Real-Time Services

Introduction

Welcome to our series of tutorials on GameSparks Real-Time services SDK:

• The Real-Time SDK is dependent on the base GameSparks SDK but works differently to it because it allows you to manage packets for Real-Time multiplayer.
• Currently the Real-Time SDK is only packaged with the following SDKs:
  • Unity
  • Unreal
  • iOS
  • C++
  • Corona
  • cocos2d-x
  • Defold
  • JavaScript
  • Android/Java

These tutorials give you an introduction to our Real-Time SDK, how it works, and provide an example on how our Real-Time might be implemented in a multiplayer game.

Realtime Availability? The Realtime feature is no longer available to games created on or after February 19th, 2019, or for games created before February 19th, 2019 that had not yet used the feature. If you require Realtime for your game and do not have access under your current plan, please contact us to discuss the Enterprise Pricing Tier.

What Are Real-Time Services?

Our real-time services provide a network communication layer which has the ability to send and receive data in real-time:

• Designed for Multiplayer Contexts. Our real-time services are intended for use in multiplayer networked games where player and game-data should be sent and received as quickly as possible.

• Host Server Support for Player vs. Player (PvP) Model. We use a PvP model for our network programming. However, we use a host server to relay communications between players. This brings significant benefits:

  • Allows our services to support a higher number of players than traditional PvP models.
  • Gives you the option to host games in the regions of your choice to reduce latency issues.

• Lightweight and Flexible SDK. Our real-time SDK is very lightweight, giving the developer tight control over what is sent and received:

  • You have wide flexibility on what data you send and how you wish to send the data.
  • You can keep the packets as small as possible making transmission much more efficient.

Tutorials

• Understanding GameSparks Real-Time - Introductory overview of working with GameSparks Real-Time.
• Real-Time Best Practices - Guidelines for incorporating network design principles to improve performance and keep the design of your networked games simple.
• Creating and Using Real-Time Scripts - Setting up a real-time script and understanding the functions available through the RTSession API.

• Setting Up Real-Time Matchmaking - Integrating the real-time SDK into an existing GameSparks project in Unity3D and setting up a new real-time match through your game’s portal.

• Real-Time Matchmaking & Player Lobby - Using the GameSparks matchmaking services to match players of a certain skill level.

• Real-Time Chat Services - Once a real-time session has started from the match set up in the lobby, how to start sending and receiving packets to build a real-time chat service.

• Multiplayer Game Example - To demonstrate the real-time services, this tutorial shows you how to create a very simple multiplayer game. This example will have networked objects moving around, firing projectiles, and sending and receiving information between each player to update each other’s game-objects.

• Clock Synchronization and Network Programming - This tutorial explores further key concepts in multiplayer network programming, such as clock-synchronization and packet analytics.

• Calling Log Event Requests in RT Scripts - This tutorial explains how to call Log Event Requests in your Real-Time scripts.

• Unreal Real-Time Guide - This tutorial is written for game developers working in Unreal and explains how to get the most out of GameSparks Real-Time services.

• Corona Real-Time Guide - This tutorial is written for game developers working in Corona and explains how to get your Corona project set up for GameSparks Real-Time services.

• JavaScript Real-Time Guide - This tutorial is written for game developers working in JavaScript and explains how to get your JavaScript project set up for GameSparks Real-Time services.