Four Reasons to Use Mirror Networking in Your Unity MMORPG or Multiplayer Game
Quote from the Mirror Networking Website
Mirror is a high-level Networking API for Unity, supporting different low levelTransports. Mirror is built and tested for MMO Scale Networking by the developers of uMMORPG, uSurvival, and Cubica:
I Don’t Recommend Spatial OS
I spent some time learning Spatial OS. I am gonna go on a quick rant about SpatialOS below. I don’t recommend Spatial OS and you can skip the ran if you like.
The setup for the codebase only approachable for the most advanced users. While SpatialOS requires a smaller team that MMORPGs have in past, it’s not realistic to make an MMORPG on SpatialOS by yourself. Examples of games made with SpatialOS don’t seem to be commercially successful. Furthermore, SpatialOS is not open-source, so you can’t see what is going on under the hood.
Lets Talk About Mirror Networking
Disclaimer: As I write this I’m still relatively new to Mirror. I may update this article or write additional mirror articles in the future. Feel free to reach out to me if you have specific questions.
Four Reasons Why Mirror is Great
1) Mirror Networking is Approachable
Mirror is approachable for non-advanced users. Mirror and Mirror extensions primarily work with objects and require minimal C# experience when compared to other Unity networking solutions. To add to Mirror’s approachability, the Mirror is free.
2) Mirror Networking is Open Source
Mirror code is public. Whether you want to tweak code yourself or just have a better idea of what’s going on under the hood it’s nice to be able to have access to source code. There exists a couple of Mirror optimization features behind a GitHub donation wall. As of writing this, I am currently a sponsor. I pay 5 dollars a month. I ask a minimum of one question about the mirror on a daily basis and always get answers right away.
4) Successful Games Use Mirror Networking
Mirror has a great roster of commercially viable indie games.
I’ve seen more than 20 indie titles integrate Mirror. Mirror is a flexible solution that works for anything from a two-player networked game to a massive. I’ve been flirting with possibly making a browser-based MMORPG. At first, I was just intent on making a multiplayer RPG. The reason I’m pointing this out is that it shows that Mirror is flexible, practical, and viable.
4) Mirror Networking has a Great Community
Community is very important when learning a new platform. Mirror’s community is paramount. The discord is very active. While I’m writing this, I see 2400+ users online on the Mirror discord server. I personally am very excited to finally start being able to help newer Mirror users, as I feel so indebted to the community for how much they have helped me thus far.
Thank You for Reading
If you would like to check out Mirror Networking, go here:
