Frost Giant announced on October 10 that one of Stormgate’s most highly anticipated features, rollback netcode, is being tested in the closed alpha. Just a few days after this, they shared some player feedback, showing just how impressive Stormgate’s rollback netcode is.
What is Rollback Netcode and How Does it Affect Stormgate?
Rollback netcode is part of the system that communicates what’s happening in a game to the player’s screen. It works by predicting what players will do and playing it out, if the system is correct then it continues as is, but if it’s incorrect, it very quickly rolls back (hence the name) and shows what actually happened.
The system can rollback very quickly, which means that regardless of if it was correct or not, the players will experience smooth gameplay the whole way.
As such, the main advantage it will provide for Stormgate is allowing players to experience fair smooth gameplay, even across large distances which would normally have lag due to high ping. With rollback netcode working, Stormgate could see players competing across continents (such as a match between European and Korean based players) with little to no delay.
Stormgate’s Rollback Netcode “ruins normal connection” For Players
Now that we have the explanation out of the way, it’s time to get excited about Stormgate’s rollback netcode testing! Alpha players have been raving about rollback netcode and Frost Giant shared some of their thoughts on twitter.
It’s all very positive, with SC2 legend PartinG praising the game for “feeling much better” while, community member Spartak managing to play from a hotel at 100ms with (almost) no issues!
The best praise of all came from a tester known as BandanaT, who claimed that Stormgate’s rollback netcode “ruined normal connection” for them, as it made the game “SO good” to play.
Suffice it to say, things are looking pretty good for Stormgate, with rollback netcode clearly having a huge impact on the user experience. As it’s the first RTS to implement rollback netcode, Stormgate has taken a monumental leap forward for the genre and raised the bar for any RTS.
