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

MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine 3

• 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

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 5

Outline

1. Introduction

2. Regular Networking

3. MicroPlay Networking

4. Performance Evaluation

5. Conclusion

MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine 6

Regular Networking Model

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 7

Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 8

Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 9

Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 10

Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 11

Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 12

Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 13

Game Latency and Player RenderingRegular Scheme

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 14

Outline

1. Introduction

2. Regular Networking

3. MicroPlay Networking

4. Performance Evaluation

5. Conclusion

MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine 15

MicroPlay Networking Model

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 16

Game Latency and Player RenderingMicroPlay

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 17

Game Latency and Player RenderingMicroPlay

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 18

Game Latency and Player RenderingMicroPlay

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 19

Game Latency and Player RenderingMicroPlay

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 20

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

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 21

MicroPlay Architecture

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 22

Outline

1. Introduction

2. Regular Networking

3. MicroPlay Networking

4. Performance Evaluation

5. Conclusion

MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine 23

Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 24

Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 25

Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 26

Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 27

Evaluation: Dissemination TimeCan overhearing help disseminating packets faster?

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 28

Evaluation: Overhearing QualityHow reliable is direct-input rendering?

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 29

Server2.7 m

3.5 m

Evaluation: Overhearing QualityHow reliable is direct-input rendering?

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 30

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

Anh Le, UC Irvine 31MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games

Live Demo(During Coffee Break)

Anh Le, UC Irvine 32MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games

Evaluation: Sync Errors4 Phones in a room

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 33

Evaluation: Overhearing Quality6 Phones on a line

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 34

Evaluation: Overhearing Quality4 Phones on a Table

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 35

Evaluation: Overhead of Sending a State Packet from the Server

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 36

MicroPlay with Network Coding

Inter-Session Network Coding

• Reliability, extended range

• Gesture-Flow [Feng 2011]

Anh Le, UC Irvine MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games 37