From uNet to PUN #1

Recently I created a simple multiplayer app using UNET (Unity Networking 5.x). Strictly speaking UNET is not production ready so I decided to give Photon Unity Networking (P.U.N) a try.

Time spent: approximately 2 hours

I downloaded the free PUN asset.

• Documentation 
• API

Migrating from UNET, I duplicated my UNET scene to be on the safe side. Then I created a Multiplayer object with PUN and UNET network controllers. Looks like this:

• Multiplayer
• PUN
• UNET

I'm curious to see whether I can create a hybrid setup, so that I can 'easily' switch between solutions.

The quick start doc proved to be out of date but error messages are clear and the APIs look well structured so I quickly got a connection up and running.

	using UnityEngine;
	public class PUNNetworkController : MonoBehaviour {
	void Start(){ PhotonNetwork.ConnectUsingSettings("v4.2"); }
	void OnJoinLobby(){ StartGame (); }
	void OnConnectedToMaster(){ StartGame (); }
	void StartGame(){ PhotonNetwork.JoinRandomRoom(); }
	void OnPhotonRandomJoinFailed(){ PhotonNetwork.CreateRoom("MyMatch"); }
	void OnPhotonCreateGameFailed(){ Debug.LogError ("Create game failed"); }
	void OnJoinedRoom(){ Debug.Log ("Room joined; ready to start the game"); }
	}

view raw PUNNetworkController.cs hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Note - Photon also provide a Unity client SDK for their 'Realtime' service. Don't confuse these two, notably when browsing APIs and docs.

The next step obviously is to setup a player object. Like in UNET and other similar APIs this is done via network instantiation. Here the quick start let me down a bit so I used the Paladin Studios tutorial instead.

It's kind of funny to see how my network controller is looking more and more like UNET's NetworkManager.

Easy state Sync

I wanted to replicate my initial setup with UNET so I went to shop for the TransformView. With a PhotonView and a (configured) TransformView on my Avatar, I hope to get position and rotation in sync.