Chapter16.Playing Alone Isn t Fun

Chapter 16. Playing Alone Isn't Fun

It doesn't seem so long ago to me that all games were single player, or multiplayer on the same machine through various mechanisms such as a split screen. Although allowing people to play the games with each other was great, a majority of games didn't lend themselves well to this format. With some types of strategy games, it removed any tactical advantages you might have gained because your opponent knew what you were doing. In other game types (such as first-person shooters [FPSs]), you wanted (and needed) the screen real estate to view your enemies more readily.

Plus you had the problem of getting the people you were hoping to challenge together in the same room. Then you had the problem of the physical limitation to the number of players who could fit. Enter the Internet: Now you can play your favorite game with thousands of people across the world simultaneously. It's amazing what a few years can do for the quality of multiplayer gaming. Although you won't be designing any massively multiplayer online games in this book (it is only a beginner's guide, you realize), you will be allowing multiplayer access over the Internet.

In this chapter, you'll learn

• How to introduce DirectPlay

• How to host a networking session

• How to join a networking session

• How to send and receive data