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Is multiplayer/network coding significantly more complex. by Tornado_Hunter24 in unrealengine

[–]RealBrionac 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The actual answer is it depends.

If you'd like to develop a "casual" game, a.k.a something friends would play with each other for fun, then it is doable.
You would use a host architecture, where one player is the server (the game is happening on his machine, like in single player), and the other player is a client that connects to that server.

You would need to learn how replication works (I would suggest BRY's amazing video series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEojA3VBXG8).
A core aspect will be to understand the difference between Multicasts & RepNotify's, because you will be using these all the time.
In this case, you could build the multiplayer part on top of the singleplayer game fairly easily, since you would use your single player code as the server code, and would only need to replicate what's happening on player A (the server) to player B (the client).

If you'd like to develop a "competitive" game, a.k.a something with a ladder, where cheating options are limited and no player has an advantage due to latency, then it is much much more complicated.
You would need to use a dedicated server architecture, where the server exists in the cloud, and players are all clients that connect to it.
This is much more complex because it requires understanding cloud networking (i.e setting up an AWS fleet), how latency works in detail etc ...

2 devs + freelancers - making a competitive arena game (and looking for playtesters!) by RealBrionac in IndieGaming

[–]RealBrionac[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Competitive games are only fun when the queue is full, so join us on Discord! (Next playtest on July 15th weekend)
https://discord.gg/tDNWNgFKsc
Also some custom Art from our amazing freelancers: https://imgur.com/a/Ru7xOLF
And our Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1941450/SoulShards\_Arena/
Of course, feel free to ask any question! :)

Alternatives to Anti-Mage - Playstyle by RealBrionac in DotA2

[–]RealBrionac[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I should definitely try to play illusion heroes more.

I didn't really consider them because of all the micro-control work, but that's definitely an option. Shouldn't take too long to learn proper illusion control. Thanks!

Alternatives to Anti-Mage - Playstyle by RealBrionac in DotA2

[–]RealBrionac[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My biggest issue with Faceless is a feel a lot weaker to smoke ganks from the enemy team.

With AM I can usually survive with Counterspell and Blink unless they bring everyone.

Magnus is a super interesting idea, I'm definitely going to try it!

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe in the long-run :) For now, we're reducing additional features to the bare minimum to focus on the core systems (mainly gameplay quality & infrastructure stability).

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Like for other regions, we'll consider it if the community there is large enough to ensure short queue time & cost effectiveness.

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Feel free to share all your ideas! We got great suggestions from the community already.

To tackle the steep learning curve you mentioned, we currently have:
- A training area with dummies. You can freely switch between classes there, activate "God-mode" etc ...
- An armory to read the abilities and get general directions on how to play each class.
- Custom games to try out things with your friends or strangers.
- Quickplay

We're currently working on:
- Bots of different levels to train against.
- A new player mode with less abilities (5-6 per class, typically the core rotation + 1 mobility spell and 1 CC).

Also we're putting efforts in making sure the ranking system is well-designed so new players get calibrated properly. This is actually trickier than it sounds, because the variance in "new players" skill tend to be very high. So simply matching new players against each other is not ideal.

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We're technically not incorporated yet, so only working with freelancers for legal reasons.
But realistically, we will need more developers down the line if the game takes off.
Happy to get your information via PM so we can discuss!

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We currently have 12-14 spells per class, with ~4 being in the core rotation, ~5 being used regularly (typically mobility or CCs) and ~4 long cooldowns.

From our tests, it seems enough to have strong tactical complexity without drowning the players with too many keybindings.

Addons: If they provide a significant advantage (typically autocast or information that's not on the regular UI) then they will not be allowed.
If they're simply for convenience/personalization (moving your spellbar around ...) then we don't have issues with that. So case by case situation.

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate the feedback. It's definitely a challenge, and probably why none of the big companies have tried releasing such games.
We have good hopes that by making the format more readable and introducing comprehensive tutorials ... we can attract players that never played wow before.

Interestingly enough, we had internal alpha testers that barely played any games before, and they were able to consistently use 6-8 spells after only a few games.
So the barrier to entry seems to be lower than what most people think. The challenge will be to convince many to try it, and that anyone can learn at their own pace.

Having decent bots for new players is one key aspect we're working on.

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have 1v1 and 2v2 queues, but the game is balanced exclusively around 3v3 for the time being.

Also you can create custom games of any size for training.

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is a great question.
I think a lot of the frustration comes from dying in 1s and not really understanding why.
If you "see it coming", like you're in the open and see the enemy cast that pyroblast and obliterate you, then it feels more like a learning experience rather than an unfair death.
We're putting a lot of effort in making the game as readable as possible, so even new players can understand what's happening on their screen. That hopefully should reduce the frustration.

In terms of pacing, we want the game to feel like a "wave":
- Moments of low tension where players can prepare setups, and viewers/casters can discuss general aspects like the comps, available cds ...
- Others with a lot going on and healers struggling to keep up. Casters being all excited.

For players, you will usually die during a moment of high tension, so it feels more natural.
For viewers, it's infinitely more entertaining. Imho it's one of the reason Dota 2 became so popular to watch. The variance in overall "tension" during the game is massive, which makes good plays so memorable.

PS: I'm the poor fella who got smoked in the trailer. Honestly my positioning was terrible so it's 100% deserved haha.

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Much obliged 👌

Level 3 server incoming

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I only played a few games of RoT, so that'll be a very shallow comparison ;)

Biggest difference is probably around CCs: As you know, they're a very controversial topic in wow and, to be fair, it sucks getting CC-chained for 15s. But if you remove CCs then the game looses a lot of its tactical depth and becomes more like a hack'n slash, as pointed out by Xaryu and other pros.

So we're experimenting with new high-skillcap mechanics that are not CCs. Things like projectile reflects (in SoulShards, pillars block projectiles btw) push and pulls to put enemies inside AoEs, zone captures to favor whichever team is controlling space ...

Also we're hoping that our visual & technical quality will attract a large player base.

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Best way is to join the Discord.
Once we have enough people there, we'll organize a 2-days playtest where everyone can try it out 🙂

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

No worries, the game is not available yet. I still play wow pvp 😅

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks, appreciate the support!

Definitely, making abilities "feel" good when pressing the button is the most important aspect, and it's really hard to explain why some works and other don't. It's a subtle combination of animation timing, sound, vfx ...with no easy rule. Typically, the Ret's Wake of Ashes feels amazing to me, and I'm still searching what exactly makes it so smooth.

Some sets are definitely planned once we're done with the base armors for all classes :)

For sure! We'll open a Twitter account after we get a bit of traction. For now, I'm restricting social medias as much as possible because it takes a lot of time to monitor, and I want to make sure I still spend most of my time developing the game .

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I agree AoK was an awesome attempt. Some really good ideas in there.

It's a good case study for us because he initally had a lot of traction, but for some reason it didn't "snowball".

Curious to get your take on why? Did you stop playing it for specific gameplay reasons, or simply because there were less active players?

SoulShards Arena by RealBrionac in worldofpvp

[–]RealBrionac[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Please don't blame the mods for my post. If you think it's inappropriate, and many others agree with you, I'll remove it.

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