Prototype 

This is Netroids, a simple multiplayer space shooter built in Unity. Leveraging rollback networking, Netroids offers (hopefully) smooth gameplay even on Unity's relay servers. Currently in its prototype stage, the game is straightforward. Fly, dodge asteroids, and shoot enemies or other players. For the best experience, use a controller. Keyboard and mouse inputs are available, but they need further work on implementation.

Gameplay Modes: 

1. Endless Deathmatch

• No rounds, just continuous scoring.
• The current leader is marked with a checkered flag.
• Supports up to 12 players. 

2. Deathmatch

• Time-based rounds with a winner declared at the end of each round.
• Supports up to 12 players. 

3. Team Deathmatch

• Red vs. Blue team battles.
• Supports up to 12 players. 

4. Classic Mode

• Inspired by the original Asteroids.
• Difficulty increases over time and with higher scores, leading to more enemies with ever increasing skill levels.
• Features a maximum of 8 enemies and up to 4 human players sharing a pool of lives.
• Extra lives are awarded at 10,000 points.
• Powerup asteroids become more frequent as the difficulty rises.

Powerups:

• Red Asteroid: Increases weapon damage.

• Blue Asteroid: Provides a shield.

• Green Asteroid: Increases juice recovery rate.

• Yellow Asteroid: Increases engine power. 

Additional Features:

• Bots: Bots trained with unity ml-agents. They do present a bit of a challenge.
• Death Cam Replay: Uses the Cinemachine Unity asset to provide an exciting look at your last moments.
• Instructions: Access gameplay instructions anytime with the right bumper on your controller.
• Dodge & Handbrake 

Installing.

Download and unzip to a folder, and run the Netroids.exe.

Launching Game.

You can play as a Host, start a Dedicated Server, or just play local only (Single Player) with bots. Direct connection is preferable, but if you experience issues trying to get connections between computers on different networks to work, then you can always try using the Unity Relay Server transport option.  

Issues.

Due to the nature of rollback networking, and depending on your latency between you and the server you will sometimes see strange things, like an asteroid blowing up, and then re-appearing a few frames later, or sometimes being destroyed unexpectedly. If the latency is too high beyond the replay buffer (currently set at 8 frames) the game will be unplayable.

The game is pretty rough around the edges. And has not had a lot go into balancing, etc things will often change quite substantially as newer versions come out. 

Settings.

I have provided access to the settings for the game, some are quite obvious, some might cause unexpected side effects, others just may not do anything. 

Future Plans:

I have many ideas for expanding Netroids, including new game modes such as Capture the Flag (CTF) and Defend the Base, enhanced graphics, music, more powerups, different ships, turrets and different levels. Also I’d like to convert to unity DOTS to make it much more performant, which would allow for lots of extra content including supporting many more players in the game. For now, I’m just putting it out there, to see how it performs with a few people playing. I’m currently deciding if I keep working on this game, and also hoping others might just have some fun playing along.

Feedback:

Feel free to suggest changes, specific bugs you’d like fixed (of which there will be many), and any features you’d like to see.

Credits:

This prototype uses the following great assets:

Star Sparrow Modular Spaceship - Ebal Studios

Input Icons - UI Toolkit Extension - Tobias Froihofer

Sci-Fi Arsenal - Archanor VFX

Laser Construction Kit - Bubaproducer

Skybox Series Free - Avionx

True Explosions! - marserMD

Asteroids Pack - Mark Dion