Book Image

Unity Multiplayer Games

By : Alan R. Stagner
Book Image

Unity Multiplayer Games

By: Alan R. Stagner

Overview of this book

Unity is a game development engine that is fully integrated with a complete set of intuitive tools and rapid workflows used to create interactive 3D content. Multiplayer games have long been a staple of video games, and online multiplayer games have seen an explosion in popularity in recent years. Unity provides a unique platform for independent developers to create the most in-demand multiplayer experiences, from relaxing social MMOs to adrenaline-pumping competitive shooters. A practical guide to writing a variety of online multiplayer games with the Unity game engine, using a multitude of networking middleware from player-hosted games to standalone dedicated servers to cloud multiplayer technology. You can create a wide variety of online games with the Unity 4 as well as Unity 3 Engine. You will learn all the skills needed to make any multiplayer game you can think of using this practical guide. We break down complex multiplayer games into basic components, for different kinds of games, whether they be large multi-user environments or small 8-player action games. You will get started by learning networking technologies for a variety of situations with a Pong game, and also host a game server and learn to connect to it.Then, we will show you how to structure your game logic to work in a multiplayer environment. We will cover how to implement client-side game logic for player-hosted games and server-side game logic for MMO-style games, as well as how to deal with network latency, unreliability, and security. You will then gain an understanding of the Photon Server while creating a star collector game; and later, the Player.IO by creating a multiplayer RTS prototype game. You will also learn using PubNub with Unity by creating a chatbox application. Unity Multiplayer Games will help you learn how to use the most popular networking middleware available for Unity, from peer-oriented setups to dedicated server technology.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)
Unity Multiplayer Games
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

About the Reviewers

Clifford Champion has a broad background in software engineering, with years of experience spanning 3D games and Internet applications, and more recently in machine learning. He holds a degree in Mathematics from UCLA. In the past, he has worked as an integration and support engineer at Havok, and also as a lead interactive media and Internet apps programmer at PlainJoe Studios.

Now, he works for zSpace (zspace.com), a hardware/software company creating highly immersive, interactive 3D displays for classrooms, industry, and entertainment. At zSpace, he is a member of the software platform team, helping to enable the holographic-like experience on a variety of game engines and platforms, including Unity. Clifford can be found on Twitter at @duckmaestro and welcomes any discussions.

Fabio Ferrara is a game developer. He is working for Chubby Pixel, an independent game studio based in Milan, which he founded in 2012. They work thoroughly to bring to the users the best possible gaming experience. He has also collaborated for the publication of other books such as Unity iOS Essentials, Packt Publishing.

Sriram. A. S. is a software developer who is currently living in Pune, India. He works primarily in C/C++ and Java. He has been working with Unity 3D from its very early versions; and has developed codes related to its integration with features such as augmented reality, and shared them on his tech blog (http://mypersonalsoft.blogspot.com).

In his spare time, he works on a few open source software. And he also likes to experiment with various other technologies and ideas, along with his team of code passionate friends—the "Hobby Coders" (http://hobbycoders.com).