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Bootcamp into Multiplayer in 5 min, without writing a single code line

Discussion in 'Made With Unity' started by aidin, Mar 8, 2011.

  1. Thetal

    Thetal

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  2. Hangout

    Hangout

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    Alright, then. We then need to check out uLink as well.

    Thanks for the link
     
  3. Christian_Lonnholm

    Christian_Lonnholm

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    We have now double and triple checked and it seems as if the rest of the comparison stand. Photon is Windows only and the lobby is an addon. But sorry for the confusion.
     
  4. Hangout

    Hangout

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    Funny that they state different things on their documentation as on their front page. We definitely need to check out uLink as well.

    Thanks for your fast answer to our questions, certainly a plus.

    EDIT: Not different things but somewhat missleading i think.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2011
  5. the_gnoblin

    the_gnoblin

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    Are you going to publish bootcamp multiplayer example for uLink?
     
  6. kheng

    kheng

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    Hey just wanted to say I tried uLink and I think its awesome! Took me about 15-20 minutes to get the 3rd person setup connecting to a server and running around with another person. And that's including reading the tutorial and watching some of the video. Best part is I didn't have to write a line of code. As an animator I think that's the best part of uLink.

    The only bug I found was when setting up a chatbox. I can hit enter to type but I couldn't hit enter again to send what I wrote. Might be nice to have a button to active chat and send too.

    Any ways can't wait to see what options you will have for us indie folks! Nice job with uLink!
     
  7. ProtonOne

    ProtonOne

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    I bet you are on Mac. There is a Unity bug causing this described in this forum post:
    http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/66...s-kills-Input.GetKeyDown-on-Mac-but-not-on-PC
    I think I worked around it in a similar way to this:
    http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/69361-GUI.TextField-submission-via-quot-return-quot-key...

    This network library looks pretty cool, the video on the first page of this thread was impressive. I like the little snowball fight demo.
     
  8. ExitBG

    ExitBG

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    photon supports reliable and unreliable udp; encryption is not an "addon" as it is part of the core libraries.
    also, an "addon" here is your own code so you are free to do anything you want with it - just like you can do in a ulink "server".

    having said that I don't think that you can really compare photon and ulink since ulink has a very different approach: the master server is a bit like photon lite..this is where players find a "room".. then they connect to another master server client: a unity server which is not really designed to handle hundreds of connections - which is what you have the pikko server for.

    if anything it seems that you should compare photon and pikko server. so stating that photon is not "pikko server compatible" is really beyond me... instead you could actually make ulink photon compatible.
     
  9. Christian_Lonnholm

    Christian_Lonnholm

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    Thanks for the info! We are adjusting our comparison accordingly - though it would go faster if you provided links. (Sorry all you other guys for me not responding but I am busy making you hopefully happy in other ways).

    I agree that Photon and uLink are very different and a comparison is not making either product real justice. It is often not "what" but "how" features are available to the developers that makes the real difference. uLink is almost all about powerful technology submitting to design, and "what" is always improving. We are soon releasing uLink 1.1 where we have some more very interesting features.

    We have been talking with Exit Games loosely about making our tech compatible since more than a year back. Then we talked about marrying Pikko Server and Photon, since it could be done. It is an interesting concept that we have never closed the door to. Though what is worth pointing out is that the Unity server has no problem handling 100 connections. You can try it yourself by downloading our Snowbox demo and have a go at it.

    Quick things in the end:
    - We are putting up Bootcamp as two example projects. The one from the video and another that we have extended.
    - Thanks for all the encouraging e-mails and posts! I will answer them soon.
     
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2011
  10. Christian_Lonnholm

    Christian_Lonnholm

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    Finally, after listening and thinking a lot, we have came up with an offer that we are very happy with for all you indies. You can read our thoughts in this post or go straight to our homepage and have a look.
     
  11. HaydenM

    HaydenM

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    is it still pssible to get the uLink giveaway or has it expired?
     
  12. duncanx

    duncanx

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    A trend that is happening first with games themselves and now more and more with tools is "free to play". Free to play removes your barriers, but also allows you to still charge a lot down the road. The analogue with tools are things like Unity3d. There's a free version that does a minimum, and various upgrades. Eventually everything you buy that isn't a physical good will work this way.
     
