Going to ask about multiplayer? Read this first.
scifiwriterguy
Sector ZZ-9-Plural Z-α Join Date: 2017-02-14 Member: 227901Members
Sector ZZ-9-Plural Z-α Join Date: 2017-02-14 Member: 227901Members
So, very common posts include "could the developers add multiplayer," or "co-op would be cool!" or even "Here's a poll: who thinks there should be multiplayer?" In fact, it's rare that a full week goes by without the issue coming up. This is a suggestion board, and it's a suggestion. What's wrong with that?
Well, apart from being a bit of an etiquette breach to ask a question that's already been asked 2,200 times, there's a real problem:
Multiplayer cannot happen.
I really hate to burst your bubble (oddly appropriate metaphor for a game that takes place underwater), but the truth is that Subnautica simply cannot support multiplayer. It's not a matter of people being unaware that there's an interest in it, and it's not stubbornness from the developers. The game just can't do it, so please, please, for everybody's sanity, don't ask. It just can't be done.
Subnautica cannot support, and will never have, multiplayer.
You can stop reading here, if you like. But if you want the why, that's coming next.
Making a game into a multiplayer piece isn't easy. It's not like adding assets like a new creature, a new tool, or even a new biome. That's done by creating another object inside a software framework that already exists. Essentially, it's like making a new document in Notepad; you're not doing anything fundamentally new.
Multiplayer, however, is what's called a core element. This means that it has to be built into the game's engine - the software that makes it run. Subnautica's engine wasn't designed to handle multiplayer, and that's the engine that's been used for all of the game's development since it was a twinkle in a developer's eye. Changing a game's engine isn't a simple matter - in fact, almost all of the time, it just can't be done because it would mean throwing out all the work that's been done so far and starting from scratch.
Put more intuitively, totally renovating an in-game asset, like when they redesigned and expanded the Aurora, is like remodeling the 24th floor of a skyscraper. It doesn't change the fabric of the building, just part of its appearance. Big job, but doable. Trying to add multiplayer would be like saying "we don't want the second floor anymore; remove it." You can't do that without taking down the entire skyscraper. Same deal here: to add multiplayer would be to take a fully-functioning game and roll the clock back to the point where it's just a little code and lot of hope. And Subnautica is dead, which nobody wants.
So could they ever make a multiplayer version? If the devs decided to write the next Subnautica from scratch, maybe. But this game, Subnautica, won't have multiplayer. Ever.
Don't believe me? I'm not a developer, so maybe you don't want to take my word for it. That's okay; I don't mind. You can read it for yourself, directly from the CEO.
Sorry if this is disappointing, but as you can see, there really is a good reason for the "no multiplayer" refrain on the forums. So, please, enjoy the forums, give your ideas or contribute to the suggestions; we're happy to have you! And enjoy Subnautica for what it is: a single-player game set in a beautiful, immersive (not a pun), vibrant, and highly detailed world.
Just, please...don't ask for multiplayer again, okay?
Well, apart from being a bit of an etiquette breach to ask a question that's already been asked 2,200 times, there's a real problem:
Multiplayer cannot happen.
I really hate to burst your bubble (oddly appropriate metaphor for a game that takes place underwater), but the truth is that Subnautica simply cannot support multiplayer. It's not a matter of people being unaware that there's an interest in it, and it's not stubbornness from the developers. The game just can't do it, so please, please, for everybody's sanity, don't ask. It just can't be done.
Subnautica cannot support, and will never have, multiplayer.
You can stop reading here, if you like. But if you want the why, that's coming next.
Making a game into a multiplayer piece isn't easy. It's not like adding assets like a new creature, a new tool, or even a new biome. That's done by creating another object inside a software framework that already exists. Essentially, it's like making a new document in Notepad; you're not doing anything fundamentally new.
Multiplayer, however, is what's called a core element. This means that it has to be built into the game's engine - the software that makes it run. Subnautica's engine wasn't designed to handle multiplayer, and that's the engine that's been used for all of the game's development since it was a twinkle in a developer's eye. Changing a game's engine isn't a simple matter - in fact, almost all of the time, it just can't be done because it would mean throwing out all the work that's been done so far and starting from scratch.
Put more intuitively, totally renovating an in-game asset, like when they redesigned and expanded the Aurora, is like remodeling the 24th floor of a skyscraper. It doesn't change the fabric of the building, just part of its appearance. Big job, but doable. Trying to add multiplayer would be like saying "we don't want the second floor anymore; remove it." You can't do that without taking down the entire skyscraper. Same deal here: to add multiplayer would be to take a fully-functioning game and roll the clock back to the point where it's just a little code and lot of hope. And Subnautica is dead, which nobody wants.
So could they ever make a multiplayer version? If the devs decided to write the next Subnautica from scratch, maybe. But this game, Subnautica, won't have multiplayer. Ever.
Don't believe me? I'm not a developer, so maybe you don't want to take my word for it. That's okay; I don't mind. You can read it for yourself, directly from the CEO.
