I'm currently nearing completion of a bomberman game I've been working on, and I was thinking if I included online multiplayer before getting feedback more people would probably try it if they could play other forumites. However I have no experience in network programming nor do I have any idea what it involves. My question is how long would it take to get the most basic online multiplayer running? Does the game need to be programmed from the start to take into account things like synchronising online and stuff? Ordinarily I would research it myself but without any internet this summer I haven't got much time available... I will try to save some tutorials to view offline but I'd rather know now if it will be harder than I expect, so I can finish the game and release it first without network multiplayer.

To be honest, if a game is going to be multiplayer over a network, it's generally best to have designed from the beginning with that in mind, especially for a realtime game like Bomberman.

If you still want to get started with network programming we have a number of articles on the topic in our Multiplayer and Networking section of the articles section.

I just ordered this book

TCP/IP Sockets in C# : Practical Guide for Programmers (The Practical Guides)
by David Makofske, Michael J. Donahoo, Kenneth L. Calvert "Millions of computers all over the world are now connected to the worldwide network known as the Internet..." (more)
SIPs: callback state object, input network stream, string host name, private const int, state object reference (more)
CAPs: Basic Sockets, Selected Methods, Selected Properties, Implementing Wire Formats, Socket Shutdown (more)




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Edition: Paperback



it seems like a good start and got good reviews

You could also try the resources found in the Forum FAQ.