[Switch] split-screen multiplayer

[Yodo]

TL;DR

Add local multiplayer/coop to the Switch.

What?

In addition to the normal "single player" and "multiplayer" options in the start menu, add a "local multiplayer" option. Selecting this option allows 2-4 players to play Factorio on the same Switch device when it is docked by using multiple controllers. The (tv) screen would be split into multiple parts for each player - like in Mario Kart for example. Kind of like running 4 clients locally, but the game state is shared (instead of just the actions being uploaded and the game state being calculated by each client).

Why?

This lets more people play Factorio, since they don't all need to buy a copy.

Why not?

It will be a lot of work to change the engine to support multiple players I think. Currently multiplayer can do calculations in "latency", and this would have to be avoided.


I had a dream where I was going to play Factorio with my brother on the Switch via local multiplayer, but when I woke up I realised this wasn't possible, which saddened me a bit.

Apologies if this has been proposed before, I couldn't find it by searching.

[BlueTemplar]

Funny how it can be hard to talk about these things due to disagreements about what the words « local multiplayer » mean : LAN and/or same PC ?

Like how there's sometimes confusion between games supporting shared/split screen and «coop». (See also : «hotseat».)

(You don't have to play MP Factorio coop.)

Last but not least : You can already kind of do it on PC.

[Dylan J. McGrann]

Yeah, nomenclature can be a little confusing. I think Nintendo has strict standards that “local multiplayer” on their systems refers to separate Switch systems communicating wirelessly with a direct connection and not using wi-fi or network. Switch actually has a specific antenna just for connecting directly with other Switches, and multiplayer that uses this connection is what is referred to as “local multiplayer” on their systems—‘local’ as in, no need for an internet connection. Games that use a network connection and no internet are still called LAN on their systems. They use the term “system multiplier” or “same-screen multiplayer” to refer to the topic of this thread & suggestion.

I would totally welcome such a feature, but it would definitely require quite a bit of work for Wube to make it happen. The game as it is has just not been set up for same-screen multiplayer. A lot of new UI would be needed and probably a ton of backend stuff too. And it’s a game where everything is already pretty small. On a big enough TV that might not be much of an issue, but just getting the scaling right would be hard for this game. I doubt Wube would do it, but it would be very cool.

[evanrinehart]

Maybe change this to "couch coop / split screen"

[Yodo]

Thanks for telling me. I've changed the thread title so its clearer. I didn't know that Switch-Switch local multiplayer existed since I don't play on the Switch much (I could have guessed, since I know the DS has it).