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P2P Multiplayer Gaming
- 1. P2P Multiplayer Gaming Dan Byers Manic Networks Inc. September 29th, 2009
- 2. Introduction • Manic? •Startup • Solutions for Game Developers
- 3. Gaming Today • Singleplayer • Multiplayer • real-time • non real-time • Real-time and game play
- 4. Mobile Multiplayer • Pickingup steam • Wireless networks are improving • Smartphones: faster, feature rich • Social aspects, interactivity
- 5. App Store games •Play ‘n forget • Need to improve ‘stickiness’ • Make the user feel that they can’t stop playing
- 6. Social Factors • Moreapt to join if you have friends also playing the game • The out-of-game experience • Communities can build upon themselves
- 7. Architectures Server • Client-server clients A B C A B • Peer-to-peer clients C D
- 8. Client-Server Server clients A B C • Persistent connections • Game management in server • Loads increase ... scaling issues
- 9. A B Peer-to-Peer clients C D • Direct communication between clients • Server still required for player matching • Reduces load off of a central server • Be careful with game state • “Local” peer to peer with Gamekit
- 10. Multiplayer Gaming - No Small Task • For small teams, multiplayer can lead to months of added development & test effort • Where do the difficulties lie?
- 11. Hurdles • Player synchronization,game state • Network latency • Server infrastructure - costly • Connectivity - firewalls
- 12. Firewalls Shmirewalls Player A Internet Player B firewall firewall • The main issue: NAT
- 13. Firewalls & NAT Private IP and port: Public IP and port: 192.168.1.10:2000 64.26.92.166:653 iPod/iPhone, Firewall or PC with NAT Internet • Multiple devices share one public IP • Devices are assigned private IP’s • Firewall blocks inbound traffic by default
- 14. Firewall Hole Punching (NAT Traversal) • External mediator assistance required • Mediator helps each peer punch through to other peers • Not always sucessful - need to be able to fallback to server-based traffic relays
- 15. Working on amultiplayer game? Requirements • Back-end servers for player matching, hole punching and traffic relay fallback • Player database and player profiles • Scores, ranks, achievements - submission and storing • Game invites, challenges, game profiles • Notifications, alerts, messaging, chat
- 16. The Solution • Nothingthat really fit the bill previously • Until now...
- 17. The Solution • Nothingthat really fit the bill previously • Until now... The Manic Gaming Network
- 18. The Manic Gaming Network • Currently in beta • A community for both developers and gamers • Services available for single player and multiplayer games
- 19. Service Features • Robust API for peer-to-peer player matching • Multiple player matching options - random matches, friend matches, rank-based matches, game lobbies • Firewall hole punching & traffic relaying • Game profiles - global high score lists, player rankings, achievements • In-game match invites / challenges
- 20. Service Features (cont’d) • Support for turn based games with storage of game states and turn notifications • Notification sending (APNS, SMS, email, RSS) • Private Developer Sandbox • Marketing and promotion of your games • API is Objective C
- 21. Player Features • One profile to play • Friend lists and any Manic-enabled Ignore lists game • Compare scores • Personal profile for with friends sharing • Friend messaging • View and share • Gaming scores, ranks, notifications achievement history
- 22. Development Roadmap • ManicDashboard for service management • Tournament support • Chat rooms • Internationalization • Other client platforms
- 23. Sample Code • Demogame - Finger Wars! • 2-4 player - random & friend matches • results submission • in-game account registration
- 24. Thank you! • dan.byers@manicgaming.com • twitter.com/coffeedan • randy.byers@manicgaming.com www.manicgaming.com