Squid Game Inspired Content
The release of Squid Game on Netflix this September saw rave reviews. The Korean drama’s intriguing concepts earned it a 93% score with critics and an 84% score with viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. The show revolves around a secret game to entertain the rich, where 456 people in financial ruin compete in a series of nearly impossible or luck based challenges. The success has spawned a number of Roblox and mobile versions of the game, complete with the red jumpsuit guards.
But one of the internet’s most well known video game programmers has made his own version of the game. Daniel W. Sooman, better known as Dani, is a YouTube content creator known for making video games off nothing more than a comment suggestion. His last major project was Muck, a multiplayer survival game made because a commenter questioned his ability to do so.
The YouTube Game Dev (Dani)
Dani’s latest project, “Crab Game,” which isn’t a rip-off of Squid Game, hit Steam October 29th. The game see’s a player going against up to 50 others in a effort to win one million dollars. There are 9 different modes and 50 maps. Crab Game also includes proximity chat, specifically to make the experience that much more entertaining. And all made by one guy, and documented on his YouTube channel in a comedic way.
The game has seen massive success in its first week of launch, seeing 40,000 concurrent players. Dani doesn’t charge money for these games, and releases them onto steam for free. Anyone can play with their friends with no pay barrier, and this is one reason the game has succeeded so suddenly. As opposed to other titles that are newly released, such as World War Z Aftermath, which has only hit a peak player count of around 6,000.
Dani’s main project he’s been working on for years is Karlson, starting as a 2D Parkour shooter, and turning into a 3D project akin to Portal and Quake. With no set release date, its become the 17th most wish-listed game on Steam. The game is both single player and multiplayer. He also made a video on Karlson’s development, in the same comedic style he is known for.
IPs Are Being Leaked in Game
Twitch and YouTube creators alike have brought in millions of views through Dani’s freely released content. However, lack of foresight seems to have lead to a potential DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack on famous streamer xQc.
When it comes to your IP address, it’s the most public information to give out. Every website (including this one), every game, every server you connect to can see your IP. Nowadays, allowing that information to be viewable to others is seen as a reason alone to avoid a program. Malicious individuals can easily (yet illegally) take down your home internet for a time from only knowing your IP address. Most services actively hide this information to avoid players running into this issue. However, Dani didn’t seem to think about this before releasing his game. He released a twitter statement on the matter.
The IP leaking appears to be due to Steam’s P2P (Peer-to-Peer) networking API. Which was a simple solution to multiplayer at the time of him developing the free game. However, this method by design is “serverless.” This means instead of lobbies being run on dedicated servers, players are connecting straight to each other. This means any player in your lobby could potentially find and attack your IP address. While this isn’t a threat to the average player, streamers are at a higher risk of being completely shutdown for the night if a malicious individual gets that information.
Fixing the Issue
There’s a lot of programming to be done to fix the patch. Dani is actively working on it. His warning to streamers was the least he could do to help the situation. He could have left the project to be played by anyone who’s willing to make that risk. His active work on a game show’s his commitment to making sure it’s an enjoyable experience. There is no direct monetary incentive for him to fix the mistake. Yet he’s willing to reprogram the entire game to make all right.
very informative