LEGO Voyagers: Adding Online Co-op Late

What happened

Light Brick Studio built LEGO Voyagers as a local co-op physics game, then added online co-op after the game was essentially finished. Unity's Netcode for GameObjects and Relay got them to a working stack quickly, while host-side validation and latency-hiding attachment smoothing made shared physics feel fair.

Why it worked

• Off-the-shelf networking (Netcode for GameObjects, Relay) avoided building infrastructure.
• The host was the authority, which kept physics consistent between players.
• Smoothing hid latency at the moments players notice it most: when pieces attach.

What we'd take into a client project

• Decide in the first milestone whether the game will ever be online; retrofitting networking costs far more than planning it.
• Physics-heavy co-op needs a clear authority model before content is built.
• Use managed relay and netcode services first, and only build custom infrastructure if they block you.

Related

• Game development services
• Survive: Against the Monsters, our Unity shooter for PC and mobile
• Sonic Rumble: 32 players on low-spec phones

Note: Feative Studios was not involved in this project. This breakdown summarises what the developers have shared publicly; the takeaways are our own.