microplay : a networking framework for local multiplayer games

MicroPlay: A Networking Frameworkfor Local Multiplayer Games

A. Le †, L. Keller ‡, C. Fragouli ‡, A. Markopoulou †

† University of California, Irvine‡ École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Mobile Games are the Killer Apps

• Platform with enormous growth rate:700 million (2011) – 2.2 billion (2016)

• Games dominated App StoresOut of Top 10 Paid Apps: - iOS: 6 are games - Android: 4 are games

• Bike Baron: - Finnish developer: 7 employees- 1 million revenue in 3 months

MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine 2

Local Multiplayer Games

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• Highly entertaining

• Social interaction- Team building

Smartphones are an Ideal Platform for Local Multiplayer Games

• Powerful: - Quad-core CPU, Quad-core GPU

• Rich connectivity:- 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC

• Portability:- Carried all the time- Small footprint- Operate on battery

MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine 4

Overview of MicroPlay Key Design Aspects and Benefits

• Characteristics of Local Multiplayer Games– Common wireless network, e.g., WiFi– Close proximity of players

• Game is hosted locally– Avoid large latency from remote server– Support spontaneous, on-demand setup

• Exploit WiFi overhearing – Reduce latency and overhead– Simplify game development

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Outline

1. Introduction

2. Regular Networking

3. MicroPlay Networking

4. Performance Evaluation

5. Conclusion

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Regular Networking Model

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Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

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Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

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Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

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Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

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Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

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Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

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Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

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Outline

1. Introduction

2. Regular Networking

3. MicroPlay Networking

4. Performance Evaluation

5. Conclusion

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MicroPlay Networking Model

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Game Latency and Player RenderingMicroPlay

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Game Latency and Player RenderingMicroPlay

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Game Latency and Player RenderingMicroPlay

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Game Latency and Player RenderingMicroPlay

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Benefits of Overhearingin MicroPlay networking

• Very low game latency- No interpolation is needed- Loss of state packet is not critical

• Precise rendering- All rendering is based on inputs

Rendering of remote players can be done similar to the local player!

• Simplified game development - No prediction (inter/extrapolation) is needed

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MicroPlay Architecture

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Outline

1. Introduction

2. Regular Networking

3. MicroPlay Networking

4. Performance Evaluation

5. Conclusion

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Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay

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Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay

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Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay

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Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay

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Evaluation: Dissemination TimeCan overhearing help disseminating packets faster?

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Evaluation: Overhearing QualityHow reliable is direct-input rendering?

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Server2.7 m

3.5 m

Evaluation: Overhearing QualityHow reliable is direct-input rendering?

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ConclusionMicroPlay: A Networking Framework for Local Multiplayer Games

• Host game locally

• Exploit broadcast nature of wireless medium

Key benefits:

• Spontaneous, on-demand setup

• Simplified game development

• Very low game latency

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Live Demo(During Coffee Break)

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Evaluation: Sync Errors4 Phones in a room

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Evaluation: Overhearing Quality6 Phones on a line

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Evaluation: Overhearing Quality4 Phones on a Table

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Evaluation: Overhead of Sending a State Packet from the Server

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MicroPlay with Network Coding

Inter-Session Network Coding

• Reliability, extended range

• Gesture-Flow [Feng 2011]

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