📣 Ticket Town Development Update 📣
Building a More Robust Multiplayer Infrastructure

Yesterday's multiplayer test was fun .... but it also taught us one of the most valuable lessons we've had so far.

While players with strong internet connections had a great experience, we discovered that mobile connections—particularly in regions with weaker Wi-Fi or mobile infrastructure—simply aren't reliable enough to guarantee the smooth gameplay experience we want.

And that's exactly why we test.

A good multiplayer game isn't measured by how well it performs under ideal conditions...

It's measured by how well it performs when conditions aren't ideal.

As a result, we've made the decision to begin transitioning away from a peer-hosted architecture and towards dedicated servers.

This is a much bigger undertaking, but it gives us:

✔️ More stable gameplay for everyone
✔️ Consistent latency regardless of who created the match
✔️ Better handling of disconnects and reconnects
✔️ Greater scalability for future player counts
✔️ A much stronger foundation for competitive gameplay

Over the coming days we'll be setting up our first dedicated Linux server, along with a session service, city service, databases, and headless arena servers—the same architecture that will eventually power Ticket Town as it grows.

Sometimes the biggest progress isn't adding flashy new features...

It's discovering where the foundations need to be stronger.

Yesterday proved our multiplayer works. Today we're making sure it works reliably for everyone.

As a result of these findings, we've made a small adjustment to our development priorities.

The upcoming internal alpha tests for animations, player abilities and visual effects (VFX) will be pushed back slightly while we focus on strengthening the multiplayer infrastructure.

We believe stable networking is the foundation that everything else is built upon. There's little value in testing exciting new gameplay features if players can't reliably stay connected to experience them.

It means a short delay now, but a significantly better testing experience for everyone later this month.

The journey continues. 🚀

— Lana

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