Due to a large amount of similar questions being posted, I've created this handy dandy FAQ section in relation to multiplayer splitscreen.

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Why does Hydroneer use Steam Remote Play?

- To summarize (and keep this FAQ as short as possible), having potentially thousands of moving objects all simulating at the same speed and the same positions for all players in a game is very hard. UE4's physics engine is non-deterministic, meaning every physics interaction could have a different outcome. This also makes it difficult to get things to line up for each player.
- Steam Remote Play allows the game to only run one iteration of the game, and send a Splitscreen view to both players. Instead of sending and receiving network calls between players, its simply just sending input commands (from a game controller) to the host, and the video feed from the host back to the connecting player.
- Is this the most ideal scenario for multiplayer? No. Is it the best option we have? Absolutely.

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If Satisfactory(or similar game) can do multiplayer, why can't Hydroneer?

- Satisfactory does not have items moving in the same why Hydroneer does. In comparison, Satisfactory uses a very small amount of simulated physics. You may notice items on conveyor belts in that game have no collision, that's due to every item on a conveyor belt being a graphical shader, not an item with its unique size/quality property like Hydroneer does.
- Satisfactory is also developed and published by an extremely large company, with many developers and lots of money to put into development, something that Hydroneer does not have.

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How does Steam Remote Play Work?

- One player hosts the game on their PC, the split-screen is then streamed to other player(s)
- Supporting 2-4 players
- Connecting player has to use a gamepad controller.
- For more info on remote play: https://store.steampowered.com/remoteplay

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...but have you tried _____?

- Yes. We've tried every viable avenue, this is simply the best solution until physics replication technology catches up to the vision of Hydroneer multiplayer.

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What are some benefits of Steam Remote Play?
- Only the host has to purchase Hydroneer
- You'll be able to see the other player's screen, helping communication.
- You'll be able to play with friends, which, from reading above you should by now understand why it'd be impossible to do multiplayer without Remote Play :)
- Without multiplayer replication code, Hydroneer is faster to develop.

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Lastly, here's a dev vlog we made around the time about announcing this new direction for multiplayer, if you're looking for any more information not listed here, this could be more helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO1Q20fUUBs