How to add multi-player 'presence only' without a need for game interactions

Development Programming & Scripting Multiplayer & Networking
1

Hi,
I’m working on a project that’s not really a game in the usual sense. There’s no interaction with the environment or other players. The idea is to have an immersive environment based on a mythological story which could serve as a source of inspiration or provide a meditative experience; or to serve as a fun meeting place.

I have tried to create something like this as far back as 2008 in Opensimulator, which comes with multi-player capability out of the box but was way too limited to achieve any sense of realism. I then turned to Unity which certainly looked a lot better, but adding multi-player functionality - even just allowing two people having their 3rd person “avatar” walk around in the same environment - was so difficult that I had a look at Unreal Engine instead.

I’m glad that I switched because Unreal (with some Brushify packs and UltraDynamicSky) looks absolutely stunning and performs better than Unreal (though the editor is a bit more CPU intensive).

I’m trying to get a sense of what would be needed to add the basic multiplayer functionality that I need. I’ve read the Unreal documentation and watched some multiplayer tutorials, but they all follow the assumption that multiplayer capability includes the usual game mechanics and interactions.

I can’t yet figure out what would be needed to only achieve what I need:

  • in addition to the person running the game in server mode, someone else can connect to it as client and have their mannequin added to the environment and being able to move around in it;
  • all connected players can see each other’s mannequin;
  • it would be great if players could choose from a few different avatars (eg male and female);
  • it would be great if players could use in-game voice chat

I’m not very familiar with terms yet so that also makes it hard to search … :slight_smile: for instance, this video How to reliably replicate the topdown template | Tutorial | AI | Multiplayer - Replication | UE 4.26 - YouTube might be just what I need, but it’s hard to tell.
If there’s a readymade asset that does the job it would be great, but I’m also fine coding something myself, whatever works!

Thanks in advance!

PS I’m using Unreal EA5

2

Your base setup would be Listen Server Multiplayer. One client would be Player 1 and the host.

If you want to have a full bodied character then use the Third Person Template as a starting point. It’s multiplayer ready as far as movement being replicated. Beyond that there’s not much else needed if there are no character interactions gameplay wise.

For VOIP, UE has a built in solution. Simple search for VOIP Tutorial will give you plenty of options and help.

3

Thanks RevOverDrive, that’s very helpful.

:smiley: