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 is that makes a great multiplayer game compared to a great singleplayer game. In my humble opinion, making a good singleplayer game isn’t all that hard.

Not that I haven’t spent sleepless nights pondering gameplay-issues and whatnot, but in the end the process of making a singleplayer game is more straight forward. You’ve only got one player to consider, probably/maybe a story of some kind (preferably where you get to rescue some fine lookin’ dames), 3 lives and you’re off. (This does not apply to puzzles but I will get into that in another post.)

But when it comes to making a great multiplayer game you’ve got a whole bunch of other issues to address. As Marc mentioned in the previous article, there are some good pointers to follow when your starting out on your multiplayer adventure. For example: don’t limit your game to just two players. We’re talking MULTIplayer here… Two people games can be great, but as Marc said: you increase the risk of games ending early because one of the players quit. A great multiplayer game will allow people to join and leave while the game is running without breaking or restarting the game. Not all types of games can handle adding a new user in the middle of the gameplay, but this is simply solved by letting the user spectate while we wait for the next round. This is the method we used for Nonoba Racer for instance

And what about story? Should there be a story? Does it matter or is it pure gaming pleasure we’re after?

I’ve been thinking about porting some of the games I’ve made in the past to multiplayer versions, but for the most part I come up short. Mostly, I think, because they are in fact singleplayer games. The idea behind the games just isn’t broad enough or is to focused on single player to work as multiplayer games. And when I try to add on stuff like bonuses and time-limits and whatnot, the original clean and simple gameplay gets lost in the mix, and the game just isn’t funny anymore…

The conclusion is simple; the mechanics that make a single player game fun is not necessary the mechanics that work in a multiplayer game. It’s still all about game play, but a multiplayer game does not necessary need a story line. The goal of multiplayer is as much about socializing as it is about playing the game. For example a game like UNO. It is rather boring if played against a computer, but becomes an addictive pastime if you add other people to the mix.

Nonoba Racer & Multiplayer Snake is for me, two very good examples of great multiplayer games. More than two players at a time, fast paced and a classic and simple gameplay…

Still I am not an expert, but is tasked to collect and write about these concepts.

Therefore dear reader, if you got a great article or your own ideas about what works please comment below and I will be collecting everything to be on the new Nonoba Multiplayer Resource site!

Over Christmas I will be working on tutorials to get people started with Nonoba’s MP API. So stay tuned!

Last but not least I enjoyed reading  this article about casual gaming. I am sure you will enjoy it as well.

Merry Christmas!