Friday, January 10, 2014

Local Multiplayer Proposal


Local multiplayer games are gaining popularity on PCs, with games like Samurai Gunn, Towerfall, and the hugely popular Skate or Don't!.  But what if a player is on another person's computer but still wants to have their stats saved or use their characters?  How can multiple Steam accounts connect at the same time?  Here's an idea:

When a player is going to a friend's for local mutliplayer, they request a temporary password from Steam.  This would be 6-8 digit, or perhaps a random word.  On their friends computer they enter their name and temporary password, and Player 2 is now linked to their account.  This temporary account link would only be used for saving stats, and couldn't be used to buy games or anything else.  It would also only work for a limited time, maybe a day or so.

With this method players could play local multiplayer games on their friend's computer and have their stats and characters, without having to worry about their account being hijacked.  I've thought about implementing something like this myself, but I don't have the time or money to set up a global account system yet.  Hopefully someone like Valve will implement something like this so people can play with real friends on real couches.

6 comments:

Vegeta897 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sam O said...

Vegeta897:
If you are playing on a keyboard, you have to first press 1 and then press space to select a character. You can find the other player mappings at the bottom of http://www.crypticsea.com/EP/

If you are playing with a controller, you have to first press a button (any button) and then press a button again to select a character. If nothing happens when you press buttons on the controller, it is probably not discovered by the game for some reason.

Captain White Phoenix said...

All of this is fine and dandy.

However, what about, and I'm not trying to be snarky here, but what about actually adding normal, online multyplayer? And, you know, give the game a chance to have at least *some* success?

I'd love to play things like Samurai Gunn, but what is the point when the only multyplayer is offline?

STEEV said...

Would you really want to play Samurai Gunn with even a fraction of a second of latency?

Geoff Ledger said...

Nice idea it reminds me of how you save your game in the first crash bandicoot game on ps1.

However I've got a better idea, it may be a little harder to implement, but definitely will make developing local multiplay games tonnes easier! Ive already made a bunch of steam forums about my idea > http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/558755529520979960/

Here's My Idea and what i said.

Log In to Multiple Steam Accounts Simultaneously in SteamOS/Big Picture
The last gen and current gen of consoles allowed multiple users to sign in simultaneously on a singular console under their own PSN or XboxLive accounts/gamertags while being linked to one of the 4 controllers. 8 simultaneous users for XboxOne!.

The benefits of simultaneous users meant the local players could access and earn achievements for their accounts, furthermore they even carried cloud saves, those mii things, unlocks, game progression and all sorts for both offline and online multiplay.

Its a nice seamless experience being linked to a controller when going from game to game if your playing with mates on the same device (console/pc).

I feel having a consistent profile attached to your own 360/PS/Steam Controller adds a personal touch that makes their account progression feel more meaningful.

Unionized progression between friends you know is very addictive and competative, Its like all those facebook games that every one nags you to play to get you on the facebook leaderboard.

Multiple local users keeps the gamer more in touch with their profile when they go to a friends house and play on their steam machine, it adds a bit of friendly competition with your own circle of mates.

If you want steam achievements to really take off, local multi users is the way forward. Personally I was never was big on achievements but honestly to some of my mates it was their life, and if it means something to your friends it'll likely mean more to you when they brag about it.

This is definitely a good opportunity to pick up another target audience on the steam boat, Xbox fans are big on achievements, that is why they transfered 360 achievments across to the XboxOne. I believe if Steam Machine really wants to compete with consoles then we need to take away every reason to be a console gamer. This idea could also integrate with family sharing with the users logged into the same device.

Geoff Ledger said...

Hey if anyone wants more Local Multiplayers on PC/Mac/Linux/Steam/SteamMachine/SteamOS.
then visit and join the new 'Local Multiplayer Gaming' Steam Group @ http://steamcommunity.com/groups/LocalMPG

Here you will find currently 150+ Local Multiplayers on the Steam Store alone. Its better than Steam-Tags.

The list includes non-steam Local Multiplayers too (Soon)

Local Multiplayer includes...

Local Split-Screen Multiplayer
Local Shared-Screen Multiplayer
Local Hotseat Multiplayer
Local Versus
Local Co-Op
Local with LAN
Local with Online