I’ve been diving into game development for my indie side project recently, and I’ve hit a snag that’s honestly making me question how well I understand the process. Here’s what’s been on my mind: How much time are you all investing in building an authoritative server for your multiplayer games versus actually developing gameplay?

I always imagined that the fun part of game dev was getting lost in the creative process—designing levels, crafting characters, and making gameplay mechanics flow smoothly. But then there’s this whole other beast to tackle: setting up the server to actually support multiplayer aspects of the game. I feel like I’m spending countless hours just trying to get the server up and running right, and it’s super frustrating. I catch myself thinking, “Shouldn’t I be focusing on gameplay instead of wrestling with server code?”

I mean, I get why it’s important. An authoritative server can keep the game balanced and prevent cheating, but is it taking up way too much of our time? As someone who’s still learning the ropes, I’m curious if this is a common struggle in the industry. Are there seasoned developers out there who can share their experiences? Does this overhead really eat into your creative time, or have you found methods or tools that streamline the server-building process?

I’d love to hear from various backgrounds in game development—are you indie, working at a studio, or even just a hobbyist? Do you see this focus on backend systems as a necessary evil, or is it more of a significant roadblock that holds you back from creating the game you really want? How do you balance your time between these two important aspects? Any tips or stories would be so appreciated. I definitely want to know if others feel like they’re spending too much time on the “boring” backend stuff instead of the exciting gameplay that got them into game design in the first place!