R.E.P.O.: Multiplayer Success Powered by Photon
The journey to R.E.P.O.‘s multiplayer success story is deeply intertwined with Semiwork’s experience using Photon as their chosen multiplayer engine for gameplay, global cloud hosting and support by a team with a battle-proven proficiency in scaling multiplayer games from zero to millions.
Semiwork, an indie game company based in Sweden, boasts a talented crew with diverse backgrounds in animation, art, music, and game development. Their latest endeavor, R.E.P.O., now in early access, follows the highly praised release of their first game, Voidigo.
The genesis of R.E.P.O. began as a single-player cleaning horror game, a result of Semiwork’s initial exploration of the Unity engine. However, a pivotal decision to venture into multiplayer transformed the project, with the game evolving based on what felt fun and encouraged teamwork. For this transition, Semiwork turned to Photon, recommended by fellow developers Landfall (‘Content Warning’) as a “fun and sturdy way to do multiplayer”.
The Core of R.E.P.O.’s Multiplayer Implementation
This recommendation proved to be a significant factor in R.E.P.O.’s development. According to Semiwork, “Most things with Photon have been very quick to get set up and easy to work with. As a team with no prior experience with multiplayer, this was a breeze to get set up.”.
One of the major hurdles in multiplayer game development is achieving smooth physics synchronization across clients. This is challenging due to network latency, inconsistent frame rates, non-deterministic physics engines, bandwidth limitations, and authority conflicts. Players may experience lag, which causes visual desyncs, while differences in hardware performance can lead to inconsistent physics calculations. Since physics engines aren’t perfectly predictable across machines, objects may drift out of sync if not synchronized constantly, which on another hand can end up being too bandwidth-heavy.
While this particular challenge has been made much easier with our more modern SDKs Photon Fusion and Photon Quantum, Semiwork had decided for PUN based on the recommendation and positive experience of their friends at Landfall. When we first heard of R.E.P.O., it was just weeks before the launch so a change of the SDK was not an option at this point in time, and Semiwork was also very happy with their PUN-based implementation.
While PUN is easy to pick up, it is not providing much for dealing with multiplayer physics out-of-the-box. Semiwork acknowledged that “Making all the physics feel smooth for clients was something we struggled with for a long time”. But Semiwork tackled the physics challenges with excellence, and with a lot of work and customization, they managed to create an incredible fun gameplay experience.
Next time, we would recommend using Fusion though.
Quick Playtesting, Photon Voice and Global Hosting Regions
Beyond solving technical challenges, Photon also significantly boosted the efficiency and productivity of the Semiwork team. The ability to “set up quick playtests in just the editor was a great way to find bugs and quickly get into a game, saving a lot of our time in the long run”. This rapid iteration and testing cycle, facilitated by Photon’s ease of integration, was crucial in polishing the gameplay experience.
The impact of Photon on R.E.P.O.’s gameplay is undeniable. Semiwork emphasized that “to join a region and get a game set up easily is easy and provides great latency for most players”. The developers pointed out that “Photon has given us a great tool”: Photon’s dashboard makes it super easy to change or add new hosting regions after the game has been released to optimize the matchmaking experience for the players.
Another important part for the game is Photon Voice which quality is highly valued, as “the audio quality of the voice plugin is also very important to create fun moments for players, where their voice is clear and not too delayed from the action”. The accessibility of voice data through Photon made it “possible to animate the characters vividly to the audio as well!”, adding a layer of visual expressiveness to the multiplayer interactions.
Launching, Scaling & Fraud Protection
Developing a multiplayer game is one thing, launching and scaling it is another. R.E.P.O had a nice number of Steam wishlists, but that was far from indicating how huge they were actually growing after launch. With the gigantic success of around 8.7 million sold copies in March alone (according to Alinea Analytics) another challenge needed to be handled: hacking and attacks.
Our operations team is analyzing such attacks constantly and Photon Cloud not only provides sophisticated DDoS protection, but with Photon’s plugin technology to upload custom code to our Enterprise Cloud we can mitigate and protect games from multiple attack vectors.These technologies enabled a rock-stable and scaling from 0 to hundreds of thousands of concurrent users without any hiccups or service interruptions.
Positive Feedback and Future Outlook
Semiwork’s feedback on Photon is overwhelmingly positive. They believe that “the functionality provided is already great and easy to work with, the support has also been very helpful, which is a huge plus”.
Looking ahead, Semiwork sees a strong future with Photon. They stated, “We would love to use this setup for future projects, nothing yet as we are fully focused on bringing R.E.P.O. out of early access. But we will definitely see more Photon in our future!”. The successful integration of Photon into R.E.P.O. has solidified its place in Semiwork’s long-term development strategy. “Having now a great contact with Photon and a successful game using the technology makes it very interesting as a tool for any upcoming projects!”.
R.E.P.O.: Mastering Multiplayer with Photon
In conclusion, R.E.P.O.’s journey from a single-player prototype to a promising early access multiplayer title highlights the significant contribution of Photon. Its ease of use, robust features and the readily available support have empowered Semiwork to overcome development challenges, enhance their productivity, and ultimately deliver a compelling and enjoyable multiplayer experience for their players. The positive feedback and future plans indicate that Photon has been a key ingredient in the success story of R.E.P.O. and will likely continue to play a vital role in Semiwork’s future endeavors.
Ready to build your own successful multiplayer game? With Fusion and Quantum by Photon, it’s never been easier to integrate cutting-edge multiplayer features into your project. We offer the industry’s most advanced tools, comprehensive support, and everything you need to get started – from downloadable samples to detailed documentation.
Take the first step today – download Fusion or download Quantum and start building. If you’re looking for in-depth assistance, join our Gaming Circle, where you can connect directly with our developers and get expert guidance throughout your journey.
Your multiplayer success story starts here!
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