Photon Engine
Photon Engine is a proprietary multiplayer game development platform that provides a real-time multiplayer game backend and networking engine. It handles hosting, networking, matchmaking, lag compensation and has out-of-the-box support for different platforms.
multiplayer
networking
realtime
game-backend
matchmaking
lag-compensation
crossplatform
Photon Engine: Real-Time Multiplayer Game Development Platform
Photon Engine is a proprietary multiplayer game development platform that provides a real-time multiplayer game backend and networking engine. It handles hosting, networking, matchmaking, lag compensation and has out-of-the-box support for different platforms.
What is Photon Engine?
Photon Engine is a proprietary multiplayer game development platform designed to power real-time, networked games. It provides the networking backend, infrastructure and services needed to build multi-user games and applications.
Some key features of Photon Engine include:
- Real-time global networking engine and multiplayer framework
- Auto-hosted Photon Cloud to run rooms/matches, or the ability to run your own Photon Servers
- Matchmaking and lobby system
- Authoritative server or fast paced peer-to-peer networking model
- Client and server side prediction for fast, fluid experiences
- Multiplatform SDKs for mobile, desktop, console and web
- Integrations with game engines like Unity, Unreal, Cocos2d
- In-depth statistics, analytics and monitoring with Photon Dashboard
- APIs for in-app purchases and monetization
- Options for self-hosting Photon Servers on premises
Photon Engine aims to handle all the networking and infrastructure aspects of building multiplayer games, allowing developers to focus on the gameplay and application logic. Some popular games powered by Photon include PUBG Mobile, Cuisine Royale, EVE: Online and more.
Photon Engine Features
Features
- Real-time multiplayer
- Matchmaking
- Authentication
- Lobby system
- In-game chat
- Custom room support
- Lag compensation
- Cross-platform support
Pricing
- Freemium
- Pay-As-You-Go
Pros
Easy to integrate
Scalable
Good documentation
Active community support
Free tier available
Cons
Limited features in free tier
Can get expensive at high user volumes
Not open source
Official Links
The Best Photon Engine Alternatives
Top Gaming Software and Game Engines and other similar apps like Photon Engine
Here are some alternatives to Photon Engine:
Suggest an alternative ❐
SocketWeaver
SocketWeaver is an open-source platform for building scalable, high-performance networking applications. It is designed to handle thousands or even millions of simultaneous connections efficiently.Some key features of SocketWeaver include:Simple API for TCP and WebSocket connectionsAutomatic connection pooling and resource managementSupport for secure TLS connectionsPluggable architecture for custom protocols and authenticationBuilt-in...
Nakama
Nakama is an open source server designed specifically for powering social and real-time games and applications. It provides the fundamental backend services needed to develop cross-platform games or apps with social and realtime elements without needing to host your own dedicated game servers.Nakama handles user accounts, data storage, social network...
Colyseus
Colyseus is an open-source multiplayer game server for Node.js focused on scalability and real-time communication. It provides a framework and set of tools to help developers build multiplayer games and manage clients and game state across large numbers of concurrent players.Some key features of Colyseus include:Built-in matchmaking, lobbies and presence...
Unity Multiplayer
Unity Multiplayer is a feature set built into the Unity game engine to enable developers to create multiplayer games. It provides the necessary frameworks, scripts, and network infrastructure so developers don't have to code complex multiplayer systems from scratch.Some key capabilities and components of Unity Multiplayer include:Network Manager - This...
PlayFab
PlayFab is a customizable backend platform that provides online game services for game developers. It handles server hosting, player data storage, analytics, content management, online marketplace, economy management, customer support and more so developers can focus on building great game experiences.Key features of PlayFab include:Player Data Service - Store player...
DarkRift Networking
DarkRift Networking is an open source networking library designed specifically for game development using .NET. It aims to provide a fast, reliable and easy to use networking solution so developers can focus on making great games rather than battling with network code.Some key features of DarkRift Networking include:Automatic network traffic...
GameSparks
GameSparks is a cloud-based backend platform designed specifically for game developers. It provides a complete suite of services and tools to build fully-featured online and multiplayer games without having to develop custom server infrastructure.Some of the key features of GameSparks include:Player authentication and management - Manage player accounts, friends lists,...
Xbox Live Creators Program
The Xbox Live Creators Program is a self-publishing service launched by Microsoft in 2017 for independent game developers to publish Xbox One and Windows 10 games on the Xbox Live platform. It provides a streamlined certification process and enables solo developers and small studios to launch their games on Xbox...
SmartFoxServer
SmartFoxServer is an open source server engine designed for building multiplayer games and applications. It handles the server-side logic and real-time communication between connected clients.Key features include:Real-time messaging system for features like chat, private messages, notificationsUser management with customisable profiles, avatars, social graphIn-game rooms that users can join/create for battles,...
