Unity Multiplayer
Unity Multiplayer is a set of tools and interfaces that allow Unity developers to add multiplayer functionality to their games. It supports building games that can be played over LAN or the internet. Key features include a networked scene system, matchmaking, lobbies, NAT punchth
multiplayer
networking
unity
game-engine
Unity Multiplayer: Build Multiplayer Games for LAN & Internet
Unity Multiplayer is a set of tools and interfaces that allow Unity developers to add multiplayer functionality to their games. It supports building games that can be played over LAN or the internet. Key features include a networked scene system, matchmaking, lobbies, NAT punchthrough, and more.
What is 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 acts as the hub for configuring and managing multiplayer games. It handles matchmaking, managing player connections, spawning networked game objects, and more.
- Network Identity - Components that allow game objects like players, NPCs, powerups etc. to be spawned and synchronized across networked instances of a scene.
- Network Transform - Synchronizes position, rotation and scale of objects across networked instances.
- Networked Physics - SYNCs rigidbodies and colliders.
- Match Maker - Automates connecting players together into multiplayer matches based on rules and parameters.
- NAT Punchthrough - Enables connectivity for games played peer-to-peer across routers and firewalls.
- Relay Server - Fallback server to enable connectivity when direct peer-to-peer connections are not possible.
- VoIP Support - Built in APIs for in-game voice chat.
- Security - Protection against hacking and cheating.
Overall, Unity Multiplayer handles most of the complex low-level networking tasks like lag compensation, data transmission, and replication management so developers can focus on the gameplay and user experience of their multiplayer titles.
Unity Multiplayer Features
Features
- Networked scene management
- Matchmaking
- Lobbies
- NAT punchthrough
- Voice chat
- Relay servers
- Authoritative or autonomous networking models
Pricing
- Free
- Subscription-Based
Pros
Built into Unity so no extra SDKs needed
Good documentation and samples
Handles a lot of multiplayer complexity for you
Works across multiple platforms
Cons
Limited to Unity engine games
Can require additional server hosting costs
Advanced features may require coding knowledge
The Best Unity Multiplayer Alternatives
Top Games and Gaming Software and other similar apps like Unity Multiplayer
Here are some alternatives to Unity Multiplayer:
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...
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 frameworkAuto-hosted Photon Cloud to run rooms/matches, or the ability...
Agones
Agones is an open source platform developed by Google to help game developers build, deploy and manage dedicated game servers on Kubernetes. It handles game server provisioning, scaling, session management and health checking out of the box so developers can focus on building game logic.Key features of Agones include:Automatic scaling...
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...
Heroic Cloud
Heroic Cloud is a developer-friendly cloud computing platform optimized for running containerized workloads. It offers a managed Kubernetes service with automatic scaling, built-in monitoring, and other features to simplify deploying and operating applications in the cloud.Some key capabilities and benefits of Heroic Cloud include:Kubernetes-compatible API - Deploy and manage containers...
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...
Amazon GameLift
Amazon GameLift is a fully managed AWS service for deploying, operating, and scaling session-based multiplayer game servers in the cloud. Key capabilities include:Fleet management - GameLift manages the provisioning and deployment of EC2 instances for hosting gameplay servers.Game session placement - GameLift manages the process of placing game sessions on...
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,...