  13. Frank Oz

    Frank Oz

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    If you mean the free license for those earlier in the thread, yeah that only applied to people who had posted before Christian mentioned it (and it was a huge surprise lol).

    But as he says, new indie versions are available for $500 (a serious bargin), but only a limited number.

    9 licenses left, a minute ago, go go go!
     
  14. Christian_Lonnholm

    Christian_Lonnholm

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    There is information on the homepage that for great (and non-profit) projects that have a creative and capturing application, we not only give a free licence but our utter complete support (+ a flower here).
     
  15. Christian_Lonnholm

    Christian_Lonnholm

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    Thanks for you input duncanx. We see the same thing and enjoy a lot of free products ourselves. Our problem is that we can't handle too many users. So, we structured our licence around that fact and since we want our costumers to be as successful as they can be - it didn't feel right to strip uLink down. As I mentioned, this is most likely a poor business decision but it is one that will benefit the development and the current costumers the most. And this makes us happy.
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2011
  16. ersaurabh101

    ersaurabh101

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    noob questions - can any 1 guide me to the answers

    1. I dont want to manage any server, i want to host on simple web hosting, can i still use Ulink ??
    2. If possible then In this case what will be the limit of simultaneous users ??
     
  17. Christian_Lonnholm

    Christian_Lonnholm

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    Thanks for the questions!

    1. You can use uLink and host your game anywhere you seem fit.
    2. There is no limits on the number of users. The licence is per title.

    You can find out more at our homepage.
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2011
  18. abkarch

    abkarch

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    This is amazing. I wish i saw this sooner, so i could have gotten that free liscense... :S
    Seriously, this is good. The price is fair, we dont want a bunch of little kids running around trying to make mmos...
     
  19. the_gnoblin

    the_gnoblin

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    Thanks for making Indie version available!
     
  20. abkarch

    abkarch

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    excuse me if this seems noobish.
    Im still fairly new to unity. I used this a little bit ago, LAN, for reassurence. It works, everything works (im using my own project) except that when 2 people are logged in each ones input controls the other person. What would cause this?
    also, i only had a minute to test another PC. I ran 2 clients on this PC, one in unity editor and the other standalone, and they both kept swapping every half second (it was switching between the two different people)

    I suppose the best way to put it would be to say that the two clients are crashing into each other and are confused which is which?
     
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2011
  21. bjorn.dahlman

    bjorn.dahlman

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    Hi abkarch,

    It seems to me that you either haven't removed the proper components from RemoteSoldier or that the uLink Instantiate For Others component has the wrong proxy prefab set. Look at 2:12 in the video to see which components you should remove in RemoteSoldier and also check 3:43 in the video where the proxy prefab is set. Hope that solves your problem.

    If you have any further problems please report them to http://ulink.shapado.com/ where you will get answers faster and in a more convenient manner.
     
  22. aidin

    aidin

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    Last edited: Oct 17, 2011
  23. abkarch

    abkarch

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    That makes sense. i musta skipped that part somehow...thanks!
     
  24. grfxman

    grfxman

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    These guy are great !!! :) We are using their code on one of our titles and they are always there for us with clear fast answers.
     
  25. Vinícius Sanctus

    Vinícius Sanctus

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    God fking damn it. Im two weeks late! 500$? Nope sry, Brazilian here... =(

    Anyway, i hope you free license bearers spit multiplayer games like watermelon seeds! >(

    Hugs! =)
     
  26. emergence

    emergence

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    To be honest, the amount of money successful video games make, the price isn't bad at all if the product truly is such high quality and simple to implement.

    However... people must first have SEVERAL successful video games to grab middleware like this, and honestly...anyone with that much talent most likely has already done it all themselves and can just build on their own code.
     
  27. Metron

    Metron

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    The difference between talented, experienced people and talented, unexperience people is the fact, that the unexperienced one thinks that he can do the same stuff, better, in less time and with less costs.

    Unfortunately reality often proves otherwise. I've been developing game engines for several years for game development companies, and I've developed my own engine during ~8 years. But I spent more time working on the engines than doing what I wanted to do: Developing games.

