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.

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.