We decided that the time has come to tell you our both latest and greatest news - we've got a new network engine for Gothic Multiplayer, known RakNet 4!
RakNet is one helluva acknowledged engine, designed for multiplayer games. It has been created to provide the best performance and complete solutions for games like Gothic Multiplayer. Who made this piece of Godlike software? Say your thanks to guys from Jenkins Software LLC from California. RakNet is a commercial product, but thanks to it's free license for hobbyists, nobody needs to pay for anything.
Jenkins Software LLC product is being used by the folks at:
- Sony Online Entertaiment - the creators of many MMO games, such as DC Universe™ Online, EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Free Realms™, Magic: The Gathering - Tactics™, Star Wars®: Clone Wars Adventures™, Star Wars Galaxies™
- Maxis - EA's department which brought you The Sims™, SimCity™, Spore™ and their newest product - Darkspore™
- Gazilion - the makers of Marvel™ branded MMO and Lego Universe™
- BigPoint - developer which focuses mainly on browser games. You may know them as the creators of titles such as DarkOrbit, Lord of Ultima, Farmerama and Drakensang Online
- The team which created San Andreas - Multiplayer (SA-MP), a quite popular Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas mod
The RakNet network engine is also a multiplatform one - if a developer decides to use it, the game becomes compatible with the PS3, Xbox 360, Windows PC, Mac, Linux and even iPhone or Android platforms. The engine is recommended by the companies who make game engines by themselves - Trinigy (Vision Game Engine), Unity (Unity 3d), GameBase (Gamebryo Lightspeed) and Terminal Reality (Infernal Engine). Thanks to RakNet, there are basically no problems with third parties software, such as FMOD, Steamworks or even Scaleform. As you can see, this powerful stuff is being used by many developers, which instantly shows it's great potential.
After declaring the abandonment of the old code, we got to the point of choosing the network engine. One of our major candidates was RakNet 4. Eventually, in the last days of April, we started the works on Gothic Multiplayer with the new engine.
Full of hope, we just can't wait to see how this both advanced and well-known engine will improve the Gothic Multiplayer , making it able to achieve the perfect synchronisation. Not so long ago we finished the works on the server. Now, we're taking care of the second part of the Gothic Multiplayer - the client. Summer heats have no mercy upon anyone, but stay sharp for upcoming news!
Your one and only,
Gothic Multiplayer Team
