Is multiplayer mode planned?

[Greg]

Is there gonna be a multplayer mode?

[last]

There already is multiplayer mode. You need a game controller. There are maps specially made for versus fights and also there are some co-op maps.

[afiNity]

There already is multiplayer mode. You need a game controller. There are maps specially made for versus fights and also there are some co-op maps.

I'm pretty sure he meant online multiplayer

[AmorphousGamer]

There already is multiplayer mode. You need a game controller. There are maps specially made for versus fights and also there are some co-op maps.

I'm pretty sure he meant online multiplayer :?

He didn't mean anything as far as the post is concerned. He asked if there was a multiplayer mode planned, and there's already multiplayer in the gamer. Was a good answer.

[grosbedo]

Hello,

I am following the project since a few years (back when only Lugaru existed) and I just pre-ordered Overgrowth, seeing how much progress has been done, and having seen the new Gladiator mode (and defrag-like run maps!) which seems so much fun to play with.

However, my main reason to purchase was that I had the idea that an online multiplayer mode was available, at least partially (for the Gladiator mode! or if combat is too complex with network issues, a non-collision mode would still be great for defrag-like competitions).

I've read some of the forum's posts and it seems the last attempt of implementing online multiplayer was in 2009, and no news since.

As the online multiplayer was the main reason I'd like to play this game (as I feel like this game would be best enjoyed with human interactions), is there any plan about this? I'm not meaning to get any fixed date, but at least is this meant to be implemented in the final release?

[AmorphousGamer]

David has said he wants to implement online multiplayer and that it would be a great feature, but it's not a priority. He wants to make sure the single player is polished before really thinking about online multiplayer.
So basically, don't expect online multiplayer any time soon, if ever.

[Endoperez]

There was a Reddit Q A thread just a while ago:

How important do you think the "early access" model of funding is to success of independent games and developers?

David, are you still interesting in adding online/network multiplayer to Overgrowth, and if so how do you envision it playing out with the extremely quick nature of the combat?

What kind of things can we expect to see in terms of really making each species fighting style distinct?

[+] answer

The early access model is great for developers with a really good game, with a really bad pitch. For example, the idea for Minecraft sounds terrible on paper. A really low-res blocky game with no story or objectives? Why would anyone pay for that? But it's immediately appealing if you try it. That is the ideal case for early access.

I am still thinking about online. The Overgrowth combat system would actually be more lag-tolerant than most, because there is less timing required for attacks -- just for blocks. It might be possible to use some tricks with that to make it pretty resilient. The biggest issue is not theoretical, really, it would just take a lot of development time to refactor the engine to make it appropriate for online multiplayer, so I don't want to spend much time on that until the single-player is done.

My current thought about fighting styles is to push the differences as far as possible, so e.g. a wolf will just kill a rabbit if the rabbit stays in range too long. They are just so much stronger that if they get a good grip on a rabbit, there is nothing they can do about it, unless another rabbit jump-kicks the wolf from behind or something. I want to have patterns like that, so maybe unarmed rabbits could only have a chance against a wolf if there are a lot of them, and even then they will probably mostly die. That's just what I am thinking right now though, these designs always change over time.

[grosbedo]

Thank you, I didn't find that. Here is the reply on reddit:

The early access model is great for developers with a really good game, with a really bad pitch. For example, the idea for Minecraft sounds terrible on paper. A really low-res blocky game with no story or objectives? Why would anyone pay for that? But it's immediately appealing if you try it. That is the ideal case for early access.

I am still thinking about online. The Overgrowth combat system would actually be more lag-tolerant than most, because there is less timing required for attacks -- just for blocks. It might be possible to use some tricks with that to make it pretty resilient. The biggest issue is not theoretical, really, it would just take a lot of development time to refactor the engine to make it appropriate for online multiplayer, so I don't want to spend much time on that until the single-player is done.

My current thought about fighting styles is to push the differences as far as possible, so e.g. a wolf will just kill a rabbit if the rabbit stays in range too long. They are just so much stronger that if they get a good grip on a rabbit, there is nothing they can do about it, unless another rabbit jump-kicks the wolf from behind or something. I want to have patterns like that, so maybe unarmed rabbits could only have a chance against a wolf if there are a lot of them, and even then they will probably mostly die. That's just what I am thinking right now though, these designs always change over time.

Seems good news to me, and I understand that they want to finish the single-player first, it would unwise to implement multiplayer for an architecture that may still be changed anytime as they add more features.