Book Image

The Essential Guide to Creating Multiplayer Games with Godot 4.0

By : Henrique Campos
3 (2)
Book Image

The Essential Guide to Creating Multiplayer Games with Godot 4.0

3 (2)
By: Henrique Campos

Overview of this book

The Essential Guide to Creating Multiplayer Games with Godot 4.0 guides you in exploring the built-in network API for online multiplayer games, offering practical knowledge through concrete use cases. Throughout the book, you'll assume the role of a network engineer in a fictional indie game studio, tackling real-world requests from your peers and gaining expertise in adding new network features to the studio's games. Following step-by-step instructions, you’ll go from making your first network handshake to optimizing online gameplay. You’ll learn how to sync players and pass data over the internet as you add online multiplayer features to a top-down shooter adventure game. This book puts you in a fictional game project team where you set up your first online server before advancing to creating an online chat system and transitioning local gameplay to go online. With a focus on implementing multiplayer features, you’ll create shared world adventures and learn optimization techniques to allow more players to join your virtual world. By the end of this book, you’ll have learned how to set up a client-server network, implement remote procedure calls (RPCs), sync node properties remotely, and optimize your games to create smooth online multiplayer experiences.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
1
Part 1:Handshaking and Networking
6
Part 2:Creating Online Multiplayer Mechanics
12
Part 3:Optimizing the Online Experience

Understanding caching

In online multiplayer games, every second counts. Players expect seamless, real-time experiences without interruptions. This is where caching becomes a powerful ally in optimizing game performance. So, what exactly is caching, and why is it crucial for online multiplayer games?

Caching is the process of storing frequently accessed data or resources on a local device or intermediate server. These resources can include images, sound files, 3D models, or even small snippets of code. Instead of fetching these resources from a remote server every time they are needed, the game stores them locally. When a request for these resources arises, the game checks whether it already has a local copy. If it does, it uses the local version, significantly reducing loading times and conserving precious network bandwidth.

The principle behind caching is simple yet effective: if you’ve used something once, it’s likely you’ll need it again. In the context...