Design Online vs. Singleplayer

Gamerev147

Member
I just want your opinion on something I've been questioning.

Which do you like/prefer better: An online Top Down Shooter, or a Single-player Top Down Shooter?

It seems like every online game I make never works due to networking issues. So I was wondering if a single-player game with enough concept would be just as fun as crushing squeakers online?

Thanks in advance!
 
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MsTopHat

Guest
Both are very different beasts in my opinion. In single player you can do things by adding really crazy enemies and what not. In multiplayer its more of a battle between player and player, and determined by their skill. If you are having trouble with multiplayer I would try the single player approach. Personally I prefer co-op top down shooters, so I guess a mix of both.

So yes I think a single-player game is definitely enough, and just as fun when done right haha.
 

The-any-Key

Member
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Lee Grey

Guest
Hi. I agree that local multiplayer is a great compromise. Network multiplayer, especially real-time action multiplayer, is really pretty difficult to get right, and very time consuming. (Not to mention, as mentioned above, it actually limits the way you make the game in terms of really fast and reactive movements etc.) On the other hand, local multiplayer is pretty easy, and if you come up with a great game design that really benefits from the multiplayer element then you can always add network play later once you have proven the game is fun. Unless you really love network programming or just want to build your skills, I would say that focusing on making a super fun local multiplayer game is a better idea. (Honestly, you could probably make several local multiplayer games in the time it would take to polish a single online multiplayer one.)
 

Gamerev147

Member
Strange provider. How do you know? They told you?

Have you tested UPnP?
https://sourceforge.net/projects/upnp-portmapper/
Then use port-tester to see if it works
http://www.pcwintech.com/simple-port-tester

Check this list and look for your router.
https://portforward.com/router.htm

More info:
http://www.pcwintech.com/common-problems-fixes-port-forwarding
Every time I type "192.168.0.1" (my router ip address) into the search bar, it says that the page isn't responding or has timed out.
 

Genetix

Member
Outside of the technical differences... I still prefer single player gaming myself. I'm a bit older (well 29, but that may be old for many gamers out there) and would rather have an experience well crafted by the developer that I can take my own pace through over joining a group of players online who always talk trash and grind in a different way. Depends on the game though, games like Rocket League really make online play shine, but there isn't so much of a story there either.
 

The-any-Key

Member
Port mapper doesn't work. It only opens a port in my LAN which is weird.
And I checked my default gateway, it says my IP is 192.168.0.1 - Doesn't work
Ok. so UPnP is enabled but WAN is disabled.

Are you connected with a cable to your router when you try 192.168.0.1?

But in the end you may need a better provider.
 

Jabbers

Member
You don't need to port forward to develop a multiplayer game. You just connect to the home network IP of the computer hosting your server. You could run the game twice on a single machine, or you could use a secondary computer to test the game client.

Open Command Prompt on the Windows machine running the game and run ipconfig /all

Find the "IPv4 address" under the network adapter you are using (e.g 'Wireless Lan adapter Wifi' should show something like 'IPv4 Address..................192.168.0.4(Preferred)' if you were on a wireless network)

Connect to that address when you test your game.
 

Jabbers

Member
True. You can also use 128.0.0.1.
But it's not that fun to develop an online game and then don't be able to self test the online play. :D
I don't know what you mean. If you are developing the game, presumably you will be doing testing by yourself most of the time. It makes little to no difference to the development if you are hosting locally or joining your own server through the Internet.

When you want to do a real world online test, get online friends to host your game and join their server.

You can also artificially stress test the networking using a tool like clumsy to simulate missing packets and latency on your home network.
 

Gamerev147

Member
You don't need to port forward to develop a multiplayer game. You just connect to the home network IP of the computer hosting your server. You could run the game twice on a single machine, or you could use a secondary computer to test the game client.

Open Command Prompt on the Windows machine running the game and run ipconfig /all

Find the "IPv4 address" under the network adapter you are using (e.g 'Wireless Lan adapter Wifi' should show something like 'IPv4 Address..................192.168.0.4(Preferred)' if you were on a wireless network)

Connect to that address when you test your game.
That's what I'm doing now but I would like to have people from anywhere in the U.S connect.
 
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ottosparks

Guest
A single player game can be made just as compelling as a multiplayer one, or more so. They both just pose uniquely different design challenges. I'd probably tend to say that a single player experience is much easier to fine tune, because you only have to worry about one player's experience at any given time, so it's much easier to anticipate what players will do. Certainly, a competitive multiplayer game has very interesting design problems that simply never exist in similar single player games, spontaneous metagame developments can completely shift the game's balance, server architecture has to be considered (and possibly maintained), stable netcode needs to be made, etc.
 
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