Online Multiplayer Development Topic

Hello members,

This topic will be dedicated to updates for the online multiplayer section of Ballland World, also called Ballland Battles Online. It will cover the server development, and how the game interfaces with that server.

As of this first post, we already have a functional online multiplayer. It works on a decentralized model, meaning anyone can download and run their own BWorld server. The game can point to any server from the in-game settings menu.

Servers are configurable. They're able to host server-ran rooms as well as player-ran rooms. They're able to host custom stages. They have a limit of 16 players per match. They're also able to be played with 2 players on a single client, and there's a spectator mode allowing players to join rooms that are already in a match.

Planned features include bot players ran from the host client, configurable rooms after they've been created, as well as a UI revamp. We also want to increase the stability in cases where lag is present or players disconnect. We're also planning the feature to "download" stages from a server, view the player list of a server, add friends and view their status, support for clans and clan-exclusive rooms, and more.

We're testing a feature that allows for players to play with CPU players as a placeholder. This allows for full player rooms, and humans can join in to fill the gaps.

At this current point, it happens automatically for player-created rooms, but we'll make it into a setting. Server-ran rooms are human-only, but there's nothing stopping that from changing.

The CPU difficulty curve is set by the server, and the bots are ran by the first player in the room.

We're some ways out from a new version. Here are some features to look forward to:
- Stabilized online play to include 1P, 2P, Server-ran, Player-ran, Custom Stages, Bot placeholders.
- Clan features, player lists, and friend lists.
- New multiplayer modes.

We will discuss the new modes once we have a prototype of them.