We've been getting tons and tons of questions and requests about whether we're going to add multiplayer to Subnautica or not.
Back in our early prototypes we always had multiplayer in the back of our mind. But we had so much to learn about the game, multiplayer was never a priority. Eventually we hit early access and now it would take many man-years to add any kind of multiplayer to Subnautica. We don't want to spend years more working on Subnautica before v1.0, so we sadly have come to terms with the fact that we won't be adding any kind of multiplayer or coop to the game.
Maybe one day we'll start over on a different engine and make a new Subnautica game based around coop. A game where one person is piloting the sub, another person is poring over readouts and computers, another is repairing the engines and yet another is radioing for help in a dark biome, where their Seamoth is almost out of juice. We would love to play that game.
But until then, we're going to finish up Subnautica the way it was meant to be: one person trying to survive in in a massive, dangerous, beautiful, alien world.
Sorry to disagree with all the multiplayer NAYs here but Co-Op IS coming to Subnautica and actually IS possible NOW from a mod that is currently being developed.
Look at nexusmods under subnautica for mod #159 Nitrox - Multiplayer Mod
You can use this with a bit of work. It is NOT a straight install AT THIS POINT. Is in alpha to beta stage. so whether the Devs want this game to become co-op, multiplayer, or just stay single player for those that want co-op it is possible and will becoming more so soon.
Oh? Then I'm sure you know how long they've been working on that co-op mod. 2 years, 3 years now? UW said that's the exact amount of time it would take for them to add multiplayer because they would have had to rewrite everything. Imagine if UW actually tried to add in multiplayer, we wouldn't even have below zero at this time let alone a finished game. And I'm sure at that point people wouldn't be hammering for multiplayer but would be hammering for a finished game.
WaterBatmanUKJoin Date: 2019-01-11Member: 248543MembersPosts: 54Advanced user
I LOVE the fact its not multiplayer. I detest multiplayer. And lets be honest, the devs have a lot more to worry about than starting to rewrite the base code when there are still major bugs in the original game they haven't had time to fix yet, nevermind multiplayer lol.
Grimmnum38Portland OregonJoin Date: 2019-03-26Member: 251968MembersPosts: 2Freshly registered user
Not to tell anyone how to play or how to glean enjoyment from said game but that said I fear the "multi" addition to any single player story driven game........ All one has to do is look at any franchise ( there are exceptions to this rule but far less than those that don't ) that started as a single player game with a story ( it doesn't even have to have a good story just narration even) more times than not when a multiplayer addition is added ( or when the team developing a game is forced to add said addition ) the single player portion always without fail suffers from that addition. There are too many examples to list and we all know of them and wish they hadn't been given the "multi" kiss of death. I love multiplayer games and believe they have a place. I just don't think it has a place with SN or at least at this time. I think we have more than enough "Multi" in our beloved pass time and I for one am going to continue to think so as an avid PC gamer and programmer Ill support Unknownworlds and SN and SNBZ with my $ and my time regardless of the future of the series but felt I needed to toss in my two cents into this huge pile of pennies. CHEERS
PS: Lol queue the angry PVPrs and light them torches I smell a mob coming my way...... Oo
SHAD0WDEM0N654united kingdomJoin Date: 2019-04-04Member: 252136MembersPosts: 1Freshly registered user
Multiplayer could still be worked on and made so players have to send out a radio signal to tell other players there locations everyone is in a different life pod around the ocean you guys should work on it even if its added within a dlc not update think about it pay another team to make it
jamintheinfinite_1JupiterJoin Date: 2016-12-03Member: 224524MembersPosts: 1,062Advanced user
There already is a fan made multiplayer mod in the works. So pointless for the devs to make multiplayer dlc
You probably also know me as Terranhawk, aka, the guy who has a Starcraft name but has never touched or seen a Starcraft game in his life/
I'm both a content and discussion's moderator of both the BZ and SN wikias
I'm the creator of this Creature Evolution Chart
I live in the Subnautica side of the forums. IF you have seen me you probably know I suk at speling log wrods and that I'm very sarcastic and don't take things seriously unless called for
I'm called jamintheinfinite_1 because I was an idiot and made a typo on my email address for the account jamintheinfinite and I was too dumb to know how to fix it.
