Hey.
I somewhat fumbled the wording of this title, especially considering I really don’t know how to describe this issue with minimal text, but here I am.
I want people to be able to save and load their progress on their “Colonies” in my game. At the core of this issue comes an easy solution; let people host their own games.
Players can create and host their own games with their own save files, and provide a “Join code” to friends so they are able to remotely join.
The issue with this is accessibility. New players, or players without friends who are interested, or just no friends at all (can happen), won’t be able to play with others. Along with this, join codes could be difficult to provide without external messaging apps because of moderation, and the fact you cannot chat to randoms cross-server. I don’t want less informed players to leave because it’s a hassle to actually get started.
Okay, that doesn’t work, so why not let people create their own lobbies / servers? That’ll work! until you realize the complication of a server browser, which I do not want to do as it involves a lot of messaging between places, and when I did attempt it, it’s a nightmare.
I’ve got no clue what to do about this, and it’s plagueing my ability to even start working on the important aspects of my game.
Any help is appreciated, thanks.