Platformer multiplayer experiment

Showcase
#1

Hello everyone!

[EDIT]
Experiment is over, I’m taking the server down. I’ll keep working on it and post any updates if needed. Thanks

Last week I was experimenting with networking and how to build an online multiplayer game over the internet and in this sort amount of time I implemented a simple networked platform shooter.
I’m uploading it here so I can get some probably useful feedback about lag/experience and also to showcase this simple experiment to the java gaming community.
Made with Java networking and LWJGL, runs on Windows and Linux (Download, extract and run: Windows double click the jar, Linux use launch_linux.sh). Whoever opens the game will join the same small arena.
Very little client interpolation/extrapolation is performed at the moment so you’ll probably experience at least a bit lag.
Because you’ll probably won’t find anyone in the server lying around, you should better tell somebody else to join with you if you want to check out the multiplayer part.
(If the game opens in black screen, wait some 10+ seconds and it’ll work)
Any feedback is welcome and have fun :slight_smile:

Simple controls:
->WASD: move
->Mouse scroll or N, M: change weapon (3 available)
->Mouse click shoot

#2

I give 5/5 stars for execution, networking and graphics are really smooth but 2/5 stars for gameplay.

Implement some fun stuff, wall jumps, rocket jumps and flesh out the weapons but most importantly add some messy, gory and very squishy death animations, the point counter is boooooooring, i wanna rocket-paint the walls with guts if you know what i mean ;D
Having no weapon in your hands gives you no perks right now, you could increase the movement speed and jump height when no weapon is selected.

You have a great base to build upon, i would love to see you make something off it.

Regarding networking, there is no perceivable input lag and everything is consistent. Until you start shooting at other players, then you can feel that there is not much latency-hiding/compensation being done because you miss some shots, but i think it doesn’t make the game worse, you can still hit, it’s pray and spray anyway, it would be worse if things started jumping or popping in.

#3

Hey! Thanks a lot for the feedback, great to see that things where running smooth. With a bit better interpolation that I’m implementing it’ll be good enough.
Regarding gameplay, well, I’m going to implement all (some) of those things, I uploaded this as an experimental build for the networking part, didn’t focus on the other stuff too much. I’ll probably continue with some updates on it. Painting walls with blood sounds fun :wink:

#4

So, here’s a small update:
Added some blood effects and death animation, and made life counts backwards (20 initial).
Still bullets are not synchronized so you can kill somebody in your client before he’s killed in his, will fix this one next.

#5

I’m afraid I haven’t got the time to try out your game, but I have to say that I do like the dark mood of the screenshot you posted. Very cool graphics! Good luck with developing!

#6

Hi,

It looks great. Graphics are awesome and the concept is also great.
To avoid empty server and make your game more attractive you can implement bots.
I know it’s a hard but at the beginning they can just move in some random directions and shoot if an enemy is in their range.

However, I cant find download link.
How to get your game?