Accelerate multiplayer game development with UGS Multiplayer Solutions

Today, Unity’s Multiplayer Solutions sees an expansion in its capabilities. With Unity Game Server Hosting (Multiplay) and Matchmaker – both now self-serve – Netcode for GameObjects, and a new battle royale sample made in partnership with Photon, you’ve now got more choice than ever when it comes to how you build and run your multiplayer game.

Over many years of working with the biggest studios in multiplayer development, like Respawn, Hi-Rez, and Ubisoft, we’ve learned and evolved our backend tech considerably. Today we’re proud to make these solutions more accessible and easier to use.

Perfect timing too, with the new 2022 Multiplayer Report highlighting that 77% of gamers are playing multiplayer titles, and nearly half the general population are participating in multiplayer games.

In this blog you’ll learn about new samples, get a hands-on look at our multiplayer solutions in action, and how you can get started with $800 credit for your next project.

Any multiplayer game starts with an idea – a cool mechanic, an interesting world to explore, or something else that inspires you to begin developing your next game.

While we can’t help you come up with the idea (although we’ve come up with a few ourselves) for the next smash hit, we can support you with your multiplayer backend stack. This includes everything from servers, to netcode, to lobbies and matchmaking.

Get your game up and running in minutes with dedicated game server hosting designed for any capacity so you can seamlessly scale from tens to millions of players.

Today’s launch makes this proven hosting solution available to studios of all sizes, with a self-service, and guided onboarding experience, all available from the UGS dashboard. This lets you launch with confidence on the same globally managed and monitored infrastructure that supports some of the biggest multiplayer titles live today.

Smart matchmaking was uncovered as a must for multiplayer gamers in the 2022 Multiplayer Report. The top three ranked features relative to the enjoyment of a game were based on quickly finding an enjoyable match and playing with friends.

Unity’s Matchmaker is now available as a self-service offering to make all that possible for your next multiplayer title. 

Build matches that deliver a better player experience. Tailor your matches to your game and your players with rules-based matchmaking, supported by global networking infrastructure that delivers what matters most to players - low latency and fast matches.

Game Server Hosting (Multiplay) and Matchmaker come together with Photon Fusion in our Large scale battle royale sample – more on that in our hands-on learning rundown later in this blog. 

NGO is a networking library built for the Unity game engine, making it easier to create small scale cooperative games.

Keep their simulations synchronized with support for scene management, animation, physics, and more. Alongside the release of Netcode for GameObjects 1.0, we also have released:

• Multiplayer Tools 1.0: Includes the Runtime Network Monitor and Network Profiler, which help developers detect and diagnose networking challenges of multiplayer games.
• Unity Transport (UTP) 1.1: Our netcode-agnostic low-level network library that developers can use standalone or in conjunction with Netcode for Entities, Netcode for GameObjects, and netcode solutions.

Read the blog to learn more about the latest netcode tech available within the Unity ecosystem to create your multiplayer game.

NGO is designed to make it easier to create small scale cooperative games. For developers that are starting development of a large-scale multiplayer game right away, the battle royale sample developed by Photon Fusion, and ready to scale with UGS Game Server Hosting, is now available. 

The Unity Gaming Services platform is designed to let you work the way you want – mixing and matching the tools you see fit to build your ideal tech stack. But where do you begin? Get a feel for how our multiplayer tools work together by exploring our new samples.

Large scale battle royale with Photon Fusion

• Photon Fusion
• Game Server Hosting (Multiplay)
• Matchmaker

With battle royales in high demand for all types of gamers, we’ve worked alongside Exit Games, the makers of Photon, to bring a Unity-made and powered battle royale to life. This sample will help you get a head start on your own fast-paced battle royale, and you’ll learn how to build and operate a large-scale multiplayer game with Unity at its core. 

The large scale battle royale with Photon Fusion sample is built with Unity Engine, Game Server Hosting (Multiplay), and Matchmaker, and implements the latest features and gametypes of multiplayer games.

Photon Fusion offers powerful features such as prediction and lag compensation; enabling developers to build complex multiplayer games. The Fusion engine is designed to consume less CPU, less bandwidth, and help developers operate at a 60Hz tick rate on their server simulation.

Dive in to discover a networked sample that provides the foundation for you to create new experiences for a large scale battle royale game on a single game server instance. You’ll learn how to use dedicated game server hosting, with client-server topology and a matchmaker that provides powerful and flexible queue based match functionality.

Sample features include:

• Deathmatch, elimination, and battle royale gameplay modes
• Weapon systems: Projectile, hitscan, throwables, etc.
• Projectile system: Kinematic, ballistic arrow, and piercing projectiles
• Pickups: Static (ammo, health), dynamic (drops on kill)
• Shrinking area, damage area, moving platforms, and item box
• Recoil patterns, input → recoil compensation
• Jetpack – an advanced kinematic character controller example

Boss Room: 3D small scale cooperative sample

• Netcode for GameObjects
• Relay
• Lobby
• Authentication

Boss Room is a 3D small scale cooperative game sample project – built with Netcode for GameObjects, Relay, and Lobby – designed to be used in its entirety to help you explore the concepts and patterns behind a multiplayer game flow.

The combination of these backend solutions give a solid foundation for cooperative game development, and developers can dive into Boss Room’s code to get a headstart on building their own similar title.

Dive into Boss Room’s code to learn more about how to implement character abilities, using casting animations to hide latency, replicating objects, leveraging RPCs, and more.

Galactic Kittens: 2D small scale cooperative sample

• Netcode for GameObjects

Galactic Kittens is another small scale cooperative title – this time in 2D. In this Netcode for GameObjects sample, up to 4 players are working together to defeat their space-faring enemies.

Galactic Kittens uses basic Network Manager settings to easily test over localhost, and is designed to help you learn how to apply and synchronize sprite animations, particle effects, and basic 2D movement.

You know what works best for your game, which is why our Multiplayer Solutions are designed with flexibility in mind to meet whatever your development needs might be. Mix and match the tools and engine of your choice to get started building your next multiplayer title today.

To learn more about Netcode for GameObjects, check out the announcement blog. To get started with Game Server Hosting (Multiplay) or the Matchmaker head to the Unity Dashboard, and join us on October 12 for an interactive webinar.