There already is a fan made multiplayer mod in the works. So pointless for the devs to make multiplayer dlc
It's been almost three whole years and this thread is still going with people asking over and over even though the topic was answered by the title alone. It surprises me.
================Anom================
"I'm ashamed, I'm to blame,
Don't wanna think about it,
Who I am, what I've done?
How do I carry on?
Wanna change, turn the page,
Don't wanna think about it,
How do I undo what's done?"
- "Undone" Five Finger Death Punch
================Anom================
Multiplayer could still be worked on and made so players have to send out a radio signal to tell other players there locations everyone is in a different life pod around the ocean you guys should work on it even if its added within a dlc not update think about it pay another team to make it
Sure it can if you want all development of subnautica to be halted for more than a year and it's not something that can be added in a simple update like UW has been repeatedly saying; it will require a full rewrite of their code
JakobWulfkindMontana, USJoin Date: 2019-02-28Member: 251401MembersPosts: 7Fully active user
So this was absolutely the right choice, and it makes a great deal of sense to do it this way given that the "alone on a beautiful death world" aesthetic was part of what made Subnautica such an amazing game to play. If you do multiplayer in the future, I'd do it by having different players working in different parts of 4546B, only able to communicate in brief messages, but able to occasionally share resources or activate Almanac tech that they find (maybe an add-on to Below Zero from the perspective of Jeffries, where the player must help Robin remotely?). So sort of an expansion of the time capsule mechanic from Subnautica, expanded a little bit.
I have to say I love subnautica, and while I would also LOVE a coop for subnautica I see where the issue comes in that making a multiplayer/coop subnautica would be a crazy amount of work. That said I really like the idea of finishing the subnautica story line we are in right now, and then moving on to a new story line in either a different universe or in the same universe just a different story line altogether. as an entirely unrelated note ya'll have done some amazing things with NS2. Thank you for that! Been playing natural selection since NS1 and love what you did with NS2.
LalalaJoin Date: 2019-06-01Member: 253173MembersPosts: 1Fully active user
edited June 2019
There wouldn't be much to do in a coop or multiplayer other than showing off, later engaging at Seamoth obstacle race and other minigames of choice, repeat for a few days until it grows boring.
People nowadays (mostly the teens?) seem to want coop/multi on everything, which is more trouble than it's worth for some titles, seems to be case here.
Subnauticas are to be taken alone and dive into its own universe.
What the games lack (mostly for extended gameplay at new-game/replay value) is NPC interaction, some in-game characters and events that bend and shape the sotryline to different ways. Hmm likely the best way to add that would be via modding. I'll try creating a topic about it.
GranistarManchester, NHJoin Date: 2019-08-11Member: 254249MembersPosts: 6Fully active user
Personally, in my opinion, Subnautica has no use for multi-player coop. Submersion ( not a water pun I promise ), is incredibly ruined by multi-player cooperative playing. In a game like 7 Days to Die or Ark then it's welcome. But one of Subnautica's great strengths is that the singleplayer world is enhanced by your isolation. Having someone running around with you removes that feeling.
I have more to add to this.. but it's time to go home!
Paul-HewsonJoin Date: 2008-02-25Member: 63737Members, Constellation, Reinforced - ShadowPosts: 134Advanced user
Subnautica no, but a coop game based on the subnautica universe can be done. Alterra knows the planet now and a team of researcher sent there or a "competition" between trans-gov to uncover every secret of planet 4546B is something that can make sense. You're no longer a survivor from a crash, so i can really see people working to discover another part of the planet and resolve other mysteries from it.
But it has to be though through the beginning in multiplayer fashion, so the world is dynamic, the objectives are dynamic.. it is pretty clear a single player story does not particularly fit very well an online game (even a coop game).
rawmacgyverJoin Date: 2019-12-18Member: 256524MembersPosts: 4Fully active user
I agree that subnautica is meant to be a singleplayer game, but just having the option to join in with friends with nothing else changed is something I would pay good money for :P
narfblatUtah, USAJoin Date: 2016-05-15Member: 216799Members, Forum Moderators, Forum staffPosts: 665mod
Little to none of the story is specific about you being alone, so that isn't really the problem. The problem has more to do with properly handling multiple users on the same world. Modders have slightly less worry, as they can't be accused of taking money for an unfinished or rough product.
issues include:
1. Syncing data so what player A takes or builds is changed for player B.
2. Handling blueprints for multiple players - if player A scans everything, it wouldn't make sense for player B to automatically have the Blueprint. However, this would make blueprints an exception to #1.
