Multiplayer gameplay considerations

Multiplayer games are among the most difficult to develop. This is due to the complexities involved in networking and game servers, and frankly the number of things that can go wrong. You likely have played a lot of multiplayer games. Some of the common things that can go wrong include:

• Latency/lag

• Crashes/disconnects

• Slow loading

• Delayed spawning

• Players having different game versions

• Maps not available

So, you are familiar with some or all of these problems. There are also design considerations that must be designed and developed. Here are a few:

• Server-side programming (game servers)

• Rooms and lobbies

• Battle system balance

• Team and cooperative modes

• Creating battle arenas

• AI and Non-player Characters (NPC) behaviors

You'll create your game in Lumberyard and not worry too much about server-side programming, because Amazon GameLift will take care of this for you. GameLift works in concert with multiplayer games developed with Lumberyard.

The need for game servers

One...