itch.io

sent a friend request on Discord.

The release date has been set to Q4 of 2018. This provides enough time to finish the last few mechanics, do QA and reiterate to fix bugs and anything else that's required.

The main thing being worked on at the moment is network synchronisation of.... everything (and optimising the implementation). Here's a quick overview:

Multiplayer games can be a lot more complex due to the networking side. The main issue is synchronising things like player movement, speed, turning, shooting etc on all connected clients.

Commands are called from the client and run on the server; and client remote procedure calls  are called on the server and run on clients.

When another player in the game moves, runs, shoots, or does almost anything - it gets sent to the server as a command, which then sends out a call to your client, allowing you to see their synchronised actions.



Optimising these calls is a priority as it directly contributes to network traffic, increasing server costs and potentially slowing down the game.

One way to achieve this is through the use of hooks. Basically, calls are only made when a variable changes. Therefore, if a variable (player health) does not change, a remote procedure call is never made.

Worst case scenario I'm sure I could figure out an alternative, but for people outside out the UK, Paypal is the easiest option for me in terms of record keeping and paying people promptly.  I'll add you on Discord.

This is not a complete list of mechanics, or what their functions are within the game, as some features are still being worked on. This post will be updated with changes and more in-depth descriptions when available.

Obelisk Mechanic
There are five obelisks, each containing three unique perks that can be acquired during the game (the perk you acquire from each obelisk will be randomly selected). Each player can only access a single obelisk once per game, which means you can obtain a maximum of 5 unique perks each time (although sometimes you might not get anything if the obelisk is displeased with your presence).

[Blue Obelisk - Serenity]
[Perk 1]
[Perk 2]
[Perk 3]

[Red Obelisk - Petulance]
[Perk 4]
[Perk 5]
[Perk 6]

[Yellow Obelisk - Wisdom]
[Perk 7]
[Perk 8]
[Perk 9]

[Purple Obelisk - Affliction]
[Perk 10]
[Perk 11]
[Perk 12]

[Green Obelisk - Life]
[Perk 13]
[Perk 14]
[Perk 15]

First Person Only
There is no 3rd person camera. Everything is 1st person.

PvPvE
There are creatures and other strange things that can potentially kill you. 

Day/Night Cycle
A full cycle takes 180 seconds.

Day Night Cycle
There is a now a dynamic day/night system. The sun rotates at 2 degrees per second, which equates to 180 seconds to complete a single day/night cycle

Obelisk Mechanic
The obelisk mechanic provides two functions; 1) give players additional reasons to traverse the map and not stay in the same place 2) reward players for movement and provide additional in-game mechanics to increase replay-ability. 

Each player can access a single obelisk once. This equates to a maximum of 5 perks per game. When activating an obelisk, you will receive one of three perks unique to that obelisk. There will also be a temporary particle effect that will warn others in the area an obelisk has been activated. There is also a small chance you will receive nothing if the obelisk is displeased with your presence. 

[Blue Obelisk - Serenity]
[Perk 1]
[Perk 2]
[Perk 3]

[Red Obelisk - Petulance]
[Perk 4]
[Perk 5]
[Perk 6]

[Yellow Obelisk - Wisdom]
[Perk 7]
[Perk 8]
[Perk 9]

[Purple Obelisk - Affliction]
[Perk 10]
[Perk 11]
[Perk 12]

[Green Obelisk - Life]
[Perk 13]
[Perk 14]
[Perk 15]

Day vs Night

Might be easier to just add me on Discord.

Trybox Interactive#7133

The overall quality and attention to detail is impressive, and the transition effect to snow is a nice touch.

https://trybox-interactive.itch.io/space-wars

Space Wars is an online multiplayer, battle-royale themed game where you play as an astronaut toon, fighting other toons on strange planets.

