Matchmaking with bots for real-time multiplayer in Godot

I’m making a simple browser-based multiplayer game in Godot. So far it’s set up so that players may login then join via Nakama’s matchmaking. I need the option to add bots if the player has been waiting for a match for too long and am unclear on the best approach for this.

Ideally I’d want to create the bot in Godot and avoid a server-side implementation since I’ll need to handle things like 2D movement with collisions. One option I’ve come across is to assign a bot to a player at the start of the match so that the bot is implemented on the game level. Whenever the player sends an update it also sends information about the bot it’s controlling. This seems like a good fit but I’d be interested in knowing some of the pros and cons.

What are best practices for this kind of bot functionality? Is it uncommon to have bots for a non-authoritative game? How can I implement bots such that I can program the bot in Godot.

I’m new to thinking about multiplayer games so apologies if any of this is unclear. Thanks in advance.

Hello @haztro,

You are going in a good direction. Assigning a bot to a player maybe a bit tricky but you could make the host the one responsible for all bots.