Devlog: Networking Lead


          Hi there, my name is Zach and I am the Networking Lead for Club Crash at Studio Boulder. This means that I am the one responsible for making sure the backend allow players to connect with other players, and making sure variables and assets replicate correctly.

          Computers do not communicate well with each other within the Unreal Engine, so I am responsible for making sure that functions and changes to variables within the level are persistent across all connected clients and their host. However, all of this would not be possible without setting up an online subsystem so that players could connect with their friends. In particular, this means picking out a subsystem of sessions/lobbies and creating the backend functions to connect players to the same session/lobby.  This can be from creating, finding, joining, destroying, and even updating the sessions/lobbies so that everything within our game loop and user experience comes together smoothly.

           A large portion of my role has been trying to move Club Crash off of the built in Unreal Engine Blueprint Sessions and the built in subsystem to Epic Online Services. Although we are still using the built in subsystem, the vast majority of the backend functions to get Club Crash set up using Epic Online Services have already been created, and will likely be our next target on what to finish. This means after launch when this does get set up, you can join your friends through the Epic Overlay, and sessions will be much more well managed. 

           Although Epic Online Services will not be set up during our initial launch on May 2nd, the amount of care put into networking should keep the game running smoothly for everyone to enjoy during the Stout Game Expo. It also means when the game fully releases, whenever that may be, Epic Online Services will be fully implemented for an ever smoother and more user friendly experience.

          Again, my name is Zach from Club Crash. Thanks for reading, and remember I and everyone else on the team looks forward to seeing you at the Stout Game Expo for the games release!

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