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Multiplayer Game Development

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Path to Multiplayer Game Development

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We've curated 13 courses to help you on your path to Multiplayer Game Development. Use these to develop your skills, build background knowledge, and put what you learn to practice.
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Reading list

We've selected 35 books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Multiplayer Game Development.
Provides a comprehensive guide to building reliable networked multiplayer games. It covers essential networking concepts from a game developer's perspective, including data transmission, object synchronization, network topologies, and handling latency. It valuable resource for gaining a broad understanding and deepening knowledge in the field and is often used in university courses.
Provides a comprehensive guide to building reliable networked multiplayer games. It covers fundamental networking concepts and architecture, essential for gaining a broad understanding. The book includes practical, code-rich examples for different game genres, making it a valuable reference and useful for solidifying understanding. It is often used as a textbook in game development programs.
Well-regarded resource focusing specifically on the networking challenges in game development. While potentially older, the fundamental concepts it covers, such as reliable UDP, state synchronization, and lag compensation, are still highly relevant and considered classic material in game networking. It's excellent for deepening understanding of core networking techniques.
Focused on Unreal Engine 5, this book guides developers in creating multiplayer games using C++ and Blueprints. It delves into Unreal Engine's networking features like replication, RPCs, and relevancy, essential for contemporary Unreal Engine multiplayer projects. is highly relevant for those targeting the Unreal Engine platform.
Is designed for experienced Unreal Engine users looking to build sophisticated multiplayer systems. It provides a comprehensive guide to C++ scripting for multiplayer in UE5, exploring advanced topics like replication and server-client communication in detail. It's a valuable resource for deepening understanding of UE5-specific multiplayer architecture.
Focuses on creating large-scale multiplayer games in Unity using Mirror Networking. It covers the RPC/Command architecture and explores networking fundamentals within the Unity engine. This book is particularly useful for Unity developers looking to build substantial multiplayer projects.
Focuses on multiplayer development within the Unity engine, a popular platform highlighted in the course titles. It specifically covers using the Mirror Networking library, providing practical knowledge and techniques for building networked games in Unity. It's a valuable resource for Unity developers focusing on multiplayer.
Offers a practical, project-based approach to implementing multiplayer functionality using the Godot Engine's built-in network API. It covers fundamental networking concepts within the context of Godot 4, including remote procedure calls and handling online challenges. It's particularly useful for those focusing on Godot and provides a solid introduction to platform-specific multiplayer development.
While not solely focused on multiplayer, this book provides a deep understanding of the underlying systems of game engines, including areas relevant to networking and real-time systems. The third edition includes updated coverage on hardware parallelism and concurrent programming, which are crucial for modern multiplayer games. It widely respected and commonly used textbook in game development programs, offering essential background knowledge.
While not exclusively about multiplayer games, this book foundational text for understanding software design patterns relevant to game development. It covers patterns for game loops, entity components, and optimization, which are crucial for building any robust game, including multiplayer ones. It is highly recommended for solidifying programming fundamentals applicable to multiplayer development.
This practical guide focuses on building cross-platform multiplayer games with Godot, aligning well with the course descriptions. It likely covers essential techniques and provides hands-on examples for implementing multiplayer features in Godot.
While not directly about game development, this book highly recommended resource for understanding the concepts behind distributed systems, databases, and data consistency. These are fundamental topics for building scalable and reliable multiplayer game backends and services. It's valuable for those looking to deepen their understanding of the infrastructure supporting multiplayer games.
The second volume in this series continues the discussion on multiplayer online game development, focusing on client architecture and implementation across various engines like Unity and Unreal Engine, which are relevant to the course titles.
Focuses on patterns and reusable components for building reliable distributed systems. It can help transform the development of distributed systems from an art to a science, which is highly applicable to the backend infrastructure of multiplayer games, especially regarding scalability and reliability.
Another book centered on Unity, this provides an introduction to creating multiplayer games with the engine. It's suitable for those gaining a broad understanding of the process within the Unity ecosystem. While potentially less in-depth than newer titles, it can serve as a good starting point.
This classic text provides a foundational and in-depth understanding of TCP/IP protocols, which are the bedrock of internet communication and essential for multiplayer networking. While not game-specific, the detailed explanations and real-world examples are invaluable for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of how game data is transmitted and managed over networks. It widely referenced book in computer science and networking.
Covers the essential elements of network game development from design to implementation. It explores the unique aspects of networked games, including preventing cheating and testing. While an older publication, it provides a foundational understanding of the end-to-end process of creating network games and can be valuable for historical context.
For those working with Unity, which primarily uses C#, this book provides a comprehensive guide to network programming in C# and .NET. It covers fundamental networking concepts and their implementation in C#, offering essential knowledge for building multiplayer features in Unity.
Introduces core principles of reusable software patterns in Unity, which are applicable to multiplayer game development. It helps developers build components efficiently and utilize Unity's API features effectively. While not solely focused on multiplayer, it provides essential knowledge for structuring game code in Unity.
Delves into the broader aspects of developing and deploying online multiplayer games, including game design documentation and authoritative server architecture. It's valuable for understanding the overall process beyond just the networking code.
A more recent take on C# network programming, this book covers network programming concepts using C# and .NET Core. It's relevant for Unity developers looking for up-to-date information on networking in C#.
This collection of articles covers various advanced game programming topics, including a section on multiplayer gaming. It offers insights into techniques and concepts beyond the fundamentals, useful for developers looking to deepen their understanding of specific multiplayer implementation details.
This more academic and systems-oriented book covering a broad range of topics in distributed systems. It provides a strong theoretical foundation for understanding the underlying principles relevant to multiplayer game architecture and design, especially for large-scale systems.
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