This book is a very solid introduction to creating multiplayer games in Godot. It is great for devs who already have some experience with creating games and are curious about taking the first steps towards networked, multiplayer games. The five projects outlined within the book will give anyone a solid foundation for their own multiplayer games.I've been following the writer of the book, PigDev, for a very long time and he has always produced quality content. I'm excited to dive in and start these projects!

This is a rare book that really manages to walk you through a progressive set of examples that will take you from building simple network topologies to more advanced ones while explaining the design decisions along the way. For people not familiar with the subject, I would encourage you to read the whole book and not just skip to what you might consider as the network architecture for your game, as also g the way the author will have explained many of the design concerns that led to that topology and your requirements may necessitate a different approach which the author tends to dive into. This book will serve as a strong reference for Godot4 multiplayer and I definitely recommend reading it if you are diving into multiplayer as opposed to just watching a few YouTube videos and trying to go it alone without understanding WHY things work the way they do.

As a hobbyist within the video game programming, it's sometimes a bit difficult finding good material to learn from, especially when it comes to advanced topics, such as Godot networking. However, I do think that this book stands out in the vast sea of knowledge as a primary example of how Godot networking should be taught.Right off the bat, the book does an excellent job at giving a very general understanding at basic networking concepts (client, server, packets, etc), all within a few pages. Whenever a new Godot networking concept is brought up, you receive a brief introduction to the concept before it's implemented into your project. It's great, and very efficient, to not be stuck talking about such basic concepts for too long. It allows us to focus on networking in Godot specifically, which I found very nice. Additionally, one thing this book has that you don't always find everywhere else is the discussion of certain advanced networking topics, such as network debugging within Godot or implementing lag compensation within a Godot project. These are very important topics to be learning about, especially if you want to get serious about Godot development, and you won't always find this information on other tutorials or books, which is why I find it fantastic that it's talked about with such detail in this book.Another thing I love about this book is how it introduces the example project code to you in smaller blocks, one at a time. In programming books, I often see an author drop massive amounts of code at a time, just to spend the next 10 paragraphs breaking down that code, which isn't inherently a bad thing, but in my opinion, it gets a bit hard to understand the logic and keep track of everything that's going on when a code block and the explanation are so large. In this book, it takes a slightly different approach. Instead, it will give you smaller blocks of code at a time, followed by a small paragraph explaining what is going on, which, in my opinion, is a bit more effective. It allows you to better process what the author is discussing, which helps you easily understand the bigger picture.In addition, this book does have a GitHub repository with all of the project files that you can pull onto your local computer to follow along with what's going on in the book, which is very nice. I would *highly* recommend using this, if possible, and following along with the book, as it helps you get a better insight as to what is going on. However, one thing I will mention is that there are some *very* small coding difference between what is the GitHub repository files and what is in the book examples. Do these differences actually matter? No, not at all. I only bring it up because it might confused some readers who are not as experienced with the Godot video game engine.Will this book turn you from a Godot networking beginner to a Godot networking master? No, but it's a fantastic place to start. Not only does the author make it easy to understand such important Godot networking concepts, but it also gives you the opportunity to experiment and learn just how powerful Godot networking can be, which can then be easily applied into your own projects. If you are already knowledgeable in Godot programming and need to take the first step into Godot networking, this book is the perfect place to start.

It's very in depth and answers all the important questions I had. I also appreciate how it is split into multiple sections for different project types and has a focus on optimization.

I would recommend for new developers looking to expand their knowledge in setting up multiplayer connectivity but I would in fact also apply knowledge on how servers work and what configuration you need when handling outbound connections. Like mentioned before it sets a foundation for initial configuration and understand of cross communication using Godot.