This series of C# examples built for the Godot 4 engine have been developed with Godot Mono 4.0.3, but the concepts and the code to interact with the SFS2X API are valid for any version of Godot 4.x (unless otherwise noted).
Each of the tutorials in this series examine a single example, describing its objectives, offering an insight into the SmartFoxServer features it wants to highlight. This project includes all the assets required to compile and test the example (both client and — if existing — server side). If necessary, code excerpts are provided in the tutorial itself (see online documentation link below), in order to better explain the approach that was followed to implement a specific feature. At the bottom of the tutorial, additional resources are linked if available.
The tutorials have an increasing complexity, from basic server connection to a complete game with authoritative server code.
Specifically, the examples will showcase:
- basic connection with optional protocol encryption
- room management
- buddy list management
- game rooms and match-making
- authoritative server in a turn-based game
The Godot examples provided have been tested for exporting as native executables for Windows and macOS. At the time of writing this article (June 2023) Godot Mono does not yet support exporting for mobile platform or the browser.
This example lays the foundations for a lobby application to be used as a template in multiplayer game development. A lobby is a staging area which players access before joining the actual game. In a lobby, users can usually customize their profile, chat with friends, search for a game to join or launch a new game, invite friends to play and more.
This first example of the series shows the basic structure of a multiplayer game, divided into three scenes: Login, Lobby and Game. The Login scene is where the connection to SmartFoxServer is established and login performed. The Lobby scene is the core of the example, where active games can be joined as either player or spectator, or a new game can be launched. Finally, the Game scene acts as a placeholder for an actual game, but it also shows how to implement an in-game chat.
In this document we assume that you already went through the Connector tutorial. That's where the connection and login process is explained in great detail, also mentioning HTTP tunneling and protocol encryption. Those two features have not been implemented in this example and the next ones, to make the C# code lighter and focus on the lobby features implementation.
In order to setup and run the example, follow these steps:
- unzip the examples package;
- launch the Godot, click on the Import button and navigate to the Connector folder;
- click the Build button in the top right corner of the Godot editor before running the example;
The client's C# code is in the Godot project's res://scripts folder, while the SmartFoxServer 2X client API DLLs are in the res:// folder.
The code for this example is divided into multiple classes contained in the res://scripts folder. The folder contains three GlobalManager scripts which are attached to the control nodes in their respective scenes. All managers are basic Godot C# scripts implementing the _Ready, _Process and _Notification methods where needed. They also contain the listeners for the events fired by UI components (i.e. buttons), some helper methods and the listeners for SmartFoxServer's client API events.
There is also a script called GlobalManager which is a singleton class, and holds a reference to the SmartFox class instance to share the client-server connection among the project's multiple scenes.
To learn more about this template and how it is configured for establishing a connection and handling basic SmartFoxServer events, go to the online documentation and tutorials linked below.
SmartFoxServer Example Documentation
http://docs2x.smartfoxserver.com/ExamplesGodot/lobby-basics
This online documentation includes:
- Shared Connection and Login
- Joining a Game Room
- Exchanging in-game Chat Messages
and further Resource Links
http://docs2x.smartfoxserver.com/ExamplesGodot/introduction
