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Game networking is a subset of computer networking that commonly covers transport protocols, data replication, entity synchronization, lag compensation, client-side prediction, server reconciliation, interest management, bandwidth optimization, physics rollback/fastforward simulation, anti-cheating and many other areas involved in multiplayer online game development.

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Quick Jump: Articles - Talks - Tutorials - Libraries - Projects - Tools

• Ethernet vs. WiFi - Internet connection over WiFi vs Ethernet metrics comparison by Viscarious from Riot Games.
• Explaining Delay-based and Rollback Netcode - In-depth article on rollback netcode for fighting games by Ricky Pusch.
• Fast-Paced Multiplayer - Gabriel Gambetta's client-side prediction, entity interpolation, lag compensation articles.
• Gaffer on Games - Glenn Fiedler's reliable-UDP protocol and game network development articles.
• Game Server Architecture - Matthew Walker's multiplayer game server architecture blog.
• High Performance Browser Networking - A fantastic free online book about modern web protocols by Ilya Grigorik.
• How a Shooter Shoots - Armin Ronacher's analysis on Battlefield 3's shooting mechanism in multiplayer.
• Impact Of Latency In Wireless Networks For Real-time Multiplayer Games On Mobile Devices - An academic paper.
• IT Hare on Network Programming - Detailed network programming articles from IT Hare team.
• NAT Punch-through for Multiplayer Games - Brief summary of NAT and P2P connectivity by Keith Johnston.
• Netcode Explained - Basic game networking concepts with examples by Chris "Battle(non)sense" on PC Gamer.
• Networked Physics in Virtual Reality - Networking a stack of cubes with Unity and PhysX by Glenn Fiedler at Oculus.
• Network Protocols - A brief yet detailed overview of low-level network protocols stack from Destroy All Software.
• Photon Unity Networking - Official PUN multiplayer online game networking framework documentation wiki.
• Quake 3 Network Model - Fabien Sanglard's source code review about Quake 3's networking model.
• Real Time Multiplayer in HTML5 - Sven Bergström's multiplayer game development guide using web technologies.
• Replication in Networked Games - Mikola Lysenko's replication articles for JavaScript-based multiplayer games.
• Source Multiplayer Networking - Valve's Source engine wiki that includes advanced game networking topics.
• Sync Host Overview - Presentation slides covering Sync Host architecture by Peter Kao from Insomniac Games.
• Tech-Stack of the Ultima Online Servers - A brief summary about UO tech-stack by Raph Koster and Brian Crowder.
• The Case of the Quake Cheats - Security lessons learned about client-server model from Quake 1 by id Software.
• The DOOM III Network Architecture - Improvements upon previous network architectures used in Quake III Arena.
• The Poor Man's Netcode - Project code and detailed blog post about networking challenges by Evan Todd.
• The TRIBES Engine Networking Model - Tribes I & II's networking model paper by Mark Frohnmayer and Tim Gift.
• Tick Based Lag Compensation in Unity - Case scenario on shooting with better accuracy by Albin Corén.
• Unity Physics and Client-Side Prediction - Demo project and detailed how-to blog post by Joe Best-Rotheray.
• Unity UNET HLAPI and Steam P2P Networking - Example project and detailed blog post by Justin Rempel.
• Unreal Engine 1 Netcode - Historical paper on netcode in UE1 (Unreal, Unreal Tournament), by Tim Sweeney.
• Unreal Engine 3 Networking & Replication - Historical but still valuable UE3 game networking documentation wiki.
• Unreal Engine 4 Framework & Network - Brief look into Unreal's gameplay networking framework by Nuno Afonso.
• Unreal Engine 4 Network Compendium - Detailed summary of UE4 networking with examples by Cedric Neukirchen.
• Unreal Engine 4 Networking and Multiplayer - Official UE4 gameplay networking framework documentation wiki.
• RU Как мы писали сетевой код мобильного PvP шутера - Pixonic о клиенте в быстром шутере.

