Developing network-based multiplayer games made easy

Tio Fabi — Fri, 15 May 2026 14:01:56 +0000

Implementing network-based multiplayer games is a challenge. At the same time, game development has always been a popular choice among beginners.

For this reason I have developed a lightweight server and framework for turn-based multiplayer games. It was primarily designed for a programming course where students work on projects in small groups. However, the use of the server is not limited to educational scenarios.

Implementing clients is easy thanks to a user-friendly API.
Adding new games is accomplished by deriving from a base class and overriding its methods.

Here is a short demo of the API usage:

from game_server_api import GameServerAPI, IllegalMove

game = GameServerAPI(server='127.0.0.1', port=4711,
                     game='Yahtzee', session='mygame', players=3)

my_id = game.join()  # start/join a session
state = game.state() # returns a dictionary

while not state['gameover']:
    # print game board here

    if my_id in state['current']: # my turn
        pos = None
        # read user input here

        try:
            game.move(position=pos) # perform a move (**kwargs)
        except IllegalMove as e:
            # something went wrong
    else:
        # opponent's turn

    state = game.state()

# end of game

I'm interested in any feedback. Is this project worth putting more work into? So far, it's been fun to work on, and I've learned a lot. But do you think there's an audience for this kind of project?

By the way, here it is. It's open source: github.com/feberts/python-game-server

DEV Community: Tio Fabi

Developing network-based multiplayer games made easy