    And that's why I switched to Unity (and recently uLink): Those tools help me create games without bothering too much about the deeper technical side... Prototypes are quickly done and gameplay can be tested very soon without the need of developing some core libraries (math, IO, input, gfx... anyone?)

    Ok. I have several successful games on my account, but then, I was an employee and didn't see the big profit from it. So I keep an eye open to opportunities and select the tools that are within my budget and which fit my needs...
     
  28. the_gnoblin

    the_gnoblin

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  29. aidin

    aidin

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    uLinkMasterServer.exe and uLinkPolicyServer.exe are completely written in C#, which means you can also run them on Mac and Linux using Mono out of the box.

    If you want the Master Server to log to a file instead of the terminal you can just type:
    Code (csharp):
    1. mono uLinkMasterServer.exe -quiet -log=MasterServer.log
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2011
  30. the_gnoblin

    the_gnoblin

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    Thanks!

    Is it possible to run several independent rooms in one uLink instance by default?
     
  31. the_gnoblin

    the_gnoblin

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  32. the_gnoblin

    the_gnoblin

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    Kind of a bug: When I install uLink it can't find Unity folder.

    If that helps - I have several versions of Unity installed:
    1. Unity 2.6.1 and Unity3 in Program Files x86.
    2. Unity 3.2 and Unity 3.3 somewhere on disk E:\

    P.S. Is there a better place to report things like that?
     
  33. Adrenaline-Crew

    Adrenaline-Crew

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    Who ever can afford this has a nice day job, otherwise its a rip off, he should be banned
     
  34. david.almroth

    david.almroth

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  35. johnbriggs

    johnbriggs

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    Glad to be here in this forum. Well, this is an interesting one. I really enjoy reading this topic.
     
  36. Christian_Lonnholm

    Christian_Lonnholm

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    Hi gnoblin!

    Great that you are trying uLink out! We are looking into this with having several Unity versions installed, I'll let you know when it is sorted out.

    Secondly, you can of course e-mail me, report bugs here. We are still under improvised bug reporting system as we are looking to find a nice way to connect an external issue tracking system with our internal system.

    Thanks for finding this bug!
     
  37. MikeHergaarden

    MikeHergaarden

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    I love to see a networking solution so tightly integrated with Unity. I'm watching the development :).
     
  38. KostasAnagnostou

    KostasAnagnostou

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    Hi all,

    I am a programmer for a new multiplayer online game made with Unity and Smartfox server. Seeing uLink's wonderful integration with Unity we decided to give it a spin. It seems that uLink is optimised and dead easy to use in cases where all assets are fixed and stored into the Resources folder. In our case this will not do since we plan to download asset parts for vehicle upgrades.

    Is there an alternative to using uLink.Network.Instantiate to create network aware objects in uLink in the runtime? I tried to imitate Network.Instantiate's behind the scene use of RPCs to instantiate any GameObject it but did not work as expected and the Instantiated objects are not in sync.

    Are there any examples/tutorials on how this can be achieved? This functionality is important to our game.

    Thank you and keep up the good work!

    Kostas
     
  39. Christian_Lonnholm

    Christian_Lonnholm

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    Hi Kostas!

    Thank you for letting us know that you like working with uLink! The issue that you have mentioned with asset bundles can be quite simply solved as you can see in our more detailed answer here:

    http://ulink.shapado.com/questions/...-asset-bundles-using-ulink-across-all-clients

    Though, it will be much easier when we have a more explicit support for the method. If you'd be interested in trying it out before we officially release this feature - I'd be very happy.
     
  40. KostasAnagnostou

    KostasAnagnostou

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    Hi Cristian,

    Yes I have sort of tried that solution but it doesn't quite work, surely I am doing something wrong. I have posted the code I am using as a continuation to the above question in uLink Answers.

    Indeed, it would be perfect if everything could be instantiated and made network aware as easy as prefabs in Resource folder can be now. If you have such a feature planned for release I would love to try it!

