Ask HN: What tools did you use to create the server for your multiplayer game? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What tools did you use to create the server for your multiplayer game?

9 pointsaerovistae6 comments

I've been looking to create a server-authoritative multiplayer browser game, and as a primarily frontend dev I have been having a TON of trouble finding a good option to build the backend with. Nakama's server-authoritative features seem really limited and only support Lua/Go, and to be honest I can't find any decent alternatives.

What did you use?

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My Co-founder (Dan) and I built an authoritative server framework called Game Plumbers Framework which handles multiplayer and much more (Persistence / Content/ Auth / UI). https://gameplumbers.com/

I did this once in C with just OpenSSL and I can't recommend against that enough! I learned a lot (about security) and it was fun, but, you're not valuing your own time at that point. If I had that same problem today, I think I'd use one of Go, Rust or Racket instead. They're a bit easier to set up and probably a bit less of a security nightmare.

If you're using Unity, Normcore is the one I hear most often. I think Photon is the most popular though. The built-in networking in Unreal is pretty solid if you're using that too.

Are you sure you want to roll your own ?

I'd suggest Proton or another hosted solution unless your working on a team. Getting a single player game done solo is hard enough

Do you mean Photon? I wouldn't say I'm set on anything right now -- whatever is easiest and most effective/efficient in terms of my time is what I would definitely go with. That's basically what I'm trying to figure out -- what the easiest / most efficient option is.

I have two reasons that I've been reluctant over photon:

1.) It seems to be largely Windows-only. I prefer to develop on Mac or Linux.

2.) Its documentation seems lacking from what I could see. I spent half an hour perusing it and just found myself constantly hitting dead-ends and finding things missing.

GameSparks seemed like a nice option, except their pricing is $299/month for "Standard". [1]

[1] https://www.gamesparks.com/pricing/

I've been working with Photon a bit in UE4. They are very responsive to issues posted in the forums, so if you aren't finding something or something isn't working, let them know. Have you looked at their Javascript SDK? https://www.photonengine.com/en-US/sdks#html5-webgl-sdkrealt...

1.) It seems to be largely Windows-only. I prefer to develop on Mac or Linux.

It's primarily used with Unity and you can develop for Unity on a Mac. It is C# though.

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