I guess some of you have been waiting for this one and I decided to do it earlier than usual. Let's get to it.

Multiplayer

Someone once asked me if Multiplayer was going to be a thing. At the time, I said that it was not and would never be part of our plans. But here we are now, as we have a nearly complete Multiplayer system.

I had several concerns about it at first, such as how would the Jumpscares work, or how would the Animatronic gameplay be? I figured it all out now though.

It's worth noting that this gamemode will likely release in a very unbalanced state, honestly I made it with the idea of playing with friends in mind.

Survivor Gameplay

As the survivor, gameplay is pretty much the same as in Singleplayer, but with a few limitations.

There are less items available to you since you only need a few to survive. You also can't throw items. The reason for this is because Physics Simulations may vary for everyone, and getting it to be synced would be too tough and demanding in bandwidth. So it's better to keep it off altogether.

(Edit: It's actually very easy to sync physics, will consider adding back the feature)

The inventory has less space and you can't open your "backpack" (since in this case you don't have one). Your item's durability will show up in real time as you have an item that has durability equipped.

Crouching has also been disabled as I decided there'd be no vents for this gamemode.

The rest is pretty much the same, I had to modify a couple of things for them to work in multiplayer conditions but overall it's the same.

Animatronic Gameplay

Now, I don't want to get in too much details as to how it all works out but here's some informations.

As an "Animatronic Player", you have access to nearly all Animatronics in the game (that includes Springbonnie for those who wonder), each have varying speeds and chasing time.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the chasing mechanic. Normally, you can only walk around, but when you see a player, you can enter "Chasing Mode" which triggers an animation and then allows you to run.

"Chasing Time" is the amount of time you're allowed to run for without having any Survivors in sight. If you see one, it will reset the timer back to its max value. Once it runs out, you exit out of "Chasing Mode".

Killing a Survivor also forces you out of "Chasing Mode".

And that's about all I'm willing to talk about for the Animatronic gameplay.

Rules

Rules are simple. It's basically Survival Mode, but with Multiplayer. Survivors need to survive until 6 AM, Animatronics need to kill all Survivors before time's up.

There will be a special map just for this Gamemode that has a lot of space to navigate around. TSEG is currently working on it, and it's going well.

However, we do have some issues.

Networking - Hosting and Connecting

This is the part where things don't look so bright no more.

I want a system that allows for people to easily host and connect, such as a Server Browser and/or joining Gamejolt Friends through a Friendlist. The Gamejolt part shouldn't be too difficult as we have the tools for it, but the other part is our main issue.

Currently, for testing, we use Hamachi (you probably heard of it) to trick the game into thinking it's a LAN game. We also need to directly type in the host's IP. As you can imagine, this is far from ideal and we don't plan on keeping this method.

I have looked around and found ways to get what I want, but it requires C++ coding and let's be honest I'm not good at it. We'll keep looking though with high hopes.

But anyways, for release, you will not have to set up a fake LAN, nor will you need to port forward. You'll be able to host a game in one click and maybe even send invite to friends. I will make sure it all works fine.

It's also worth noting that you will need a log in your Gamejolt account in order to access Multiplayer.

Will it be a separate release?

Short answer is no. It'll be part of the main game. However I'm debating on whether you have it unlocked right off the bat, or if you need to complete Story Mode to unlock access. I'd go with the latter for spoiler reasons, but I'm also aware some people wouldn't be happy with it. I'll continue to think about it and figure out what I think really is our best option.

Thank you for sticking with us, and I hope you're excited about Multiplayer! Take care!