Getting Started with Multiplayer Game Development
Welcome to the wonderful world of multiplayer game development in Unreal Engine! I am really excited that you have selected me and my book as a guide to this sometimes scary technology; I promise that I’ll do my best to make this journey as easy and as entertaining as possible.
Throughout the book, you will learn how to create an Unreal Engine multiplayer game from scratch, handle client/server logic, manage AI opponents, test and profile the network, and take advantage of available cloud services. By the end, you will be proficient in creating a networked video game and have a deep knowledge of many of the pitfalls and how to avoid them.
In this chapter, you will get an overview of what a multiplayer game is, its origins, and the different types of multiplayer games that are available today. Additionally, you will explore how the technology used in multiplayer games has been applied in contexts outside of gaming.
In this chapter, I will discuss the following topics:
- Introducing multiplayer games
- Understanding multiplayer game categories
- Exploring gameplay twists
- Is multiplayer technology just for games?