Types of Multiplayer Games
Playroom supports a variety of game configurations for web based games. Players can be in the same room, long-distance, or a combination of both. When you start development, its essential to plan on which modes you want your game to support and which engine/library to use for what type of games. Playroom is web-based to essentially support all modes as a Universal Multiplayer Kit and help you deploy all following modes with ease.
Phone Mode
Mobile to Mobile is the most common type of format created using Playroom. These games are designed to handle portrait casual multiplayer games on mobile devices where users invite other players by sharing the game link or QRcode .
Web Mode
Playroom is not just for mobile games. Since these are browser based games, they can be designed for PC as well. Nothing is stopping you from making a new casual game that uses mouse and keyboard.
Stream Mode with Players on Phone
This is a variation of the mobile-to-mobile setting. Players are playing multiplayer on their mobile devices. However, an instance of the game is streamed to a TV, PC, etc. which acts as a central screen players can look at.
This lets you then make phones the controllers for the game. The central screen may also be optional leaderboard or a spectator screen giving an overview of the game for non-players. This type of game is great for parties and events.
Stream Mode with Gamepads
Playroom also lets you make games that are played on a central screen with physical game controllers that are connected to PC via Bluetooth/USB.
If you ran out of controllers, more players can also join the action with their mobile devices. Players on phones see on-screen Joystick controls to play the game. The API remains common for both types of controllers, so as a developer you don't have to worry about the type of controller being used.
Stream Mode with Twitch(Chat)
Playroom also lets you make games that are played on live streams and take users from community chat as players. This feature is still in development and we will add more details soon.
