Top Down Game Networking

[kevglass]

So, having moved on from AstroPrime I'm looking at another game idea I considered just before starting on prime.

Its a top down game, where each player is a person. I've just started at looking at the networking and realised that all the stuff I did on prime makes no sense when changes in direction are instant.

In prime, due to momentum I could extrapolate the players position based on their velocity etc.. However, in this game I tried extrapolation and found that the my players were constantly jumping back since between my updates they'd taken their finger off the the forward key.

Am I missing something or does this sort of thing have to be done with direct updates?

Kev

[Jeff]

Where changes in direction can be instantaneous and exact position is required a certain amount of warping when latency spikes hit is inevtiable.  You'll see it in any game like this (ie EQ, NWN, etc.)  

Some of it can be hidden by allowing some degree of discontinuity between players and cheating the velocity of "catching up".  (ie You see yourself move up to the dragon and then attack.  I see you stand there for a beat, then run incredibly fast at the dragon and attack.)  The GetAmped game hides it by making you "skid" when making a turn until the turn is acknowledged by the other players.

But in general you will either need warps or to do some clever deisgn to try to hide said warps.