Mirror Networking Multiplayer
Mirror (formerly UNET) is a networking library for multiplayer games. You synchronize game state across players, handle lag compensation, and maintain game consistency. Used by indie game studios and some mid-tier publishers. Senior practitioners earn 120-180k USD. Mastery takes 12-16 weeks. It's a specialized skill (only 2-5% of game devs know multiplayer networking deeply). Growing demand from indie game boom and metaverse projects. A single multiplayer game with 100K concurrent players = team of 5-10 networking engineers.
What is Mirror Networking Multiplayer
Mirror is an open-source networking library for multiplayer games in Unity. You define network objects (players, NPCs, items), mark them for synchronization, and Mirror handles distributing state changes across players. Example: when player A moves right, Mirror detects the change, sends to server, server broadcasts to all other players. Architecture options: client-server (single source of truth = server) or peer-to-peer (distributed). Client-server is more secure (server validates all actions), peer-to-peer is lower latency (direct player connection).
📋 Before you start
💰 Salary by region
| Region | Junior | Mid | Senior |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | $85k | $145k | $240k |
| UK | $55k | $95k | $160k |
| EU | $60k | $105k | $175k |
| CANADA | $95k | $160k | $265k |
❓ FAQ
What's the difference between client-server and peer-to-peer?
How do I handle latency and lag?
How many players can Mirror support?
What's the performance budget for networking?
How do I prevent cheating?
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