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Matt avatar image
Matt asked

Multiplayer Game Server vs Party

Hey folks,

I've got a mobile game with players competing against each other, 1 vs 1, in a ~3 minute game. I used to use the legacy multiplayer servers, until they were dropped. I've since began redevelopment, and I'm debating on whether I should use a custom server or the party system.

I recall being told that it'd be best to swap to the new system (this was a long time ago) because I could get 850 free hours. Is that still the case?

The security of having the game run via a custom server is nice, but not entirely necessary for my needs.

I'm ultimately looking for the most affordable option that covers my basic needs.

Any ideas? Thanks! -Matt

P.S. - Under the Party documentation I noticed recommendation for the cloud relay service, but I don't see where that's documented. Is that preferable for a simple 1-v-1 game?

"Microsoft recommends that you use our cloud relay service instead of enabling direct peer-to-peer connection unless your title has strict latency requirements."

Custom Game Servers
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Xiao Zha avatar image
Xiao Zha answered

As you can see in Pricing (playfab.com), for free tier, PlayFab provides up to 750 free compute hours for Multiplayer Server service and up to 10,000 minutes for PlayFab Party connectivity and voice chat.

For Party cloud relay service, as you can see in Azure PlayFab Party features - PlayFab | Microsoft Learn, Party will automatically leverage a transparent cloud relay service, so, you can use it without any special configuration. In addition, as you mentioned, unless your 1v1 game has strict latency requirements, Party cloud relay service is suitable for you needs.

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Matt avatar image Matt commented ·

Latency isn't an issue at all. My concern would be handling players disconnecting. If someone disconnects, they lose and their opponent wins. Is that "authoritative" enough in Party's P2P? The legacy server was very secure, and 750 hours covers 1 instance, which I think is all I need, at least to start.

I am wondering though, specifically with the custom servers (and even more so specifically with Unity)...how do I correlate a newly connected player with their PlayFab Id?

Thanks for the help!

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Xiao Zha avatar image Xiao Zha Matt commented ·

>>If someone disconnects, they lose and their opponent wins. Is that "authoritative" enough in Party's P2P? The legacy server was very secure, and 750 hours covers 1 instance, which I think is all I need, at least to start.

You can try to send messages regularly between each client. Once a client has not sent a message for a while, you can consider it disconnected and determine that he lost the game. And the 750 free hours are the total free quota for all server instance not per server instance.

>>I am wondering though, specifically with the custom servers (and even more so specifically with Unity)...how do I correlate a newly connected player with their PlayFab Id?

You can let the client tell the server its own PlayFabId. And the server can verify the client identity with the SessionTicket.

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