Multiplayer LAN play using spawn copies?

Dear Uber,

GREAT JOB on the release of the offline server. Gameplay is smoother, faster, and exponentially more enjoyable with the bandwidth handicap removed. That being said, one major bit of functionality, for me, is missing.

After several searches I have found no one asking about using shared launches for LAN play.

I have friends who are not big enough fans of the genre to go out and purchase their own copy of Planetary Annihilation just for when we get together for a friendly LAN Game. I want to be able to run multiple copies of the game for local matches.

We need something like what Diablo II, War Craft, and Star Craft had. You could run a spawn copy of the games for LAN play. It has also been done on several DS games. these games allowed a player to do a spawn launch of one copy of a game so that multiple players could share in the fun without having to own their own copy of the game.

I may have been mistaken, but when I was looking at Offline LAN play I was expecting this type of functionality.

Before you say it, I know that the majority of games released in the last 15 years, that supported local LAN play, would require each player to have their own copy of a game to play locally. However, just because the majority of developers in that time period were far more interested in profit than value, does not mean it was the best way to go. Using spawn launches is far more appealing to me, and, IMHO, adds an incredible amount of value to a game purchase.

Is this functionality going to be rolled out, or not? I would be very disappointed if it is going to be left out.

The only true way to know is to just simply try it. I'm thinking you might run into difficulties when it comes to user names/player names. unless all copies are fine with 3 names being the same for example... I would only suggest this if you have a LOT of RAM mind you.

Yep, you can do that now since the game is DRM free.

Yeah, you just copy the folder, run pa.exe and .. profit!

sweet !!!

Really only one person in a LAN game needs a licensed copy? I never thought I would see that feature again. Now we can do some legit *** kicking of people who don't have there own copy to practice with, I un mean convince them to buy the game to practice with.

This game might not have been successfully kickstarted if Uber hadn't promised that it would be DRM-free. We have been waiting for this for a long time and it's finally here!

Yup, that's how LAN works. Welcome to the future.

DRM free means there is nothing stopping you from pirating copies not that the license and game supports LAN only copies for free if we can get Uber to fully support it and still make a good profit on it the glory days of gaming are on the way back.

As far as I remember last time I seen @garat answering this question he said that Uber obviously want each player to have license of the game.

Game is DRM-free now so nothing will stop you from doing so ever, but I pretty sure that license terms would be strict about that.

Erm...:


Also, it takes your name from the Uber ID field in the main menu. You don't need to login or provide a password. Don't forget to set the lobby to "public" though.

Is my sarcasm indicator broken or you just got out of scale?

And indeed time for happy PA lanning is about to come. But who i am kidding, we always get to fast to drunk to play on lan party.

DRM
Digital rights management (DRM) is a systematic approach to copyright protection for digital media. The purpose of DRM is to prevent unauthorized redistribution of digital media and restrict the ways consumers can copy content they've purchased.

Essentially things, having to sign in to play are DRM. Steam is technically DRM, even with offline mode, because you still need a profile to play. You often can't run the games by their .exe alone. We are no longer restricted by DRM and so can redistribute it however we want to friends, copying the game to a disc and handing it over.

Now, you cannot play on Playfab servers without signing in though, as it should be.

I think you point of view about DRM-free is wrong. DRM is some kind of software protection, just to avoid unauthorized use by software means.
But that have nothing to do with EULA. If you buy the game, I'm pretty sure they won't allow you to distribute to your friends for free, the End User License Agreement is the legal stuff that says what can and cannot do with the licensed software. DRM is just to enforce the EULA, DRM isn't a legal agreement or anything, just software protection.

DRM-free is to be able to copy to your laptop, or play without internet, or to have privacy of how,when and where do you play a game, not to pirate it!

DRM doesn't necassarily mean you can't play offline. Steam is a form of DRM, because you need to have signed in first, to play your games. To play offline Steam must validate that you've signed in before. (Essentially you need to sign in then save it to your system)

What I put at the top of my post is the definition of DRM, I wasn't talking about the EULA, I was talking about things that limit you playing freely. Anything that stops you from playing by a fresh copy is DRM, I'd even go to say CD keys are a form of DRM.