Understanding data exchange and channels

A chat system is essentially a chronological stack of messages that we order based on what players send to each other. Since this system needs a coherent chronological order, we need to understand how to prevent data from getting mixed and disorganized as it gets transmitted throughout the network. We also need to prevent this ordering from impacting other systems and components. To do that, we are going to learn how we can send packets reliably and how we can use multiple channels for data exchange.

Reliable and unreliable packets

Godot Engine’s Network API allows for reliable and unreliable data exchange between peers. The @rpc annotation provides a way to transmit data securely between clients and the server using different transport protocols such as UDP and TCP. Reliable data exchange ensures that data is delivered in order and is not lost in transit, making it ideal for crucial data such as chat messages. Unreliable data exchange...