1) instead of guns, you shoot lasers and a variety of other futuristic weapons.
2) first-person only.
3) Obelisks. Paying respect to each of the 5 obelisks will yield a random reward (perks).
4) PvPvE. Wild and strange creatures provide an additional threat.
5) Work together to defeat boss monsters or go for glory and claim your spot as player number 1 (by killing everyone else, of course).
6) other cool stuff that isn't fully worked out yet.
7) 7 - 12 players / match.

Space Wars uses Unity's online servers for matchmaking and scalability. 

[ looking for people who want to do QA at the moment. You can read this post for more information if you're interested ).
https://itch.io/t/265452/lfs-x-3-revshare-testersqa-for-online-multiplayer-game#...

Day/Night

The problem is, at a certain point, catering to low-end machines will impact everyone else and reduce the overall quality. This wouldn't be an issue for a non-networked game, or maybe a game that lets someone host on their machine, but using Unity's online servers brings a few headaches. 1) low-end machines that can't get 60 fps (even on low settings) can cause desync and rubberbanding, problems with animation sync, var and event syncs (health, shooting a weapon, etc). You also get potential issues with dev work for networked objects as they have to be redone to accomodate for low end machines that struggle to pull 60fps at med settings or lower.

The specs I wrote (core i3/4GB ram/GTX 700) were a rough estimate for getting 60 fps @ med - high settings (again, I think it wouldnt be worth playing on low graphic settings. no shadows, low res textures, etc). Not that it's set in stone, but I would say it's something like this:

Test Machine/Recommended (60fps @ Max Settings @ 1920 x 1080)
Core i5 7300HQ
8GB RAM
GTX 1080

Minimum (60fps @ Med/High Settings @ 1920 x 1080)
Core i3 7th Gen
4GB Ram
GTX 600 - 700

Playable (60 fps @ Low/Med settings @ 1280 x 720)
GTX 500 (so any GTX from 2010 onwards)
Intel Pentium (2011 onwards)
2 GB RAM

I work full-time as a c# programmer and jr. level designer at a small game studio (~20 people) that often does outsource work for larger AA/AAA studios.  However, I have worked with a few groups in the past (none of which have produced anything public) and have spent a lot of time myself on personal projects (again, none of which I felt were good enough to release).

Currently in the middle of developing my first commercial multi-player game under the banner of my own studio... so I guess I'm both a professional and hobbyist developer.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 I left it kind of open ended (not specifying hardware specs) because it's difficult to pinpoint a certain range atm. However, there's just nothing that can be done for some older systems and laptops (I don't think anything less than a core i3 7th generation/4GB RAM/GTX 700+ would do very well).

Optimisation is something I am very focused on in order to make the game playable for a wide range of specs, but as it stands, I don't even know the "minimum" specs required yet.

Ideally, I think anything that could handle 60fps @ mid - high settings would be the target. Anything lower than that would just made it look graphically ugly. Because it does have a FPS aspect, I don't really want some people on 30 fps and others on 60 fps because it's unfair.

How would you suggest "fixing" it? Should I be more specific with my requirements? ie - list the bare minimum you need to even play the game at lowest settings? or do you think I should extend it to say something like "you need core i3 equivalent or above/4GB RAM or more etc".

Awesome. I would be happy to have you as a tester. I just need to find a few more people and then I'll hand out links for the private discord group. 

No longer looking for QA testers (although this might change in the future)

Overview
I am building an online, multiplayer, battle royale-esque game. The main differences are:

1) it's space themed set on different worlds. This provides some creative freedom regarding the environment and play style.
2) it's first-person and you play as an astronaut toon.
3) instead of guns, it's lasers and other futuristic weapons.
4) it's PvPvE. 
5) Considering 7 - 12 players / match.

Multiplayer?
The game uses Unity's online matchmaking and servers to provide multiplayer functionality. Testing certain features and general game play is near impossible without multiple testers - hence this post.

Tester Requirements (4 people required)
- 2 hours per week (1 hour per session) on days/times to be set. (whatever works best for the majority of people).
- Must be in Discord when testing 
-  16+.  Ability to speak and understand English (fluently preferred).
- Decent rig. You don't need a supercomputer but potatoes are not likely to be able to keep up with the reqs of multiplayer.
- Some knowledge of game development/QA/Testing is an advantage.. but not required.

