Hi guys. First post for me.

Finding this site was a breath of fresh air and it's nice to have spent an hour browsing the forums and not see a single question from a "developer" asking how to change a texture in the torque demo! :)

I've been in the commercial games sector since it started but after two years in the wilderness of PDA/Cellphone development I've switched over to trying my hand at Indie PC dev.

Current (first) title is a mini-golf game and it's about 75% complete. I've decided to add networking to the game purely because it's something I love in games, and at the end of the day it's not too hard to multiplay up a golf game! :)

Question is, do any of the resident experts think that adding this feature will generate more interest/sales ?

Thanks....

Properly done, multiplayer not only can generate more interest, but it can be the basis of your sales design.

Its the basis of ours at least...

Joe

Yeah, I tend to feel the same way but remember an argument I once lost and have since come around to the winners way of thinking.

The thrust was that networked (lan) games didn't mean squat with 99.9% of consumers because they didn't have a network at home.

I guess the internet makes this a bit of a moot point though. I was referring to the genre of game being mini-golf. It's not like it's even a worthy question if you're writing an FPS or something like that. :D

I'm using raknet for the low-level stuff as I've now not got access to the code I once wrote for this and remember just what a pita it was to get working right. I can recommend it whole-heartedly and for 99 bucks..... That's a days wages working at mcdonalds over here in the UK :D

Id have to agree, that PROPERLY done it can be profitable. It can also be a sinkhole from hell of your time, so you want to make sure that it's a vital part of your game.

If you make the multiplayer server based or at least there is some sort of hub that you control there are some ways you can exploit that aspect of your Minigolf game. It then becomes a portal for you to sell more games, or advertise, collect a toll of some sort, etc etc.

There is nothing trival about thinking out the multiplayer aspects of a game. And if you choose to go the route of having a player community, the technial sides are the least painful part. Trying to get 1000's of people to get along and be happy can be daunting. Sometimes I think it must be kinda what it's like to run a city. :)

However, it seems to me that it would be a lot of fun to play minigolf with pals from across the internet.

Since its a turn based game really, that makes latencey much less of a problem.

The nice thing about multiplayer is that it's more enjoyable knowing there is a person on the other side of the screen. It more rewarding to cooperate or beat the pants off of a person , vs just playing a bot.

You should expect to get some extra support issues from folks dealing with firewalls, disconnects, and other assorted internet funkiness.

But like anyting how much money network play will add to your pocket is all about how you do it. ;)

Heh, just to comment on that:

I absolutely agree, you need a central server or at least a central control method and a way to profit from it further.

Another possible key element is competition...

Dont get me wrong, mini golf is cool and I love playing it in real life, but virtual multiplayer minigolf really needs something to make it more multiplayer than just chatting.

I suggest, if you want to pursue this idea, to create a multiplayer mode that is unique from single player, adding in some kinds of competition based elements.

Like he said, has to be done PROPERLY and it is my belief that a key element to proper is competition.

Joe

It's gonna be full on turn-based play. Am thinking of an arcade multi mode where all players play at the same time so can bash each others balls around.

No ladders or leagues or anything planned yet, tho net high-score registration is a possible.

This the sort of thing you were thinking about ?

No way... its mini golf right?

Give your opponents control of the traps ;-)

or something.