DuolBots integrates directly into the Steam API allowing you to host games or join your friends on Steam seamlessly. Doing this took a lot of work, much of which was dedicated to limiting bandwidth strain on the network.
Compared to the build that debuted at the SGX 2022 Spring expo (more on that in the timeline), the new networking is over 10x more performant. The biggest change being a client authority driven network using a send-what-you-need philosophy for syncing data which dictated anything that could be done without networking would be un-networked. This included frequent positional data syncing for transforms which would instead use linear interpolation to recreate an enemy team's movement for a client without constantly syncing data.
The new networking model gives client's authority to access objects and control them on the server which is much faster than sending a command which then must be processed before getting the desired result.
This ClientRPC model resembles the networking used in the SGX 2022 Spring build.
As for polish, the networking overhaul to a client-command centric system gave the team an opportunity to re-evaluate data and menu flow. Most menus were simplified, and the way that several key components retrieve and send data has been streamlined. For the user, this means that the game will be less intensive on their network, and have much less latency in online play.
Oh, and the Apocalypse? Averted. No more input latency means that your bot act in the present, and not a moment later.
-DuolBots Development Team
Comments