multiplayer

Multiplayer game architecture selection depends on your game type, requiring a choice between dedicated servers, P2P, and host-based models. The decision balances competitive fairness, latency requirements, and infrastructure costs.

State synchronization broadcasts complete game object properties, while input synchronization transmits only player commands. Input synchronization reduces bandwidth but requires deterministic game logic to reconstruct states accurately.

Lag compensation techniques mitigate network latency by rewinding server game states to validate player actions based on their perceived past. This ensures fair hit registration despite asynchronous update rates.

Bandwidth reduction in multiplayer networking is achieved by adjusting update rates, prioritizing critical state changes, and compressing packets. These optimization techniques prevent network congestion during high player counts.

Server authority is a security measure where the dedicated server validates all game state changes to prevent client-side cheating. This anti-cheat architecture ensures clients cannot manipulate game logic unauthorized.

P2P architecture is suitable for cooperative or casual multiplayer games where centralized infrastructure costs are prohibitive. It avoids dedicated server maintenance but sacrifices strict anti-cheat security and competitive fairness.