    Best regards,

    Kostas
     
  41. Christian_Lonnholm

    Christian_Lonnholm

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    Great! Lars och Aidin is looking at it right now. We are currently about to release Julia that is packed with some very nice stuff (uLink 1.1) but after that, we will release feature by feature. You can e-mail me your contact information and I will make sure that you will be able to try it out first hand. My e-mail is christian@unitypark3d.com.
     
  42. nikko

    nikko

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    7000 EUR. Give me a break. Why not 1M EUR? You sell once and retire.

    Btw using Plimus as payment gateway?
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2011
  43. PrimeDerektive

    PrimeDerektive

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    He did sell 10 indie licenses for $500... the reason being they want to keep the number of indie's using it low so they can provide the highest quality support; pretty respectable IMO.

    The next round of indie licenses, I'm definitely grabbing one. It's basically like an amazingly efficient, scalable version of the built-in networking, and just as easy to use (that last part being their absolute best selling point, IMO).
     
  44. Burke

    Burke

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    For real world game development, uLink's low fixed price is amazing. For amateur development, there really isn't any reason not to use straight Unity. Its great that there are a lot of students and such in the forums, but this is a professional product that took years to develop.

    We integrated last month and its absolutely solved our last five months of fighting with Unity.Network. Our game isn't the greatest example because we aren't using it as an authoritative server yet, but even that is snapping together quickly with the step-by-step guide. Having a team of video game guys with no real network experience, its simply been a pleasure to have something that just works.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpSBQejJgxI&feature=player_embedded

    I only have servers up in the US, but even that isn't too bad with some decent interpolation -- freefall.freerangegames.com
     
  45. nikko

    nikko

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    I think it is just very frustrating that some people can buy just based on their wealth. I leave in Thailand and I am wealthy for here, but $7000 is even for USA with the Economic crysis is an elitist price.
    One competitor will emerge at a lower price and get the market. You should keep a lower price for the indies so that you get all the market, discourage competition to invest in a competing product and you will be leader.
    There are many example about your business model that shows that it fails. Unigine for example, was priced 15k at the beginning. They have 10 clients, maybe enough for a 3 people Russian company but what about the future?
    Another example is 3DS. This product takes year to make but is not priced millions of $. It has always been priced correctly so that it becomes popular compared with Softimage.
    In the 90's 3dsmax was the small challenger and most video studio were using Softimage with expensive workstation, doing the same elitist price as you do. You know the end of the story, having competitive price, educational license etc... Autodesk finally purchased Softimage (XSI). Please make Indie License for studio making less then 200.000/year at $200, so that your tool is used everywhere. Then when we sign our game with a major, we keep your technology because we used it, and we can afford paying the full price.
     
  46. philieboy1234

    philieboy1234

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    thank you for trying to change your ways
     
  47. philieboy1234

    philieboy1234

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    this is the most amazing thing i've ever seen anyone do with unity. Amazing
     
  48. Muzzn

    Muzzn

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    Nikko, I understand what you're saying, but the uLink guys want to look after their customers. They only sold 10 licenses - and half the world now wants one (exaggeration I know, but you get the point.) They don't want to have hundreds of customers, just a few so they can make sure that everyone get the best out of it, and that leads to happy customers. So they won't lower the price, except for the next round of indie licenses (I assume there will be another, because loads of people seem to be asking for it.)
    That's what I think BTW - I could be completely wrong :)
     
  49. Ippokratis

    Ippokratis

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    Hi. I am a hobbyist and quite inexperienced in game development. I just think that it is not so easy to create a MMO, financially speaking. It takes money to hire artists, servers, programers. And middleware. I believe that 1-2 people's teams cannot cope with such a project. I also believe that indies using such middleware are essentially spending their time in benefit of the middleware creators, helping them fine tune their product and that is all. I reckon that some people with much experience, dedication, ( add your qualities ) might get something out of it but the majority will serve as " cannon fodder ". I really respect the decision of indies to engage such a project, as well as the convenient opportunity that the publishers of this middleware give to indie community. I just want to point out that it might not be so beneficial for everyone. Best wishes to those who make and use this technology.
     
  50. psyclone

    psyclone

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    Im finding uLink a very fun and easy to use product. Integrates cleanly and easily with unity.

    Well done Guys... looking forward to my need to use picoServer...