A Testbed for P2P Gaming Using Time Warp

Peer-to-peer based gaming is a new paradigm for distributed multiplayer online gaming that has attracted attention in the last years. It is known that P2P based topologies offer good scaling properties and mitigate unfairness otherwise observed for peers being far away and thus having large network lags. However, removing inconsistencies for high paced action games like FPS or tank battle games requires the implementation of a Time Warp-like mechanism, which itself may hinder gameplay for high lags. In this paper we present a tank battle game named Panzer Battalion. Created from scratch, this game follows the P2P approach and implements Time Warp for removing inconsistencies. Panzer Battalion is meant as a testbed for creating rollbacks and understanding, how Time Warp rollbacks depend on network lag, and how gameplay is altered by them.