Ferrous Moon
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There's no multiplayer in Uplink or Onlink.
http://www.ferrousmoon.com:80/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24
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Author:  Burningmace [Mon Mar 07, 2005 12:24 pm ]
Post subject:  There's no multiplayer in Uplink or Onlink.

Uplink and Onlink are not multiplayer. They (most probably) never will be.
In the Uplink forums, there's been a lot of confusion on this topic and I don't want it spreading here.

THERE IS NO MULTIPLAYER IN UPLINK OR ONLINK.

The only thing in Uplink/Onlink which is internet/network related is multimonitor.
Multimonitor allows you to have a dummy client running on a separate machine, showing details about your game.
Just makes the action a little more 'hollywood' :D

The idea of Multiplayer Uplink has been looked at, but the cost and complexity of implementing such an idea is immense.

There's an entire section of the Uplink Bonus CD which deals with multiplayer ideas.

Here's one of the articles on it to do with the technical side of it.
Quote:
The reality of this distributed game system is quite harsh. There are serious problems with building a system like the one proposed in this document. As such, this is mainly a concept document rather than a technical discussion. However, it makes sense to at least think about the technical side a little bit.

Just to be clear, the rest of this document is referring to real world concepts now, rather than in game. When I say "format the users hard disk" I mean the users real hard disk in the real world - not their Uplink memory banks.

One of the biggest problems with distributed systems of this kind is the lag suffered at the client end - since their data goes through so many links before it gets to the target. Clients would need to be able to connect directly to their target servers, even if they are bouncing in game.

There is also the major issue of security. Any game of this nature will attract real hackers intent on bringing it all down (quite ironic really) and any bugs discovered will be exploited. The client would need to be secure against attacks on the users real computer - so somebody running Uplink:Online isn't vulnerable to another player formatting their hard disk. On a less extreme scale, people exploiting the game could make themselves invulnerable or give themselves a powerful weapon, which makes the game suck for other players.

The main issue with Uplink:Online currently is that there is still too much reliance on a central system of some kind. In the case of this game it is a Central Database, for storing people's profiles. Ultimately we want to design a system which does not require any central management. It is very hard to think how this could happen currently.

Finally, there are significant legal issues with this game. Suddenly it is possible for people to copy data from your system to theirs, without your consent. I'm sure the courts of law would become very confused when somebody tries to claim their brand new Uplink:Online tool was stolen by a hacker in game, and they want damages.
This kind of project would require a lot of time and effort, as well as money. It's just not feasible unless you're a big company like Blizzard.

I hope this has cleared up the issue.

Thanks,

- Burningmace

P.S: You might want to sticky this :D

Author:  Miah [Mon Mar 14, 2005 8:46 am ]
Post subject: 

Good form, mate. Very good form :)

But soon, there will be something for networking, other than just multimonitor. In truth, however, it's nothing spectacular.

If all goes well, then for Beta4, we'll have a system that will notify you if there is a new download availible. It'll just connect via regular HTTP, so there really shouldn't be any firewall issues ;)

Author:  Silver Robot [Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:11 pm ]
Post subject: 

i can code and i have been working on making a muiltplayer for onlink and uplink it is very hard but i think
i will beable to do it!

muiltplayer stuff you can do

Chating to your freinds
Shutdown there onlink and uplink (Kick them off the server) that will be fun only for the best rank!!
Kill the player
Hack into the FBI Server (Not Real) but fun to make the FBI Server to get random E-Mail's :lol: (real)
Hack into your freinds computer
Help your freinds
Make Freinds and store them in a freinds list
See if your freinds are online or offline
Get people to help you in lan attacks NEW!!
Steal other people money NEW!!

if you have any idea's get back to me!!!
:lol: :lol: 8) :lol: :lol:
some one will need to host the server that you connect to!
i'm not doing that!!

Author:  prophile [Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:59 pm ]
Post subject: 

Why don't you leave ideas to those with brains?

EDIT: I'm locking this to prevent stuff like that.

Author:  Burningmace [Mon May 15, 2006 1:08 pm ]
Post subject: 

No suprise that Silver Robot is using AOL.

Author:  prophile [Mon May 15, 2006 1:10 pm ]
Post subject: 

Impressive, a gravedig to a one-year-and-two-month old topic.

Author:  Burningmace [Mon May 15, 2006 1:15 pm ]
Post subject: 

A-one-year-and-two-month-old-topic-that-is-still-current...
Why-am-I-using-so-many-hyphens?

Author:  prophile [Sat May 20, 2006 6:22 am ]
Post subject: 

Because-you-suck?

Author:  Burningmace [Sat May 20, 2006 10:03 am ]
Post subject: 

Probably-not-kthx-bai.

In other news, end of convo.

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