Introduction

Welcome to Locoweed's Multiplayer Tutorial.

 

  This workshop will require 3DGS A6.3 Commercial or Pro (Appendix IV will explain how to convert the code to A5 Commercial or Pro). I hope this tutorial will help those who want to get started making a multiplayer game with 3DGS succeed.

  This tutorial is a product of Conetic's 2004 Tutorial Contest. Kudos to Conitec, Caligari and Sybex for sponsoring this contest. I believe many much needed tutorials will come from it.

  This tutorial will cover the basics of multiplayer design in 3DGS. By the time we are done, we should have a working over-the-internet basic game.

  First, I want to say this is just a guide. The secret to making you game successful will be to make it your own. I learned a lot of techniques from Alain's Multiplayer Workshops when I first was trying to learn multiplayer. The main thing I learned, was that multiplayer was actually possible to do. It brought me great joy to see some players walking around on LAN.

  I also realized over time, that after you get into scripting a bit, we all develop different methods of making things happen. The way I write a script is not necessarily the best way, but it is what I have developed through trial, error, and contributions from others. There is no one way to write a script. A script is like art and science at the same time. So mess up, try to figure it out on your own, then if you are still baffled, then ask for help on the forums. Use the Search function in the forums too. The first time you run into a problem you don't think you can solve in C-Script or 3DGS, and then you solve it by using the manual and gathering information on your own, you have taken your first steps in becoming a programmer. But, in my opinion, the most important thing is to have fun. If your not having fun, why do it? So, let's not all write code like Microsoft, so structured, boring, and so hopelessly non-understandable that reading a dictionary is more fun.

  If you have a small voice in your head that says, "Why didn't he script it like this?" By all means, listen to yourself, try to change it. More than likely, your way may work just as well and will fit your programming style better. And then if your way doesn't work, then the light will flash in your head, "Oh, that's why he did it that way!"

If you are just starting with 3DGS, I wouldn't recommend this tutorial as your first. Not that it couldn't be, but multiplayer is one of the more complex things to script. Definitely learn basic movement, cameras, animation, and such before getting into a more advance tutorial like this. I will touch on the basic stuff briefly, but won't go into the detail that I will be going into on multiplayer coding itself. See Appendix III for my suggested beginner and other other tutorials.

  For this tutorial I going to try to keep the number of items, textures, etc. simple (or contributed) because it is really a multiplayer game design tutorial. I will be using models & textures contributed by community as much as possible to save time. Appendix II will list all contributions and author's names . Appendix II & Appendix III are, in my opinion, more important than any other chapters. It is a small list of those who have taken time to use their skills to contribute to the community. Many thanks to them and others too, whose contributions didn't fit into this style of game or whose past scripts and tutorials helped get me to this point. Without them, it wouldn't have been possible for me to do this tutorial.

  This tutorial will take some time to go through, but if you do, I think you will have a much better understanding of not only multiplayer design, but also game design in 3DGS. Take breaks, relax, and have some fun.

 

A Description of Text Colors and Styles

 Text, Important text, Subject label, Link, Viewed link, Active link, Reference to script, Script to be added to code, 3DGS commands, Side notes, Things to be familiar with for chapter, and Brain teasers.

 

A Note on Copying and Pasting Code Directly From HTML into SED

  Unfortunately I ran into some problems getting my script from SED to be indented right in the HTML, so if you copy and paste from the HTML into SED you will have to use <backspace> and <tab> keys to get the indentation right. Sorry about that glitch. If it makes you feel better, not only did I have to do it too, but I also had to fix it to look right in the HTML when I copied it from SED, which was much more difficult to do.

 

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