I’m developing a small graphical mud and I’ve been thinking about how to do multiplay.
Basically the idea is not to worry too much about exact synchronization, but instead accept that a client can be slightly out of sync, since it will always be notified of changes:
Logic framerate around 8 Hz - graphical framerate of course as fast as possible with interpolation.
SERVER -> CLIENT
Not all object/monster player positions are send every logic frame, only changes of direction or state, and only for objects near the player. Example:
monster X starts walking towards x, y with speed s (client then handles walking the monster until x,y is reached or it’s told to stop, change direction or other visible state)
monster X strikes at player in N ms (client sets the monster to display the hit animation, adjusting the animation speed so that the last attack frame is played after N ms)
A new set of monster should be considered near + positions, visible states etc. for all of them (Client creates the monsters /alternatively wakes them up if it has seen them earlier and hasn’t deleted them yet)
CLIENT -> SERVER
basic “translated” commands. No keypresses but instead “requests” like:
Start walking to x.y (Server finds the best path (if any) and starts walking, notifying the client each time the player changes direction)
Attack monster X (Server determines if X is within reach, if it is it lets the player attack, else the player starts chasing the monster and attacks when it catches up)
Would something like this be doable? I was thinking a low value of 8 Hz might eat some latency and give the server quite a bit of time to update the logic frames when many moving/decision making objects are considered.