Here are three general tips to make your multiplayer game better. The tips cannot be applied to all games, but hopefully to most of them:
Single players can play: One of the great things with Nonoba Racer and Space Invaders Multiplayer is that you do not need someone else to start the game. You can start playing and practicing by yourself, and then when someone else is ready to join, the real fun starts. This is much better than having to to wait for another user to log in to be able to play, which in many cases will lead to players leaving the game if no one is immediate available.
Join at any time: In combination with the first tip, it is preferred when a player can enter a game at any point. Space Invaders Multiplayer illustrates this perfectly, as you can join the game at any point, and quit whenever you feel like it, and still get a score. It’s of course harder to apply this tip to games that naturally feature rounds or turns, but why not experiment with those rules?
2+1=4: If you limit your game to two players, you increase the risk of games ending early because one of the players quit, which is frustrating for the player that’s left behind. The more players you allow in your game, the bigger the chance is that the game can continue even if someone has to leave, and the bigger the chance is that players can find and join running games.
Is it fair? Like with Nonoba racer, where you earn points for winning and where you can upgrade your car, you should be able to get an advance over your friends. You might be a bad driver and just want to be able to buy a better car. As a developer you can then use our Payment API to enable these users to “cheat” by buying a better car. It is much more probable that a player wants to buy upgrades in a multiplayer game, as they are competing directly with other players, and might even be friends (or foes!) of those they are competing with.
I hope these few tips can inspire some more developers to create some super cool games for Nonoba!
Best regards Marc

3 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 14, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Best game = $15,000 « Nonoba’s Weblog
[...] Tips for designing multiplayer games [...]
October 15, 2008 at 7:28 pm
axcho
These tips fit very well into an article I found on the Anyway Games blog, that says casual games are popular because “They offer a “complete experience” immediately, at any time, and consistently.”
“Immediately means you don’t have to work up to the thrill.”
“At any time means the thrill doesn’t come in spurts or need rebuilding after the game is paused.”
“Consistently means the thrill is there every time the game is turned on.”
[click my name for link to article]
The tips above are techniques that can help you achieve these three things in your multiplayer game.
December 22, 2008 at 12:40 pm
How do you make a great multiplayer game…? « Nonoba’s Weblog
[...] API, Multiplayer games | Tags: Multiplayer games | by devilpig Continuing somewhat on Marcs post “Tips for designing multiplayer games”, I thought I’d try and take the discussion further. I’ve been thinking about what it [...]