3. Handling storyline if player A is working to endgame while B is just exploring.
4. Showing playernodels for other players. This seemed to be a large issue for the mod team.
5-? More issues that would only be realized while attempting to change the game.
Subnautica stuff:
Official Subnautica discord chat: https://discord.gg/subnautica
For updates on Console progress for both Subnautica and Below Zero, check the favro page, here. How to clear your Cache, by 0x6A7232. How to use console commands.
Stuck, and just want to most recent base/Cyclops? Use "Warpme" command. Want to get out of the ceiling? Press F1 and note your camera postion. First number is North/South, second number is up/down, and third is East/West. Reduce the 2nd number by 10, then use "warp x y z" (where x, y, and z are the position you want to be).
sharkonautCaliforniaJoin Date: 2020-02-11Member: 257790MembersPosts: 3Fully active user
I get that they wanted to release the game rather than keep us waiting for multiplayer, but I still don't know why a) they didn't take this into consideration with Below Zero and make the game in such a way that it would scale to multiplayer later and b) why not launch a Kickstarter to fund a development team to re-write the codebase and significantly reduce the risk, while still being able to stay focused on Below Zero?
narfblatUtah, USAJoin Date: 2016-05-15Member: 216799Members, Forum Moderators, Forum staffPosts: 665mod
a) Below Zero was built upon the code of original Subnautica, not from scratch.
b) The developers may have considered this. What can be said for certain is that they weighed cost and feasibility of multiplayer against the additional sales it might generate, and didn't find it worth it.
Subnautica stuff:
Official Subnautica discord chat: https://discord.gg/subnautica
For updates on Console progress for both Subnautica and Below Zero, check the favro page, here. How to clear your Cache, by 0x6A7232. How to use console commands.
Stuck, and just want to most recent base/Cyclops? Use "Warpme" command. Want to get out of the ceiling? Press F1 and note your camera postion. First number is North/South, second number is up/down, and third is East/West. Reduce the 2nd number by 10, then use "warp x y z" (where x, y, and z are the position you want to be).
sharkonautCaliforniaJoin Date: 2020-02-11Member: 257790MembersPosts: 3Fully active user
edited February 12
Makes sense, but the risk of cost/feasibility against additional sales is completely removed when the project is 100% funded before it even starts, rather than relying on sales. Sales become a bonus at that point. If the interest really isn't there, the Kickstarter would fail and we'd all move on. But it would be cool to give the fans a chance to prove that wrong. And as a bonus any future games could then be built on a codebase that supports multiplayer. Love the game though. Definitely one of my favorites. Thanks for the response.
Comments
Oh? Then I'm sure you know how long they've been working on that co-op mod. 2 years, 3 years now? UW said that's the exact amount of time it would take for them to add multiplayer because they would have had to rewrite everything. Imagine if UW actually tried to add in multiplayer, we wouldn't even have below zero at this time let alone a finished game. And I'm sure at that point people wouldn't be hammering for multiplayer but would be hammering for a finished game.
PS: Lol queue the angry PVPrs and light them torches I smell a mob coming my way...... Oo
I'm both a content and discussion's moderator of both the BZ and SN wikias
I'm the creator of this Creature Evolution Chart
I live in the Subnautica side of the forums. IF you have seen me you probably know I suk at speling log wrods and that I'm very sarcastic and don't take things seriously unless called for
I'm called jamintheinfinite_1 because I was an idiot and made a typo on my email address for the account jamintheinfinite and I was too dumb to know how to fix it.
