You can either create or join a lobby. If you create a lobby you are given a lobby ID (which you can share), and then you can start the game. To join, you add said given ID to the main menu, and then you are added to their lobby. The current network architecture that I am using is a peer-to-peer system where the person hosting the server is also a client on that server. This means I do not need to host a fleet of servers in the cloud for a crazy amount of money, and I have also found a way for multiplayer to scale. Normally quality multiplayer games try to stay away from this model due to concerns over latency, and power, but this works well with my game since it is a turn-based strategy game and not a graphics-heavy FPS. 

    Unfortunately, I now have no idea what to do. I am going to have to essentially rewrite all of my code to allow for both single and multiplayer systems. Additionally, I am going to need to make it so that the clients can talk to each other (not chat or voice, but metadata). Furthermore, I have to figure out how to make it so that cheating can't occur, and fix other network considerations such as: what happens if the host leaves? What happens if one of the players leaves? so on and so forth.

    I will get to this down the road as I learn more and more about networking and how to best do it for gaming. Right now though, I will share the specs.

    I am using Fish-Net as my networking solution paired with Steamworks Steam Haven and Fishysteamworks. This allows me to use Steam as a relay system to allow for secure and protected peer-to-peer multiplayer systems. I will need to create some sort of matching system based on rank and location, but that is for another day. I have also decided to stick with Unity and not move to another game engine like Godot, Unreal, or a custom even with the recent pricing drama. This is mainly due to me wanting to complete this project, and not wanting to have to go learn something new all over again.

    This is all for now, I will try to keep working more on this project, but network/multiplayer development is frustrating and very irritating. However, I will do my best to write at least one blog article a week until this is done.

    Thank you for your time, bye!

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