Explore Netcode for GameObjects
Netcode for GameObjects is a first-party, mid-level networking library built for the Unity game engine. It’s primarily targeted at making it easier to create small scale cooperative games. Developers can rely on this foundational release to keep their simulations synchronized with support for scene management, animation, physics, and more.
Install in the Unity Editor or explore the source code on GitHub.
Detect early networking challenges
Multiplayer game devs require a specialized set of tools to track, identify, and debug as early as possible challenges related to networking issues.
The Multiplayer Tools 1.0 release includes two new and powerful networking tools:
- Runtime Network Stats Monitor: Track network variables and RPC calls across the server and connected clients during game tests and in stand-alone builds
- Network Profiler: See a detailed breakdown of network objects and messages sent across all connected players to help identify package drops and latency issues
Dive into networking code with our multiplayer samples
Learn more about using Netcode for GameObjects in your game development by exploring the code of our multiplayer samples.
Galactic Kittens is a 2D co-op space adventure sample – built with Netcode for GameObjects – designed to help you learn how to apply and synchronize sprite animations, particle effects, and basic 2D movement.
Boss Room is a 3D small scale cooperative game sample project – built with Netcode for GameObjects, Lobby, and Relay – designed to help you explore the concepts and patterns behind creating a multiplayer game.
Get fine-grain control of the transport layer
Unity Transport Package is a netcode-agnostic library that provides a low-level network layer focused on performance and reliability – a modern, secure, and portable transport library that extends the conventional UDP with advanced features such as support for the Unity Relay service, UnityTLS, and pipelines among others.
Both Netcode for GameObjects and Netcode for Entities rely by default on UTP as a transport. However, developers looking to keep fine-grain control over the network can use UTP as a standalone library.
Learn and create within a community
Someone once said that it’s dangerous to go alone – so we thought you should take this! Dive into our documentation for technical references and content to get started with networking.
Plus, our team is active on the Multiplayer forum, Discord, and GitHub if you have any questions.
Level up your game with Unity Gaming Services
Build your small-scale cooperative game with Netcode for GameObjects and connect your players with Relay and Lobby.
Plus, access more Unity solutions available to build, manage, and grow your game – battle-tested by the biggest names in gaming.
“We already selected Unity as our game engine and having another key system – the networking – provided by Unity is invaluable.”
“Unity's team did a great job at stabilizing former MLAPI to lay the foundations to build a complete and extensible networking framework for their engine. NGO is a real open source development success story.”
Learn more about multiplayer networking
The 8 factors of multiplayer game development
In this guide, we cover the eight factors of multiplayer game development that you need to consider for creating and operating your next multiplayer title.
Enter the Boss Room
Explore Unity’s Netcode for GameObjects, Relay, and the underlying patterns of a multiplayer game in our small scale cooperative RPG Boss Room.
Networking small-scale cooperative games
Discover how Breakwaters, an upcoming indie game, chose their model so you can learn how to approach networking a small-scale cooperative game.
Netcode Fact or Fiction
The term “netcode” can come with a bad rap from players – it’s often what’s blamed for latency and bad multiplayer experiences. Learn fact from fiction in this blog that tackles common netcode misconceptions.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, the current version of Netcode for GameObjects supports a host/listen-server model where one client acts as the host and other clients connect to it. Learn more here.
The current version of Netcode for GameObjects supports most platforms except WebGL. The networking framework we’re building based on Netcode for GameObjects will eventually support all major Unity supported platforms. Feel free to review our roadmap to vote on or share your ideas here.
Netcode for GameObjects is production ready as of Sept 20, 2022.
Netcode for GameObjects is a key building block of what will become Unity’s first-party GameObjects multiplayer networking framework. Our plan of record is to keep this new framework as a separate package from the core engine.
Netcode for GameObjects will be available in versions 2020.3, 2021.3, 2022.1, and 2022.2
NGO and UTP have seamless integration with Unity Relay. For Game Server Hosting (Multiplay), the process to get them setup together is currently manual – however, our team is currently working on making this DGS workflow optimal and seamless.
Absolutely, both in the SDK and the docs. We’re excited to be able to share this journey with the community and we will also make other different flavors of contributions available, for instance, RFC processes to discuss design decisions.
Netcode for GameObjects supports a dedicated game server model. To create a dedicated game server with Netcode for GameObjects, you can build your project as a server build and then upload that build to a game server hosting service or your own server hardware.
Our documentation site is full of learning resources and articles to help you get started. If you have any other questions, you can ask our team directly on Discord or the Netcode for GameObjects forum.