Can you play Battleblock Theater with local players and online players at the same time?

Question

I and my friend loved playing Battleblock Theater on Xbox Live, and so it was pretty awesome when it turned out it was coming out on Steam soon after I no longer had access to the family Xbox 360 due to coming to college. So we both bought it and have had plenty of fun playing it, but we've run into problems with multiplayer. I play at college on the opposite side of the United States from him, so full local multiplayer isn't really an option. However he also has his wife and a good friend of his who want to play with him over where he is and although he has bought them the game, it's too much of a hassle for all of them to not only play on their computers in his house, but to also try moving them all into one of his rooms.

In our time playing we've been trying to play with him and his friend and probably his wife too on his one PC with multiple controllers, while I connect via online mode with him hosting. Are we simply messing up somewhere or is this not even a possibility?

I heard that there's no 4-player online story mode, but I've seen anyone talking about this, even for arena mode.

Answer 1

For Arena, it can support up to four players. You are able to play over the internet with any combination of local players and internet players, as long as the total number of players in the single game/match is no higher than four; two per team.
So that means, you can play with a co-op players on your side and two individuals on the internet, or two co-ops on your side (three players counting yourself) and one individual on the internet etc.

As for story mode co-op, two players are only supported; you can either play two-player co-op or get matched up (or join) with another individual on the internet.

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Answering your question

To allow people into your game just do this:

1. Do the main steps to get to the multiplayer menu (Select "Online Play" or the middle option)
2. Host a game.
   You can join match-making to find a game, but you can only do it with a co-op.
3. Add all the players that are on your side in the character setup menu.
4. Select your gamemode (ie. Story, Arena, Furbottom's Features etc.) and your room viability.
5. Invite anybody you would like to join you. (Or you set the game to Public to allow anyone to join via Matchmaking).
   If your partner, as said in your question has two other co-ops, she/he has to make the game instead (making 3 + 1 players). If both of you have a co-op player (making 2 + 2 players) then it does not matter who makes the room.

As for inviting each other - I'm not sure how inviting works when cross-platforming (between Steam and XBox). I guess the only way you could really find a game is to be lucky with matchmaking and hope that you get matched to your partner's game. Correct me if there is actually a way to invite players cross-platforms.

EDIT: It is possible for three people plus one co-op to join a single match/game too. Just invite them. Remember, as long as the number of players (including co-ops) don't exceed 4, you can invite as many people.. Ish.
So your partner plus you and your co-op plus your partner's friend (1 + 2 + 1 players) will still work.
and Obviously four parties (1 + 1 + 1 + 1 players) will work.