"Multiplayer Sessions Subsystem Using Steam"

Author: Alexander Gurwell

Posted on: [5/24/2024]

Blog Entry Part 1: The Problem

This week, I encountered a significant challenge while working on the multiplayer subsystem for our game using Steam. The primary issue was that players were unable to move their characters after joining a multiplayer game session.

The problem was particularly frustrating as it completely halted the gameplay experience for users joining a game. They could see other players and interact with the game environment visually, but any input to move their character was not recognized. Addressing this problem was of high importance because it rendered the multiplayer functionality useless, severely affecting the core gameplay experience.

Blog Entry Part 2: Problem Solution

To address this issue, I first had to identify the root causes. After extensive debugging, I discovered that the problem was related to how the player controller was being assigned and initialized when a new player joined a game session. The input controls were not correctly binding to the new player's character, causing the movement commands to fail.

The solution involved ensuring that the player controller was properly set up and linked to the correct player character upon joining the game. I implemented a series of checks and initializations in the game’s player spawning system to verify that the player controller and character were correctly synchronized. Specifically, I added:

1. Controller Initialization Check: Ensuring that the player controller was fully initialized before assigning it to the player character.
2. Binding Input Controls: Explicitly binding the input controls to the player controller after the character is spawned.
3. Validation Routine: Adding a validation routine to confirm that the player character and controller were correctly linked before allowing the player to take control.

These changes ensured that every player who joined a game session had their controls properly set up, allowing them to move their character without issues. The solution improved the multiplayer experience dramatically, as players could now seamlessly join games and interact with the environment and other players as intended.