archipelago.gg

What is Archipelago?

Archipelago is a cross-game randomizer that turns several games into one shared multiplayer session. Instead of each player randomizing a game alone, the system shuffles items across everyone's games: an item you need might be sitting in a friend's world, and an item they need might be in yours. The official site describes it as a "cross-game modification system" that builds "a single unified multi-player game" from multiple randomized games.

What that actually means in play

• You and other players each pick a supported game and generate a "slot" in the same multiworld.
• Item locations in every game are filled with items from the whole pool, not just your own game.
• Progress depends on cooperation: you may have to wait for someone else to find your key item, and they may need something from you.
• The result is a shared seed that everyone plays simultaneously, often with voice chat and tracking tools.

Who it suits

It fits players who already know at least one supported game well enough to handle shuffled logic, and who enjoy coordination over solo speed. It is less suited to someone wanting a drop-in single-player randomizer with no scheduling, since a multiworld run needs other people, a generated seed, and a host.

Where to start

Go to the site's Supported Games list to check whether a game you know is included, then read Setup Guides for that game and the general Start Playing instructions. Generate a game, host it, and invite players. The homepage's activity counter is a rough signal of how active the community is.

Archipelago is a community project rather than a commercial product, so expect community-written guides and Discord support rather than official customer service.

How do I set up a multiworld game with my friends?

Archipelago is a cross-game randomizer that turns several players' separate game files into one shared multiworld: items you need may be sitting in a friend's game, and vice versa. Setting one up is mostly a coordination task, not a technical one.

The short version

1. Each player picks a game and generates a settings file (a "YAML") describing their options.
2. One person collects everyone's YAMLs and generates the multiworld, which produces a patch file per player.
3. That same person hosts the resulting multiworld; everyone else connects to it from their own game client.
4. Players patch their own game with their file, connect, and play — sending and receiving items as checks are completed.

Archipelago's own site lays this out as Generate Game for the organizer and Host Game for running the session, with per-game Setup Guides for the client side. Start at Archipelago for the guides and the game list.

What each person actually does

The organizer needs the most patience: mismatched YAML names, wrong game versions, or a client that won't connect are the usual failure points, and they all surface on the organizer's side first.

Practical decisions before you start

• Pick games everyone can actually finish. A multiworld stalls if one player can't progress, because their items may be the ones everyone else is waiting on.
• Agree on difficulty and item-placement settings up front. Changing options after generation means regenerating and restarting.
• Decide how you'll communicate. Voice chat plus a way to share item locations matters more than any tool setting.
• Expect a long session. Multiworlds run far longer than solo randomizers, so plan for multiple sittings if your group is large.

A useful next step: have each player read the setup guide for their chosen game before the organizer generates anything. Most first-attempt problems come from someone discovering mid-session that their client needs a specific emulator, ROM version or patch step.

Which games are supported for randomization?

Archipelago doesn't randomize a fixed, built-in list of games. Its supported games are the titles for which the community has written "worlds"—integration code that hooks a game's items and progression into the multiworld system. The current roster lives on the Supported Games page, and it changes as new worlds are added or updated.

Archipelago

How to tell whether your game works

• Check the Supported Games page first. It lists the games Archipelago can randomize and links to per-game setup guides.
• Look for a setup guide. A game with a guide usually has a stable, documented world. Games without one may still be playable, but expect rougher edges.
• Check what version or platform is required. Many worlds target a specific release, region, or emulator setup, so the guide matters more than the game title alone.
• Consider whether the game has a randomizer community. Worlds tend to be most polished for games that already had standalone randomizers, since the logic and item pools are better understood.

A practical example

Suppose you want to play a multiworld with three friends. You each pick a game from the supported list, run the generator to produce a seed, and then host it. During play, items you need may be sitting in a friend's game, so you'll rely on each other to make progress. That cross-game dependency is the whole point of the system, and it only works if every chosen game has a working world.

Decision criterion

If your favorite game isn't listed, it isn't supported yet—no amount of configuration will add it. In that case, either pick a game that is listed or look into whether a world is in development. If it is listed, open its setup guide before committing, because the guide tells you the exact version and steps you'll need.

How does item sharing between different games work?

Archipelago treats a group of game sessions as one shared pool of items rather than as separate games that occasionally trade. Each player runs their own copy of a randomized game, but the randomization is coordinated: items that would normally appear in your own world can instead be placed in someone else's. The result is a single multiworld where progress in one game depends on finds in another.