s̮̮͇̲̱̻͕͈̠ͪ͐̇̾͒̀͌i̖͈͚̘͈̐̀̈́̃̒̇̀͊ͧ̔̏͒ͅḿ͎͉̜̦̦͓̟̞͗̇͒ͨ̏͌̑ͨͬͬͧͭͥo̩̞̰̮̞̮̼̫̩̳̘͆ͯͣ̓̍͆ͣ̎ͫ͂ͪṅ͖̪̫̘̼̙̪̙̳̰̊̒͋͗ͪͥ̅̑ͤ̆̅ͬͥ̑ͫ ̲̳̟̰̭̖̞͓̙̘͓͔̣͇ͭͥ̂̎̋́͂̋̈́̌͐ͤͨ̀̐̂ͦi͍̫͔̟̰͖͚̫͎̞͚͌ͤ̀͗ͥ͐̂̓ͧs̭͈͙̱̹̬͓̦̝͔̘̼̤͍͎̞̥̎̅̉͛ͦ͒̇͛̎ͬͨ́̍͒̀ͦͅͅ ͙̱̖̳̻͚̳̘̯̲͚̭̟͎̩̤͔̼̩̈́ͤ̋ͪ̿͛ͤͥ̅̒̆̉̓̒̓̅̈̈́̉t̖̞͓̥̤̪̯̘͓͌ͨͮͮͅh̰̙̮̖̆ͬ̎ͫ̿̽̾͋͗̍ͪ͑̀e̳̟̭͇ͤ̃͊̀ͤ̅ͫ̅̒ ̰̗͔̟̼̺̫̲͍̯̥̼͚̦̜̯̣̇̀̅̂̋ͧͦ̊ͥͮ͛̾͐̌͆̔́̎͋ͅb͍̣̲͇͙̞̘̰̫̪̖͔̈̅̃ͬͬḙ͖̠̬͇̦̰̪̟͊̀͐̍̾̓̊s̬͍͈̲̦̥͉̦̼̥͕͍̲̝ͪͬ͆͆͛ͩ̎̓̊̐͗̿̾̊̊t̪͉̝͖̫̼̤̼̩̰ͧ̐̽̋̈́̉̏̃́
It's been almost three whole years and this thread is still going with people asking over and over even though the topic was answered by the title alone. It surprises me.
"I'm ashamed, I'm to blame,
Don't wanna think about it,
Who I am, what I've done?
How do I carry on?
Wanna change, turn the page,
Don't wanna think about it,
How do I undo what's done?"
- "Undone" Five Finger Death Punch
================Anom================
Sure it can if you want all development of subnautica to be halted for more than a year and it's not something that can be added in a simple update like UW has been repeatedly saying; it will require a full rewrite of their code
People nowadays (mostly the teens?) seem to want coop/multi on everything, which is more trouble than it's worth for some titles, seems to be case here.
Subnauticas are to be taken alone and dive into its own universe.
What the games lack (mostly for extended gameplay at new-game/replay value) is NPC interaction, some in-game characters and events that bend and shape the sotryline to different ways. Hmm likely the best way to add that would be via modding. I'll try creating a topic about it.
I have more to add to this.. but it's time to go home!
have a great night Subnautic'ers!
But it has to be though through the beginning in multiplayer fashion, so the world is dynamic, the objectives are dynamic.. it is pretty clear a single player story does not particularly fit very well an online game (even a coop game).
issues include:
1. Syncing data so what player A takes or builds is changed for player B.
2. Handling blueprints for multiple players - if player A scans everything, it wouldn't make sense for player B to automatically have the Blueprint. However, this would make blueprints an exception to #1.
3. Handling storyline if player A is working to endgame while B is just exploring.
4. Showing playernodels for other players. This seemed to be a large issue for the mod team.
5-? More issues that would only be realized while attempting to change the game.
Official Subnautica discord chat: https://discord.gg/subnautica
For updates on Console progress for both Subnautica and Below Zero, check the favro page, here.
How to clear your Cache, by 0x6A7232.
How to use console commands.
Stuck, and just want to most recent base/Cyclops? Use "Warpme" command. Want to get out of the ceiling? Press F1 and note your camera postion. First number is North/South, second number is up/down, and third is East/West. Reduce the 2nd number by 10, then use "warp x y z" (where x, y, and z are the position you want to be).
b) The developers may have considered this. What can be said for certain is that they weighed cost and feasibility of multiplayer against the additional sales it might generate, and didn't find it worth it.
Official Subnautica discord chat: https://discord.gg/subnautica
For updates on Console progress for both Subnautica and Below Zero, check the favro page, here.
How to clear your Cache, by 0x6A7232.
How to use console commands.
Stuck, and just want to most recent base/Cyclops? Use "Warpme" command. Want to get out of the ceiling? Press F1 and note your camera postion. First number is North/South, second number is up/down, and third is East/West. Reduce the 2nd number by 10, then use "warp x y z" (where x, y, and z are the position you want to be).