RevShare
Testers will get their name in the credits, a free copy of the game, and potential revenue share based on launch sales and testing hours logged.

Interested?
Please reply with:

- PC specs (windows/mac/linux?)
- When would you be free for testing? (doesn't have to be super specific... just general times will do for now)
- willing to be in Discord when testing?
- Any specific reason you want to test apart from potential payment? (doing it for the money isn't a bad thing, but it's the most obvious for reason number 1. We're just interested in other reasons, aside from the potential revshare, why people might want to do it. 
- Country? (we might have to discriminate for distant countries as ping would be an issue at the moment).
- Do you have paypal? (this is how we would pay you after launch, based on sales figures and revenue).
- 16 or older? Fluent english (reading/writing/speaking) ?

What Happens Next?
Depending on the responses over the weekend, subscribe to the thread (or simply keep checking back) and I will reply to the people I would like for testing/QA. You will get an invite link to the private discord group and a download key for the game.

Day/Night cycle

Map (still a work in progress)

finding an online match.

Game Lobby 

Game Countdown

figured out a solution so going to leave it here for anybody that looks for something similar in the future.

1) link each download key with a custom key value using persistent data storage (CustomKeys.dat)
2) in the application, check the server connection code is correct before any connections are made (increment it every time you push a new build).
3) should a tester become inactive, revoke the key manually by removing it from the list of allowed keys.
4) the user (who's key has been revoked) will not be able to connect online until they update. However, if they were able to update the files, their key will be revoked and they will not be able to access the multiplayer service.
5) They shouldn't be able to update to new files with their itch.io key revoked, but even if they could they wouldn't be able to use multiplayer.

This might be close to what you're looking for?

https://itch.io/docs/creators/refinery

Too often we've seen developers adopt an early access program as a way of collecting playtesting feedback and starting a source of revenue. There are a few problems with this approach:

• Your game is publicly available — You've launched something you know isn’t perfect, and not everyone who plays it will be understanding. You may be swamped with negative feedback and bad reviews that may damage the future success of the game.
• You've officially launched your game — The day you launch your game is one of the most important days in your game’s lifespan: it’s typically when you'll have the most people watching, talking, and buying. Very rarely do we see games leaving early access getting attention comparable to their initial launch.

(this might be another option you could look at but I think it requires the user to have an account)
https://itch.io/docs/creators/exclusive-content#how-you-can-use-rewards/giving-a...

I'm currently making a multiplayer game and, as you can imagine, it's practically impossible to test a match without quite a few people. The online framework is in place (matchmaking, creating a game, joining a new game) and uses Unity's cloud servers. There is an issue where I'm curious if anyone else has dealt with the same potential problems.

is it possible to provide a (free) copy of the game to a tester, but retain the ability to revoke access?

You only get a certain amount of concurrent users when using Unity's online servers, and anything else is charged at an additional rate. This is not really ideal until a public launch. The main concern is this;

how to deal with testers who receive a free copy, but then vanish? (they can not be contacted... or refuse to reply, yet still have a copy of the game) This would mean additional test copies would have to be given out - increasing the final price I pay for server usage (without an increase in revenue earned from sales). Ideally, the ability to revoke a key (or something similar) would be the best option. However, I'm not sure what means are available to stop this being a potential issue?

Example. 50 free copies are given out for testers (the agreement being, in return for testing, they basically get a free copy of the game which is theirs to keep).... but only 10 people actually turn up in Discord to do testing. The other 40 people don't bother to help us perform stress tests, but still take advantage of their free copy and use the online servers I pay for to play online.

I would have to give out another 40 copies (90 in total) and hope all 40 people turn up for testing. This could result in 100 + copies given out in order to get just 20 regular testers. Those who offer to test but then don't - still get a free copy of the game and use additional server bandwidth.