Using HTML5 for mobile multiplayer

Author: by Staff

In Gamasutra's latest feature, Moblyng's former SVP of engineering describes techniques for reliable mobile game networking on less-than-reliable cellular connections using examples from the studio's Social Poker Live. "Social Poker Live is a multiplayer poker game that can be played in real-time, over any internet connection on iOS and Android mobile devices (phones and tablets), and it's resilient to spotty network conditions," writes Bernt Habermeier, who worked at Moblyng prior to its recent closure. "The common perception is that it's difficult to implement real-time multiplayer games on mobile devices. It's true that this type of game is more involved than implementing a typical social game where the game doesn't require down to the second data synchronization across a group of players, but it's not terribly difficult either," he writes. He explains in depth the viability of solutions on iOS and Android, and describes the implementation. "There may be other (and better) ways you can deal with stalled TCP/IP connections than what I've done, but if you want a resilient application the one thing you can't do is simply trust that anything relying on TCP/IP will do just fine," he writes. "Your TCP/IP will stall out on cellular networks, your app will freeze, and your users will be bummed. If you want to make multiplayer games that play great even in areas where your cellular coverage isn't, you have to deal with this somehow." The full, detailed article is live now on Gamasutra.