The independent four-person team has achieved a remarkable milestone with their cooperative game. Gamble With Your Friends surpassed half a million sales on Steam since its launch on May 1. Priced at $8 ($5 on sale) and lasting between 2 and 3 hours, the title allows up to six players to share a bank account and a large debt, heading to a casino to meet a loan shark's daily quota.
The engine and technical challenge of a small team 🎮
Developed by a team of four people, the game was created with Unity, leveraging its networking system to manage matches of up to six players. The developers noted that the biggest technical challenge was synchronizing the shared state of the bank account and debt in real-time, avoiding desynchronizations that would break the cooperative experience. Additionally, they implemented a system of random events in the casino to maintain tension without needing dedicated servers, using Steamworks' peer-to-peer architecture to reduce costs.
A virtual casino that doesn't want to be a virtual casino 🃏
The developers were quick to clarify that this is not a virtual casino, as no real money is spent within the game. Sure, because nothing says it's not a casino like sharing a debt with friends while a virtual loan shark pressures you to pay the daily quota. But hey, if the only difference is that you lose time and not money, then it's an adult life simulator. At least the fun has no additional cost, even if the debt does.