I am currently developing a PC fighter and I would like to know some things. If you would play a fighting game without online support? I haven’t programmed a server(very difficult) or client-side netcode and I want to know if people would still download and play the demo.
If you’re planning on making a game with no established fan base, I would think you would need some sort of online matchmaking system. Working under the assumption that your game will reach a small but dedicated following, the odds of those players living in close vicinity to one another is pretty slim, and so you should create some sort of online support system in order to connect these pockets of players that enjoy your game.
It would be worth the effort.
Otherwise, only people who happen to be in clusters would play and everyone else would be stuck in single player.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2
Right.
What about a free version with no online and a pay version with online?
Not a bad idea to go about it. I assume it’s a one-time fee in order to get access to the full game? I think that’s a great way to sort of demo your game to the public-at-large, so that they can decide for themselves if they want to pay for multiplayer access. You might also want to consider releasing a simple offline multiplayer mode for free, and then have people get access to the full single player story/campaign, training mode, various options and other settings, bonus extras, and online multiplayer.
I’d be fine with this assuming that A)the game itself were good and B) you go to this guy for your netcode.
GGPO’s license is not poor friendly.
Doesn’t really have to be GGPO, a working rollback netcode implementation would be something worth paying for.
People (myself included) play KoF XIII. So there’s definitely a precedent for a fighter released this console generation without online being reasonably successful.
Hell to the no.
This is an excellent idea in theory, but what happens when hardly anyone is playing? It’s hard for people not to feel ripped off. For instance realistically you probably aren’t going to sell many copies. What happens if someone decides to purchase online and no one is ever playing? It’s obviously not your fault, but some people will feel like they got ripped off.
How many characters will it have? Perhaps unlocking a few of the characters and online would be a better way to go. Let’s say your game has 12 characters and 8 stages. The free version can have 8 characters and 6 stages. When you pay for the full game you’ll get all the characters, all the stages and online. Now no matter what they got something for their money.
Well I already play KoFXIII and Big Bang Beat Revolve, so yeah, I can’t say I WOULDN’T play a game without online. However, you have to understand and take into account the longevity of your game could very well rely on online play. If people can’t create a local scene for the game the game will essentially be dead since no one COULD play it, where as if there were online you could ALWAYS get a game going as long as there’s one person anywhere in the world to play with.
Only a really cheap fighter could get away with it. Like say a $5-10 or an Indi game in which case you couldn’t complain if it doesn’t have online. But online -good online- is absolutely essential.