Nuclear Throne modder adds online co-op
"I think I should donate a bit," says Vlambeer's Rami Ismail.
Vlambeer's essential action roguelike Nuclear Throne just received online co-op in the form of an unofficial mod - albeit one embraced by the game's developer.
Entitled Nuclear Throne Together, the mod allows two players to remotely journey through the procedurally-generated wasteland together. Comparatively, the default game had co-op, but it was local only.
Online integration isn't the only thing Nuclear Throne Together adds, as it fixes various bugs with the game's original co-op mode. "Nuclear Throne never was a co-op-centric game, and thus co-op mode didn't receive enough attention, remaining ridden with various small bugs. This mod changes that, fixing pretty much every known issue, and giving coop some much-needed polish," modder Vadim "YellowAfterlife" Dyachenko explained on the Nuclear Throne Together site.
As such, this mod fixes buggy Crown Vaults, game-hanging, crashes and more.
Vlambeer was so taken with this that the studio co-founder Rami Ismail promoted Nuclear Throne Together on Facebook. "Someone went through an absurd amount and questionably legal efforts to make a Nuclear Throne mod for online co-op on Windows, and I have to admit, within what was possible - it's so very well made," Ismail said.
"I think I should donate a bit later," he added.
Ismail noted that Vlambeer gave YellowAfterlife permission to release Nuclear Throne Together under the condition that it doesn't contain the game's original files, so you still need to purchase the parent game in order for it to work.
YellowAfterlife further explained that compiling netcode for an online game is risky business and something Vlambeer has no experience with, which explains why the game didn't have this feature in the first place. "While you can try to do online multiplayer without prior experience, you are incredibly likely to mess it up on first try," YellowAfterlife said. "If you are considering getting into netcode, please do not start with your commercial game. Things are easier to break than fix."
"While Vlambeer could have tried to do online multiplayer by themselves, it would likely be regrettable for everyone," YellowAfterlife added.
Given Ismail's enthusiastic recommendation of this mod, it sounds like he agrees.