Sorry if this is disappointing, but as you can see, there really is a good reason for the "no multiplayer" refrain on the forums. So, please, enjoy the forums, give your ideas or contribute to the suggestions; we're happy to have you! And enjoy Subnautica for what it is: a single-player game set in a beautiful, immersive (not a pun), vibrant, and highly detailed world.
Just, please...don't ask for multiplayer again, okay?
Comments
Instead I will break tables if someone ask for Lethal weapons
And houses if someone request something stupider than multiplayer
I wish I had your faith that people would actually notice this.
You state that it is impossible to add multiplayer to a game engine that wasn't designed with it in mind. Truth is, it can be and has been done, and without redesigning the entire game from scratch, but it's a big chore.
Still, it is much better to design the game engine from scratch to support multiplayer, even if you never intend to use it, because then it is an option that you can add if and when the users demand it (ok forget the "if", players are going to demand MP in any game these days. I have actually seen players demand a multiplayer version solitaire. No shit!).
That said, I don't see a great benefit to multiplayer Subnautica. Yes, you could collaborate on bases and share blueprints, vehicles, materials and so on, but that can lead to problems (especially the base building, what with structural issues and all).
Edited due to misinterpreting the OP.
That being said, thanks for taking the time to post this, its always good to see people contributing
***********, **** ****, * *******, *** *******
While true, a new user would have to check in another thread besides Ideas and Suggestions to read the sticky. Maybe copy Flayra's thread to Ideas and Suggestions and sticky that? I dunno. I guess then it's... a little more glaringly obvious than it already is now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That's the ideal solution, but since that didn't seem to be happening, I figured I'd try to spray for multiplayer posts myself.
Incidentally, the redirect you planted is sending people to the latest post, so they may not understand what they're supposed to be reading. (Granted, it's only about a 2% chance they're going to read it anyway, but...) If you send it to /p1 instead of #latest, it might give better results.
Well, for a new user who hasn't actually read that thread, it should (if I understand correctly) lead them to p1 anyways (as they haven't read any of the thread). If they have read the thread, it will take them to where they left off (since you read the whole thing, that would be the last post). You could test this with a brand new account, but I know at the very least, if you load it while signed out (easy check: right-click and "open in Incognito (Chrome) / Private (Firefox) window").
Rebuttle time.
A small group created a fully functional multiplayer mod for skyrim...
FOR SKYRIM...while subnautica is great....THEY REBUILT SKYRIM IN THEIR MUM'S BASEMENTS.
Seconondly....the game is advertised as a muliplayer underwater survival game....which led to many purchases of the title...just to be told after paying....na sorry mate.
Thirdly....to this day it states on the loading screen some features like multiplayer may not function as intended untill the full release.
Now I get the a pc community will stand for a studio getting you to pay for half a game then living off the profits and never actually finishing it....day z....h1z1. ....pubg....half the steam catalogue....but now you have made promises to real gamers not to the word processing squadron of keyboard warriors.....now you have no man sky'd us....remember what happened to their studio after they played us for fools to get our cash.
Pc are lightweight ...you just slapped the mum of a super heavy weight.
Also...
Can you cite your sources for that claim, where was Subnautica marketed as a multiplayer survival game. Cause I'm quite curious where you got that idea from, especially since you're putting on the gloves and want to fight.
You wanna fight brah, you wanna fight?
You wanna fight brah \o/
Also @Kouji_San subnautica was once listed as multiplayer, by user defined tags but now that seems not the case so @SmithyRules is probably using an image I posted when it was defined as multiplayer, cause I remember it was on there once.
Anyway adding multiplayer into skyrim is one thing but for subnautica it has to render a lot of variables:
The location of every fish in the local area which at some times could render in the hundreds.
Resource locations and spawning.
Possible future features like weather, different wave types and water particles.
Also with the skyrim. Do they had to use third party software like himatchi which could lead to a whole lot of malware, I can still hear the screams of my first laptop till this day.
As was mentioned before, some users put user-defined tags with Multiplayer on Steam, as it was at one point being considered.
Finally, there's a modding team trying to implement multiplayer in Subnautica as we speak, so that's kind of cool.
Four score and seven years ago, I remember the day we had proper, beyond 2 player local multiplayer on the NES
Ah back during the glory days when you got the entire game at launch and the progression came through an old guy in a cave and not a slot machine.
https://m.imgur.com/5fhV7gz
hairgelnotincluded
My phone is stupid and doesn't like me uploading pics on here for some reason.
Seems legit!
I think they disabled the upload feature, it's also not visible on Chrome PC anymore
Hey, sorry for the thread resurrection. I wanted to say i appreciate the time you took to make the post and offer an explanation in terms that were easy to understand and also use to explain to others.
I have a question, not that i'm planning to start a "why no multiplayer?" debate. Simply as your own opinion, would multiplayer make subnautica more fun, less fun, or have no impact for you? Assume in this case, the game has multiplayer and didn't negatively impact the development process. I'm asking out of curiosity :]