Create searchable lobbies

This article explains how to create lobbies that are searchable.

To make a lobby searchable, its access policy must either be Public or Friends. Lobbies with a Private access policy will not be joinable from search queries and must be joined via invites. It's common to configure this access policy when initially creating the lobby.

Once a lobby's access policy is set correctly, other players can search for it using Find lobbies.

Additionally, the owner of the lobby may define custom search properties which other players can use when searching for lobbies to find more specific results.

To learn more, see Find lobbies and Join lobbies.

Example setting search properties using Lobby and Matchmaking SDK

In this example, the lobby created has the following custom search properties defined.

  • Game mode = "DeathMatch"
  • Competition style = "Ranked"
  • Skill level = Skill level of the person who created the lobby
static PFMultiplayerHandle g_pfmHandle; // initialized elsewhere

#define PFLOBBY_SEARCH_KEY_GAME_MODE "string_key1"
#define PFLOBBY_SEARCH_KEY_COMPETITION_STYLE "string_key2"
#define PFLOBBY_SEARCH_KEY_SKILL "number_key1"

#define GAME_MODE_DEATH_MATCH "DeathMatch"
#define COMPETITION_STYLE_RANKED "Ranked"

PFEntityKey m_localUser;
namespace MyGame {
    uint32_t GetPlayerSkill(); // defined elsewhere
}

void CreateLobbyWithSearchProperties()
{
    // Initialize the lobby configuration with search properties
    std::string playerSkill = std::to_string(MyGame::GetPlayerSkill());

    const char* searchPropertyKeys[] = {
        PFLOBBY_SEARCH_KEY_GAME_MODE,
        PFLOBBY_SEARCH_KEY_COMPETITION_STYLE,
        PFLOBBY_SEARCH_KEY_SKILL,
    };

    const char* searchPropertyValues[_countof(searchPropertyKeys)] = {
        GAME_MODE_DEATH_MATCH,
        COMPETITION_STYLE_RANKED,
        playerSkill.c_str(),
    };

    PFLobbyCreateConfiguration lobbyConfiguration{};
    lobbyConfiguration.maxMemberCount = 16;
    lobbyConfiguration.searchPropertyCount = _countof(searchPropertyKeys);
    lobbyConfiguration.searchPropertyKeys = searchPropertyKeys;
    lobbyConfiguration.searchPropertyValues = searchPropertyValues;

    // Initialize an empty join configuration. This can be optionally initialized with the creator's member properties 
    PFLobbyJoinConfiguration creatorMemberConfiguration{};
    creatorMemberConfiguration.memberPropertyCount = 0;

    // Create and join the lobby
    PFLobbyHandle lobby;
    HRESULT hr = PFMultiplayerCreateAndJoinLobby(
        g_pfmHandle,
        &m_localUser,
        &lobbyConfiguration,
        &creatorMemberConfiguration,
        nullptr,
        &lobby);
}

See also