Archipelago

H3 How the sharing actually works

• One seed, many games. A generation step decides where every item goes across all participating games at once, so the placement is fixed and consistent for everyone from the start.
• Cross-game placement. An item you need for your game may sit in a chest, check or reward in a friend's game. They may need something from yours.
• Checks send items out. When a player collects a check, the item it contains is delivered to whoever's game it belongs to, not necessarily the person who found it.
• Your game only accepts its own items. You will see and use items belonging to your game; items belonging to others are routed to them automatically.
• Completion is individual, progress is collective. You finish when your own game's goal is met, but reaching it usually requires the group to keep finding and sending items.

H3 What this means in practice

A simple scenario: you are playing a game where a key item is required to leave the starting area. In a solo randomizer you would find it somewhere in your own world. In a multiworld, it might be sitting in another player's game, so you are blocked until they reach the check that contains it. Meanwhile, an item they need may be in your world, which gives you a reason to keep playing and sending things onward.

The practical consequences:

• Communication matters. Letting people know what you are waiting on, and what you have sent, is often more useful than playing fast.
• Early game can feel slow. If your critical items are scattered across other games, your own progress may stall until others catch up.
• Late game can flood. Once several players clear their checks, items can arrive in bursts, unlocking a lot at once.
• Group size changes the feel. More players mean more places for your items to hide, and more people depending on you.

H3 Deciding whether it suits you

Choose a multiworld if you enjoy coordination, patience and the social side of randomizers, and you have a group who will actually finish. Prefer a solo randomizer if you want your progress to depend only on your own play, or if you dislike waiting on others.

A useful next step is to look at the supported games and setup guides, then start with a small group of two or three players on games everyone already knows. Small groups keep the dependency chains short and make it easier to see how items move between worlds before you scale up.

What do I need to host a game on Archipelago?

You need four things to host an Archipelago game: a supported game (or several), the Archipelago client/software installed, a configuration file (a YAML) for each player's game, and a way for everyone to connect — usually the built-in hosting service at Archipelago or your own machine.

The practical checklist

1. Pick supported games. Each player chooses a game from the supported list. Check that list before planning anything, since unlisted games cannot be included.
2. Collect one YAML per player. Each player generates their own configuration file for their chosen game, setting difficulty and randomization options. The host gathers all of them.
3. Generate the multiworld. The host runs the Archipelago generator on the collected YAMLs. This produces a patch file or seed that each player applies to their own game.
4. Host the server. Either use the web hosting option on the official site or run the server locally and share the connection address with players.
5. Distribute patches and the room details. Each player needs their own patch plus the server address and slot name so they can connect.

Hosting on the website vs. self-hosting

A concrete scenario

Say three friends want to randomize Super Metroid, A Link to the Past, and Minecraft. Each writes a YAML for their own game, one person collects all three, generates the multiworld, and hosts it. Each player then applies their patch and connects using their slot name. If one friend can't finish a session, the server can stay up so others keep playing — which is why self-hosting or a persistent room matters for longer games.

Decision criterion

If this is your first multiworld and everyone is on the same schedule, start with the website's hosting flow — it removes the networking work. Move to self-hosting once you want version control, custom ports, or a room that stays up on your own terms.

How can I contribute user content to the project?

Contribute by generating and sharing content through the tools Archipelago already provides, rather than by submitting files to a central repository.

What "user content" means here

On Archipelago, user content is the games, setups and multiworld sessions players create with the project's tooling. The site lists Generate Game, Host Game and User Content as first-class entry points, alongside Supported Games, Setup Guides and an F.A.Q. That structure tells you where contribution happens: you build a game or a session, then make it available to other players.

The practical path

1. Check Supported Games and Setup Guides first — if your game is already covered, improve the experience by writing a guide rather than duplicating work.
2. Use Generate Game to produce a multiworld from your chosen games and settings.
3. Use Host Game to run it for a group, which is the form most players actually consume.
4. Share your results, settings and seeds with the community, and discuss them on the project's Discord, which the site links directly.

Why hosting counts as contributing

The site's own activity figures — tens of thousands of games generated and hosted in a recent seven-day window — show that hosting is the main way content reaches people. A well-chosen game list and sensible settings can be more valuable to the community than another half-finished addition.

A realistic scenario

Suppose you enjoy a game that is supported but has thin documentation. You generate a multiworld with it, host a session for four friends, and note which settings produced a fair, completable run. Posting those settings and your observations gives the next player a starting point that no amount of source code browsing provides.

Decision criterion

If your goal is to help other players, start with guides and hosted sessions. If your goal is to extend what the system can do technically, look at the project's source and community channels instead. The F.A.Q. and Discord are the fastest way to learn which of the two the maintainers currently want most.