MicroPlay: A Networking Framework for Local Multiplayer Games A. Le †, L. Keller ‡, C. Fragouli ‡, A. Markopoulou † † University of California, Irvine ‡ École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Mobile Games are the Killer Apps Platform with enormous growth rate: 700 million (2011) – 2.2 billion (2016) Games dominated App Stores Out of Top 10 Paid Apps: - iOS: 6 are games - Android: 4 are games Bike Baron: - Finnish developer: 7 employees - 1 million revenue in 3 months MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine2

Local Multiplayer Games MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine3 Highly entertaining Social interaction - Team building

Smartphones are an Ideal Platform for Local Multiplayer Games Powerful: - Quad-core CPU, Quad-core GPU Rich connectivity: - 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC Portability: - Carried all the time - Small footprint - Operate on battery MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine4

Overview of MicroPlay Key Design Aspects and Benefits Characteristics of Local Multiplayer Games – Common wireless network, e.g., WiFi – Close proximity of players Game is hosted locally – Avoid large latency from remote server – Support spontaneous, on-demand setup Exploit WiFi overhearing – Reduce latency and overhead – Simplify game development Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games5

Outline 1.Introduction 2.Regular Networking 3.MicroPlay Networking 4.Performance Evaluation 5.Conclusion MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine6

Regular Networking Model Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games7

Game Latency and Player Rendering Regular Scheme Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games8

Game Latency and Player Rendering Regular Scheme Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games9

Game Latency and Player Rendering Regular Scheme Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games10

Game Latency and Player Rendering Regular Scheme Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games11

Game Latency and Player Rendering Regular Scheme Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games12

Game Latency and Player Rendering Regular Scheme Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games13

Game Latency and Player Rendering Regular Scheme Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games14

Outline 1.Introduction 2.Regular Networking 3.MicroPlay Networking 4.Performance Evaluation 5.Conclusion MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine15

MicroPlay Networking Model Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games16

Game Latency and Player Rendering MicroPlay Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games17

Game Latency and Player Rendering MicroPlay Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games18

Game Latency and Player Rendering MicroPlay Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games19

Game Latency and Player Rendering MicroPlay Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games20

Benefits of Overhearing in MicroPlay networking Very low game latency - No interpolation is needed - Loss of state packet is not critical Precise rendering - All rendering is based on inputs Rendering of remote players can be done similar to the local player! Simplified game development - No prediction (inter/extrapolation) is needed Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games21

MicroPlay Architecture Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games22

Outline 1.Introduction 2.Regular Networking 3.MicroPlay Networking 4.Performance Evaluation 5.Conclusion MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone GamesAnh Le, UC Irvine23

Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games24

Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games25

Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games26

Racer: Car Racing Game on MicroPlay Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games27

Evaluation: Dissemination Time Can overhearing help disseminating packets faster? Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games28

Evaluation: Overhearing Quality How reliable is direct-input rendering? Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games29 Server 2.7 m 3.5 m

Evaluation: Overhearing Quality How reliable is direct-input rendering? Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games30

Conclusion MicroPlay: A Networking Framework for Local Multiplayer Games Host game locally Exploit broadcast nature of wireless medium Key benefits: Spontaneous, on-demand setup Simplified game development Very low game latency Anh Le, UC Irvine31MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games

Live Demo (During Coffee Break) Anh Le, UC Irvine32MicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games

Evaluation: Sync Errors 4 Phones in a room Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games33

Evaluation: Overhearing Quality 6 Phones on a line Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games34

Evaluation: Overhearing Quality 4 Phones on a Table Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games35

Evaluation: Overhead of Sending a State Packet from the Server Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games36

MicroPlay with Network Coding Inter-Session Network Coding Reliability, extended range Gesture-Flow [Feng 2011] Anh Le, UC IrvineMicroPlay: Networking Framework for Smartphone Games37