• Game Developers Conference
  • 2000 / Half-Life and Team Fortress Networking - Game networking in details by Yahn Bernier from Valve.
  • 2010 / Building the Server Software for ELIMINATE - Talk by Stephen Detwiler and James Marr from ngmoco:).
  • 2011 / Crysis 2 Multiplayer - A Programmer's Postmortem by Peter Hall from Crytek.
  • 2011 / I Shot You First - Gameplay networking in Halo: Reach by David Aldridge from Bungie.
  • 2012 / Writing Server and Network Code for Your Online Game - Talk by Patrick Wyatt from En Masse Ent.
  • 2013 / Network Serialization and Routing in World of Warcraft - Talk by Joe Rumsey from Blizzard.
  • 2015 / Game Networking for Physics Programmers - Talk by Glenn Fiedler from Respawn Entertainment.
  • 2015 / Networking Gameplay and AI in Assassin's Creed Unity - Talk by Charles Lefebvre from Ubisoft.
  • 2015 / Stop, Copy/Paste Networking & Innovate - High level design approaches by Claire Blackshaw from Sony.
  • 2016 / Fighting Latency on Call of Duty Black Ops III - Detailed techniques by Benjamin Goyette from Activision.
  • 2017 / Overwatch Gameplay Architecture and Netcode - Simulation, determinism, responsiveness and precision.
  • 2017 / Replicating Chaos: Vehicle Replication in Watch Dogs 2 - Replicating vehicle movement in P2P simulations.
  • 2018 / 8 Frames in 16ms - Rollback Networking in Mortal Kombat and Injustice 2 by Michael Stallone.
  • 2018 / It IS Rocket Science! - The physics and networking of Rocket League in details by Jared Cone.
  • 2019 / Quantum Deep Dive - Photon Quantum Deterministic Network Engine for Unity by Eric from Exit Games.
• Unreal Engine Livestream
  • Replication Graph - Epic's dev-team demonstrates UE 4.20's new Replication Graph feature.
  • Server Optimizations - Ryan Gerleve and Dave Ratti to discuss server optimization techniques in UE4.
• Unreal Fest
  • EU 2019 / Replication Graph For Optimizing RTS Games - Talk by Nick Prühs from Deadalic Entertainment.
• Unity Unite
  • EU 2016 / Building a PvP focused MMO - Albion MMO architecture by David Salz from Sandbox Interactive.
  • EU 2017 / Photon vs UNet - Multiplayer architecture comparison by Christof Wegmann from Exit Games.
  • LA 2018 / Deep-Dive Into Networking for Unity's FPS Sample - Netcode talk by Peter Andreasen from Unity.
  • EU 2019 / Intro to DOTS and Netcode - Dive deep into the networked future of Unity using DOTS by Tim Johansson.
• Other
  • HandmadeCon 2015 / Pat Wyatt - Chat about Guild Wars, Diablo, StarCraft netcode by Pat Wyatt.
  • Overwatch / Let's Talk Netcode - Devlog about Overwatch's netcode by Tim Ford and Philip Orwig from Blizzard.
  • Valorant / Netcode & 128-Servers - Some basic networking concepts in Valorant from Riot Games.
  • Warframe / Networking Architecture - Talk about Warframe's netcode by Maciej Sinilo from Digital Extremes.

• Unreal Engine
  • Authoritative Networked Character Movement - Introduction to implementing networked movement features.
  • Blueprint Multiplayer - Blueprint multiplayer game development tutorial series by Wes Bunn from Epic Games.
  • Create Multiplayer Games - (Paid) C++ multiplayer game development tutorial series by Tom Looman.
  • Custom Struct Serialization For Networking - C++ tutorial article by Giuseppe Portelli.
  • Online Game Development - (Paid) C++ online game development tutorial series by Sam Pattuzzi.
  • Steam Multiplayer - Steam-backed blueprint multiplayer tutorial by Maik Hilfer.
• Unity
  • Bouncy Ball Networking - Making of a simple networked bouncy ball using DarkRift2 from MateriaGame.
  • Making a Multiplayer FPS - UNET-based multiplayer FPS game development tutorials by Asbjørn Thirslund.
  • Multiplayer and Networking - Official UNET-based multiplayer game networking tutorials by Unity.

• C / C++
  • ENet - Simple and robust reliable UDP networking library.
  • GameNetworkingSockets - Valve's internal (Steam) network transport layer for games.
  • GGPO - Good Game, Peace Out Rollback Network SDK.
  • KCP - A fast and reliable ARQ protocol.
  • RakNet - Full-featured and mature reliable UDP networking engine.
  • TNL2 - (Inactive) Torque Networking Library 2 which is quite familiar to TRIBES Engine Networking Model.
  • yojimbo - Reliable UDP networking library for client/server games with dedicated servers.
• C#
  • Barebones Master Server - Backend framework with auth, profile, lobby, chat features for Unity.
  • DarkRift Networking - Unity focused multi-threaded multiplayer networking solution.
  • Forge Networking - Unity focused real-time multiplayer networking solution.
  • Lidgren.Network - Reliable UDP networking library (.NET/Mono/Unity).
  • LiteNetLib - Lite reliable UDP networking library (.NET/Mono/Unity).
  • Mirror - A community replacement for Unity's abandoned UNET Networking System.
  • MLAPI - Mix and match networking library with lots of built-in features for Unity.
  • Networker - TCP and UDP networking library (.NET/Unity).
  • Photon Engine - Hybrid multiplayer game networking platform (SaaS, Cloud).
  • SocketWeaver - Multiplayer cloud services designed for the Unity engine (SaaS).
• Java
  • SmartFoxServer - Massive multiplayer game server with advanced built-in features.
• JavaScript
  • Colyseus - Authoritative multiplayer game server backend framework.
  • SocketCluster - Scalable multi-process HTTP & real-time server framework.

• Unreal Engine
  • CharacterMovementReplication - Project that adds sprint ability to the CharacterMovementComponent.
  • CoopHordeShooter - 3rd-person co-op multiplayer horde shooter game tutorial project.
  • EpicSurvivalGame - 3rd-person multiplayer zombie survival game tutorial project.
  • GASDocumentation - 3rd-person multiplayer shooter with detailed Gameplay Ability System documentation.
• Unity
  • AuthoritativeMovementExample - Server authoritative movement project using Forge Networking for Unity.
  • Angry Bots Multiplayer - Photon PUN-based multiplayer top-down shooter project.
  • ArenaGame - Forge Networking-based multiplayer FPS game as an example project.
  • Entitas Sync Framework - Network framework for Entitas ECS targeting turn-based or slow-paced games.
  • FPSSample - An official Multiplayer FPS project sample from Unity using new networking package and ECS.
  • Gambetta Networked Demo - Gabriel Gambetta's network architecture implementation in Unity using Lidgren.
  • MultiplayerFPS - UNET-based simple multiplayer 1st-person shooter tutorial project.
  • SmartFoxServer2X Multiplayer - SFS2X-based multiplayer project examples.

• CapAnalysis - Web visual tool to analyze captured network traffic. (Ubuntu, Debian)
• clumsy - Network condition simulation utility. (Windows)
• Fiddler - Web debugging proxy server. (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• netem - Network emulation for testing protocols. (Linux)
• Network Link Conditioner - Network environment simulation utility. (macOS, iOS)
• Network Protocol Analyzer - Tool for analysing, debugging, maintaining and monitoring connections. (Windows)
• Network Simulator (ns) - Network simulator targeting research and educational use. (macOS, Linux)
• Postman - Web API debugging client. (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• Wireshark - Network traffic analyzer tool. (Windows, macOS, Linux)

To the extent possible under law, M. Fatih MAR has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.