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Josh Creek
3aa0f5b9c2
Queued matchmaking had never been considered anywhere in the planning docs - not as planned work, and not even on the explicitly-deferred list. It is a launch requirement, so record the design before code. Add docs/MATCHMAKING.md covering the model change (community-server -> per-match allocation), the decision to use Steam for identity and a project-owned backend for queue/rating/allocation, what the existing server already provides (--max-matches=1 is the allocation primitive, ServerConfig, the roster, MatchState), the casual/ranked ruleset split, and the open questions - rating algorithm, team-to-individual rating, and the server cost that allocated matches reintroduce. Ranked is hard-blocked on Phase 7 Steam auth tickets: slot reclaim is keyed by display name today, and a rating on a spoofable identity is worse than no rating. Add Phase 8 to multiplayer-next.md, and correct README/CLAUDE.md/ TECH_STACK.md, which asserted no backend exists or is planned - true before this was scoped, wrong now.
3.4 KiB
3.4 KiB
Multiplayer — next work
Short, current checklist for online multiplayer. Historical design decisions,
implementation evidence, and completed work stay in
multiplayer-todo.md.
Release blockers
- Phase 4 playtest: a human playtest at roughly 100 ms RTT. Confirm that ship and ball interaction feel local and contact corrections feel like bumps rather than glitches.
- Phase 5 session: complete a real 3v3 match with a mid-match disconnect and late joiner.
- Phase 6 external check: run the exported Docker server and clients from separate machines over the internet, then play a full match. Keep this controlled-only until Steam identity is complete.
Phase 7 — Steam, identity, discovery
- Obtain the pinned GodotSteam client/server builds and Steamworks SDK
access described in
STEAM.md. - Run
make verify-steam-templateswith the custom executables and fix any custom-template failures. - Validate a two-account Steam SDR host/join using the existing explicit
NetworkManagerSteam transport. ENet direct-IP must keep passing its smoke test. - Build the Steam server browser: internet, LAN, favourites, and history.
- Add Steam auth tickets, verified Steam identity in the roster, and a persistent ban list. This fixes the slot-reclaim security issue below.
Phase 8 — casual and ranked matchmaking (1.0 launch blocker)
Design and reasoning: docs/MATCHMAKING.md. This is a
different server model from the community-server one that exists today —
players queue, a matchmaker groups them, and a server is allocated per match.
Phase 7's Steam auth tickets are a hard prerequisite: a rating attached to a
spoofable identity is worse than no rating.
- Decide the rating algorithm (Glicko-2 recommended over Elo for a small launch population) and how a team result distributes across individuals.
- Choose the backend language and hosting, and cost out allocated servers per match at expected population.
- Stand up the backend: Steam auth ticket validation via the Steamworks Web API, queue, rating store, server allocator.
- Add an assigned-roster server mode so only matched SteamIDs may claim a slot, replacing the first-come model.
- Add server-authoritative match result reporting to the backend over a channel a client cannot forge.
- Client queue UI: playlist select, estimated wait, accept/decline, connect-on-assignment, post-match rating delta.
- Casual and ranked playlist rulesets (backfill, bots, abandon penalties, arena restriction — see the comparison table in the design doc).
Known issues to resolve before public hosting
- Slot reclaim is currently keyed by display name, so someone can take a disconnected player's reserved slot. Do not expose public servers before verified Steam identity lands.
- Investigate occasional input loss during a long server stall; the existing sequence resync recovers it, but transport delivery is variable.
- Fix the remaining
_broadcast_snapshotpacket-send stderr race.
Decide after the latency playtest
- Decide whether client-only, contact-cohort shadow physics is worthwhile for the remaining prediction weakness.
Explicitly deferred
120 Hz simulation, latency-gap measurement, audio hooks, and split-screen are not part of the current multiplayer release path.