Input delay vs Rollback: The Fight For Good Netcode

"Input delay". Two words was all it took to send fans excited about a fighting game coming out in the next few days reeling in disappointment. Having been in direct contact with the company in charge , a question about "roll back" was given and with that an answer that implied, no dice.

The developer in question had already been praised about a previous game they had worked on stating that it used the same netcode but that didn't seem to matter once the announcement of input delay was said to be the games final netcode.

Now, I'm on the fence about the purchasing of this game ; one that was full of promise and a great deal of excitement within its' community. It's Funny. In the past it never really made a difference to me. When many have stated that a games netcode hinges on its' success, I've found to many examples that state otherwise.

KOF XIII, a game that has long been plagued with its' inability to create a playable netcode on the console, surprisingly is built on the same input delay technology that is used in the most popular fighting game this generation, Street Fighter IV. Though many players still argue that Street Fighter IV's netcode is inferior to many of the newer games available, it stands unaffected and still enjoyed by a great deal of its' community even to the extent of constant streams and even an online competition every once in a while.

This in large part is most likely due to the individuals whose experience has solely been based online lacking a great deal of the offline camaraderie that people like myself have experienced long before netplay even became a thing.

Even with experiencing these offline accounts, my expertise on the subject is still that of a novice as I can't completely admit to reaching an advanced level in any of the fighting games I've played this cycle. While I can somewhat gauge my online experience, the brunt of my experience has been based generally on how smooth the game looks vs how smooth the games plays.

Now some may argue that how smooth the game looks goes hand in hand with how well it plays but when just one input can determine you being in heaven or hell, well, I would think that inputs would be just a bit more important.

Because my level of play doesn't exactly scream pro, determining whether the inputs for my combos or even my defense were in fact accurately being displayed on screen is not quite something I can pinpoint even when I tend to play at the best connections I most possibly can.

With me not having reached the levels of what many would call advanced, I would think it be imperative that those who are at a higher skill level be the more qualified individuals to discern whether the netcode is "playable" but then again if I feel like the experience is in fact a "playable" one does their opinion really matter?

Tony Canon, one of the founding members of the biggest fighting game competitions on earth, decided that his opinion did in fact matter and he did this by creating his own netcode. Using the technique coined as roll back, Tony created a code that essentially allows a player to input their move, predicts an opponents input awaiting to see if it matches, and then essentially rolls back to correct the input if incorrect.

Obviously the player nor the opponent never see these complex set of events happening giving off the illusion of a somewhat seamless online match that looks smooth and plays smooth.  To the delight of many, GGPO was created and what happened in the next few years after its' inception is the on going battle that we now have when it comes to wanting good netcode today..Roll back vs Input delay.

Given that most companies are quite impartial to sharing the exact technology being used in the online games of today, some have come around and are a lot more open to not only the suggestion of the emerging technologies but are very communicative about why they think one vs the other will work better for their game.

With me being at such a low level when it comes to fighting games, I have never really been resistant about at least trying a fighting game online. I have found that some are just to input challenged to play and I've found others to be good enough to enjoy. I unfortunately cannot relate to a player who finds frustration in their inability to play at their maximum efficiency especially when they are still beating players with the handicap of input lag..smallest violins for their plight I'm afraid.

Ultimately, I want to have the best experience online that I can have and I want that experience to land as close to an offline experience as it can get because basically, I want to play the game the way it was intended to be played. If that is what rollback will offer me and many who've reached an advanced level in their skill can concur this a thousands times over, then conclusively rollback will work for me just fine but does it work for the developer..well that is the constant analysis we face and its' going to take some time before we reach a mutual agreement one that is based on player experience, player expertise, and game developer decisions.