Legacy GM Acceptable Network use for multiplayer game? (kbps)

B

boob

Guest
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything on it in the forum.

Exactly what would constitute an "acceptable" kbps usage for a networked game in GameMaker (up and down)?

I've never done network programming before, and figured I'd jump back into GameMaker and try to give it a go. So far I think I pretty much understand the workings and am able to communicate between server/client, but my client program is sending at a rate of about 25kbps. The only thing I'm sending to the server is a list of the player's keystrokes, which I am sending as a series of unsigned 8-bit integers, every step at a speed of 60 steps a second.

Is this an acceptable upload usage, or should I work on finding a more efficient method? Is it necessary to send keystrokes every step, or would it be a noticeable difference if I sent them every other step or so, or is any of this necessary?

Thanks, and sorry for such a broad topic.
 

The-any-Key

Member
Is it necessary to send keystrokes every step
Try bundle. Send max 30packets/second.

Depends on the game and how many players you want. For a "general" 4 player game I tend to be around 6kb/sec. But try be as low as possible and compress the data. Note that if you use UDP you need to be below 1,5kb/packet if you plan to go online. But this is per packet.

series of unsigned 8-bit integers
Be sure to use bits instead. Ex press up = 1 byte.
But 1 byte can have 8 zeros and ones. So you can send 8 keystrokes in 1 byte.
 
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