ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CREATING MULTIPLAYER GAMES WITH GODOT 4.0 : harness the power of Godot Engine's GDScript network API to connect players in multiplayer games / Henrique Campos ; foreword by Nathan Lovato.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Campos, Henrique, author.

Contributor:

Lovato, Nathan, writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Video games--Programming.

Video games.

Video games--Design.

Open source software.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st edition.

Place of Publication:

Birmingham, UK : Packt Publishing Ltd., 2023.

Summary:

Level up your Godot 4 networking skills with this comprehensive guide featuring dedicated servers and persistent worlds, illustrated with key images in color Key Features Ensure player synchronization and coexistence in a game world Mitigate latency in your multiplayer games to design a seamless shared experience Optimize and debug your games using profilers and monitors to visualize performance Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook Book Description The Essential Guide to Creating Multiplayer Games with Godot 4.0 guides you in exploring the built-in network API for online multiplayer games, offering practical knowledge through concrete use cases. Throughout the book, you'll assume the role of a network engineer in a fictional indie game studio, tackling real-world requests from your peers and gaining expertise in adding new network features to the studio's games. Following step-by-step instructions, you'll go from making your first network handshake to optimizing online gameplay. You'll learn how to sync players and pass data over the internet as you add online multiplayer features to a top-down shooter adventure game. This book puts you in a fictional game project team where you set up your first online server before advancing to creating an online chat system and transitioning local gameplay to go online. With a focus on implementing multiplayer features, you'll create shared world adventures and learn optimization techniques to allow more players to join your virtual world. By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to set up a client-server network, implement remote procedure calls (RPCs), sync node properties remotely, and optimize your games to create smooth online multiplayer experiences. What you will learn Understand the fundamentals of networking and remote data exchange between computers Use the Godot game engine's built-in API to set up a network for players Master remote procedure calls and learn how to make function calls on objects remotely Enhance your GDScript proficiency to get the most out of this powerful language Explore industry-standard solutions for common online multiplayer challenges Improve your networking skills and discover how to turn single-player games into multiplayer experiences Who this book is for If you're involved in game development with Godot and want to add multiplayer capabilities to enrich the shared gaming experience, then this book is for you. You'll also find this book useful if you're a network engineer looking to gain hands-on experience with practical projects. To get the most out of this book, a prior understanding of the Godot Engine design philosophy, the GDScript programming language, the SceneTree structure, and how nodes work is essential.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright and Credits

Dedications

Foreword

Contributors

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1: Handshaking and Networking

Chapter 1: Setting up a Server

Technical requirements

Introduction to a network

Understanding the ENetMultiplayerPeer class

What is the ENet library?

What is the UDP protocol?

How does this connection happen?

Creating the server

Creating the client

Testing our handshake

Summary

Chapter 2: Sending and Receiving Data

Understanding packets

Introduction to the JSON format

Serialization

Sending packets with PacketPeerUDP

Creating an AuthenticationCredentials Autoload

Sending players' credentials

Listening to packets with UDPServer

Authenticating the player

Loading a fake database

Replying to the authentication request

Maintaining the player's session

Loading the player's avatar

Chapter 3: Making a Lobby to Gather Players Together

Calling functions remotely with RPCs

Introducing the @rpc annotation

What's necessary for an RPC?

Understanding the multiplayer authority

Comparing UDP and ENet approaches

Remaking the login screen with RPCs

Establishing an ENetMultiplayerPeer connection

Creating the RPC functions template

Adding the player's avatar

Cleaning AvatarCards

Retrieving players' avatars

Testing the lobby

Chapter 4: Creating an Online Chat

Understanding data exchange and channels

Reliable and unreliable packets

Understanding channels

Sending chat messages

Updating peer's data remotely

Part 2: Creating Online Multiplayer Mechanics

Chapter 5: Making an Online Quiz Game

Introducing the online quiz game.

Setting up a lobby for the quiz game

Displaying new players

Starting the match

Implementing online turns

Updating players about the round

Turning local mechanics into remote gameplay

Understanding the questions database

Loading and updating questions

Sending players' answers to the server

Chapter 6: Building an Online Checkers Game

Introducing the Checkers project

Understanding the Checkers Piece scene

Comprehending the FreeCell scene

Introducing the CheckerBoard scene

Serializing players' turns

Working with MultiplayerSynchronizer

Updating and syncing the CheckerBoard

Handling remote turn shifts

Setting up players' teams

Enabling and disabling team pieces

Managing win and lose conditions

Chapter 7: Developing an Online Pong Game

Introducing the Pong project

How the player paddles work

Understanding the Ball scene

Managing players' scores

Tying everything together

Setting up online multiplayer paddles

Changing the paddle's owner

Assigning the players' paddles

Syncing remote objects

Updating the ball's position

Coordinating the paddle's position

Chapter 8: Creating an Online Co-op Platformer Prototype

Introducing the platformer project

Understanding the Player class

Unveiling the Crate class

How the InteractiveArea2D class works

Understanding the PlayerSpawner class

Spawning players in the match

Giving players control in PlayerSpawner

Setting up the Player multiplayer controls

Syncing physical objects

Synchronizing the player's position and animations

Updating the crate's position remotely

Chapter 9: Creating an Online Adventure Prototype

Introducing the prototype.

Understanding the Player scene

Gauging the Asteroid scene

Unraveling the quest system

Breaking down the World scene

Logging the player in to the server

Authenticating players

Syncing the World scenes

Separating server and client responsibilities

Shooting bullets on all instances

Calculating an asteroid's damage

Storing and retrieving data on the server

Implementing the quest system's client side

Implementing the quest system's server side

Part 3: Optimizing the Online Experience

Chapter 10: Debugging and Profiling the Network

Introducing Godot's Debugger

Mastering the Stack Trace tab

Debugging with the Errors tab

Exploring the Profiler tab

Exploring the Visual Profiler tab

Exploring the Monitors tab

Getting to know the Video RAM tab

Grasping the Misc tab

Understanding the Network Profiler

Identifying the project's bottlenecks

Using the Network Profiler

Using the Monitors tab

Chapter 11: Optimizing Data Requests

Understanding network resources

Decreasing the requests count

Reducing the weapon fire count

Decreasing Asteroid's syncing count

Compressing data with the ENetConnection class

Chapter 12: Implementing Lag Compensation

Introducing lag issues

Dealing with unreliable packets

Common compensation techniques

Implementing server-side motion

Bridging the gaps with interpolation

Playing ahead with prediction

Gazing into the future with extrapolation

Chapter 13: Caching Data to Decrease Bandwidth

Understanding caching

Setting up the HTTPRequest node

Understanding the HTTP protocol

Setting up the scenes and database

Implementing texture caching.

Implementing database caching

Going further with caching

Index

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Notes:

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

9781803238364

1803238364

OCLC:

1411278058