Hi all,
I'm very excited to announce that in addition to the previously announced features, patch 1.2 will also include coop multiplayer. I've been holding off this announcement until I had a working prototype and I'm pleased to say that's now the case. In 1.2 you'll be able to team up with an online partner and venture through the Necrospire together.
How many players can be in the same game?
Multiplayer will be limited to 2 players.
How will shops and items work?
Each player will have their own inventory/equipment, but the items that spawn in the Necrospire will be shared. To accommodate this, item spawns will be higher.
Will the difficulty change?
The Necrospire will be toughened up to account for two players.
Can different players be in different rooms?
When a player exits a room, the other player will also exit. Likewise going up a floor will cause both players to ascend.
What happens when a player dies?
If you die, your partner will also suffer the same fate!
Will pickups be shared?
Health globes, fonts etc. will be shared amongst all players.
To connect to another player you'll need to enter their IP address and port. While more involved features such as matchmaking and a server browser would certainly be nice, I feel that it would be too much work at this stage. Depending on the popularity of multiplayer I may revisit this in the future.
While this extra work means that 1.2 will take longer to release, I hope that what it adds to the game will make up for it. It's difficult to give an accurate ETA on this patch but I'll let you know when I have more details.
If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know in the comments.