Types of Multiplayer Games
Playroom supports a variety of multiplayer game configurations. Players can be in the same room, long-distance, or a combination of both. When you start development, its essential to plan on which modes you want your game to support and which engine/library to use for what type of games. Playroom is built as a web-based library which supports all configurations as a Universal Multiplayer Kit and help you deploy all following modes with ease.
Mobile Games
Playroom is widely used to build casual mobile games. By default, many of our components are designed to be flexible and work across all devices. This means that you don't need to do anything special to enable it. Just follow the steps described here (opens in a new tab) and ship your game on Appstore or Playstore.
Here is an example game Death by AI (opens in a new tab) that works on mobile and web.
Web & Embeddable Games
As a web-based framework, Playroom works great for browser-based games and PCs. You can ship a game on any domain or easily launch your games on web platforms like Poki, Discord, YouTube, CrazyGames, and Itch.io. Just plug in your game engine's input method into your Playroom logic and enjoy!
Here is an example game that uses web controls Ready Room (opens in a new tab)
Big Screen Games
Playroom also supports multi-device multiplayer games where one screen acts as the host and all players join from their mobile devices. This feature can be enabled using Stream mode as described here (opens in a new tab). Once Stream mode is enabled, you can have the main screen of the game streamed to a browser or TV with a QR code or room code.
Here is an example game that uses Big Screen Stream Mode Gogogo Party (opens in a new tab)
Big Screen with Gamepads
Playroom also lets you make games that are played on a central screen with physical game controllers that are connected to PC via Bluetooth/USB.
If you run out of controllers, more players may also join the game on their mobile devices. Players on phones see on-screen Joystick controls to play the game. The API remains unchanged for both types of controllers, so, as a developer, you don't have to worry about the type of controller being used.
Live Mode with Tiktok (Chat) (and soon Twitch)
Playroom also lets you make games that are played on live streams and make people from the chat able to control and play the game. This is a great way to engage your community and let them play with you on live streams.
We currently support Tiktok. Twitch support is in the works.
