Steam's next big feature will make any local MP game work online - briefly
(hx) 11:06 AM CEST - Oct,10 2019
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It looks like Steam is getting a new feature offering automatic online support for local multiplayer games. Dubbed 'Remote Play Together', the feature was announced on the Steamworks website, which only devs have access to, though a couple have already shared the information publicly. According to the announcement, Remote Play Together will enter Steam beta soon, and will allow "two or more players to enjoy local multiplayer games over the internet, together." The announcement goes on: "All local multiplayer, local co-op and split-screen games will be automatically included in the Remote Play Together beta, which we plan to launch the week of October 21."
Once the beta goes live, players can pull up the Steam Overlay (shift + tab on a keyboard) while playing a Steam game with any form of "local multiplayer" support and load their friends list. Once you send a Remote Play Together invite, "it's just like handing a second controller to a friend," according to the Valve email. On a more technical level, the host's computer renders the game in question while also shouldering two other burdens: it must stream its game video to other participants, and it must juggle all incoming buttons and commands from other players. Valve's email promises that this will support a 1080p video signal sent to other players at a 60 frames-per-second refresh, though all players must have at least a 10Mbps connection for "a successful low-latency connection." For a better sense of how this will work, imagine a multiplayer game like Rocket League, which has a local split-screen mode for four players. Using Remote Play Together, the host computer will render that game's default, split-screen content, immediately stream that signal to three other machines, and process the other players' button taps as if their gamepads or keyboards were directly connected to the host. All players will see the exact same gameplay screen. This differs from normal online Rocket League, which gives every player their own dedicated screen, because Remote Play Together simulates the "everyone on the same couch" experience. |
Updated:12:47 AM CEST Jun,04
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