Adding online multiplayer to a game that doesn't have it. Opinions?

[skeer]

I have a good bit of multiplayer games that only work on one PC in split screen mode. I have two games I want to try, but I didn't know how people feel about the work around involved in getting them working. The first game is Kirby Air Ride, a game made originally for the Gamecube. I can run it via emulation on my PC, and i do own the original disk if it matters. The other game is on Steam and is called Tales of Zestiria. It never had online or lan added, probably because not many people would want it.

I think I know of a way to get it working via Tunngle and Steam In-home streaming. A player and I would start up Tunngle so we have a virtual LAN. Next, we would log into the same steam account (mine). I would run said game on my PC, while the other player streams the game via Steam. The controllers would work on both my and their PC, at least according to my test attempt.

My question is if any of you would feel comfortable doing this? Fully for it, fully against it, only if you own a copy of the game, depends, or any other opinions? Can you explain why you feel that way too? Thanks for your time, hope to hear from you!

[ccgr]

Don't own either game, sounds like quite the endeavor though

[skeer]

It would require a good bit of work, but a lot easier than the alternative of reworking code or writing specialty software

Technically you don't need a copy of the game to play, but if having one makes you feel better, I can try getting Tales of Zestiria from someone who got the humble namco bundle

I doubt I can find someone willing to play Tales of Zestiria multiplayer, mostly because the game focuses on Player 1 most of the time and it's a pretty long game. I might stand a chance on Kirby Air Ride though, the long matches usually last 10 minutes max.

If anyone is interested, let me know.

[Kwan]

As far as I understood, when you stream a game on Steam, it displays an exact duplicate of the instance of the game on both screens. This wouldn't allow for multiplayer using the same copy of the game, as you would just be following one character's viewpoint. Correct me if I'm wrong; if you do get this to work, I'd be interested to know how.

[skeer]

You've got it right mostly, this is for games that include split screen or some form of multiplayer that works on one shared screen. My screen and the other person's screen will both be identical, we both see the exact same thing, just control different characters.

Tales of Zestiria would be a bit tricky, because player 1 controls movement on the map and exploration, which means player 2 might not have stuff to do every so often. But most other multiplayer games should work fine


Edit: Tunggle doesn't work for Linux, I might need to look for an alternative. If I remember right, team viewer can also do VPN, just need to research.

[Kwan]

You've got it right mostly, this is for games that include split screen or some form of multiplayer that works on one shared screen. My screen and the other person's screen will both be identical, we both see the exact same thing, just control different characters.

Tales of Zestiria would be a bit tricky, because player 1 controls movement on the map and exploration, which means player 2 might not have stuff to do every so often. But most other multiplayer games should work fine


Edit: Tunggle doesn't work for Linux, I might need to look for an alternative. If I remember right, team viewer can also do VPN, just need to research.

Ah, I missed the part about split-screen. I do see how this could work now. Neat idea!