Do I need more than one copy for LAN?

[jcdenton]

I wanted to try this out co-op with my wife over LAN. Will that work with one copy? I was thinking about buying it but I don't want to have to spring for two copies when she may not even like it at all.

[RCIX]

In the prereleases at least, there's a 3 hour time limit in the demo for multiplayer games so if that's enough time you should go that way. X (x4000, AKA Chris(topher Park), the guy that makes the game) stated his preference in another thread (don't recall which) that he would really rather that people not do that. You can always save your games, and do two trials or more if she needs more time to decide!

[Fiskbit]

Hi, jcdenton, and thanks for your interest! While technically it's against the license agreement to do this, the game lacks DRM to police you in this manner. Chris Park (x4000, the Arcen Games head) has written about this topic before in a few posts, located here and here, if you care to read them for a more in-depth response that's straight from the horse's mouth. The basic jist, though, is that we ask users not to use multiple copies of their game simultaneously, which rules out multiplayer play using a single key. However, as said before, we're not going to police you and we trust you to "do the right thing", as Chris put it.

If you're okay with using the current beta versions (which are likely to be in pretty solid shape, but may have bugs here or there; I'm not aware of anything particularly major in the current beta), prerelease 2.001ZE is out, which features a longer trial time than the current official version (2.0) that is available on our and our distribution partners' web sites. Trial time there is 3 hours per game, as opposed to the 1 hour limit per game in version 2.0, which should be plenty to figure out if this game clicks for someone. Furthermore, I recommend that everyone starting AI War take a look at the tutorials to try to figure out the game. The intermediate tutorial (a miniature campaign with some useful hints for helping the player through) has no time limit in the trial version of the game, so that could be a good way of helping her learn the game and gauging if she'd like it.

Finally, if you'd like to take the chance on a full version (though, frankly, I think the 3 hour trial should be enough to see if it's right for her), AI War is also available at a 50% discount on Steam right now for just $9.99, so the barrier to entry is especially low at the moment.

I'm sure Chris will chime in later today with more thoughts of his own, especially since he's also a co-op gamer who enjoys playing games with his wife, but I hope this is helpful for now.

Thanks for posting, and I hope this was helpful!

[x4000]

I'd chime in, but pretty much Fiskbit has hit all the major points.  The thinking at the moment is that the 1 full copy + 1 trial copy (with 3 hours of trial in the prereleases) is enough to get people into the game to really know if they want to keep playing.  If your wife wants to play more than 3 hours of the game, most likely she's hooked.  If she's not into it, I doubt you'd ever reach the 3 hour mark, anyway.  I was really surprised that my own wife got into the game (so was she), so I hope yours enjoys it as much.    Thanks for your support of the game!

[Trurl]

x4000, why didn't you add a check to the game that would prevent multiple people joining a multiplayer game with the same CD key? This wouldn't require any "phoning home", since the game host could do the checking. If this seems to draconian, then you could just put up a warning message saying something like "Joe and Bob are using the same CD key. Please purchase a copy of AI War for each person.", but then allow the game to continue.

BTW, awesome game. Me and 2 of my friends just bought copies through Steam and are enjoying playing together. There is so much game there, that I feel a little guilty only paying $10 for it. I'll definitely be buying the expansion pack when it comes out.

Edit: Oh, and at the risk of derailing this thread, nice job on the network code. We had a little trouble getting our first game going, but once I got my firewall configured right, it has worked flawlessly. The best thing is that AI War only uses a single configurable UDP port. As a network programmer, I've never understood why some games require a half dozen ports... it always struck me as sloppy and a sign that the developers didn't really understand network programming.

Edit edit: changed the number of friends who bought through Steam from 3 to 2. Not sure where my other friend bought it from. 

[Mikus]

Correction Trurl, I did not buy my copy from Steam

Another thing about the network code that really impressed me the other night was, I accidentally turned off my wireless controller on my laptop in the middle of hosting a game.  All it did was, everyone paused and when I came back on the network, the game re-synced and we just continued.  Good stuff.  I always knew that Enterprise developers > your average Game developer, x4000.   

[Volatar]

The best thing is that AI War only uses a single configurable UDP port. As a network programmer, I've never understood why some games require a half dozen ports... it always struck me as sloppy and a sign that the developers didn't really understand network programming.

Whats even worse is when the developers do not DOCUMENT the ports they use. I HATE IT!

I might be able to get Ventrilo or Xfire voice or BYOND to work if I just knew what ports they all used!

[x4000]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.   Usually all I get is griping when it comes to stuff like network code (given that it's the rare edge cases where something doesn't go right that someone thinks to comment).  So, it's really much appreciated that you noticed and took the time to comment!

I might do something of a CD key check at some point in multiplayer games (no central server, just requiring a unique key for each player), but the main limiting thing there is that if you are playing online with strangers, uploading your license key to the host is maybe not the best thing since that can then be harvested by a moderately skilled hacker.  Also, I guess I'm just not that inclined to do anything that DRM-ish, instead just trusting to the honor system for the most part.  If I put in a validation of that sort, all non-casual pirates would then just move to a cracked version that hacks that out.  I'd rather people pirate serial numbers than cracked copies if they must pirate, since they have less likelihood of getting some malware on their machine that way.  Ah well, there's never a perfect solution out there, I pretty much have to rely on people's better natures in any event.

[Spikey00]

You're far too kind, Chris.  =\

[x4000]

You're far too kind, Chris.  =\

Well, it's also a matter of practicality.  Even if I wanted to be as greedy as possible, I simply don't see where DRM makes any sense there, since it simply just doesn't work.