Josh Creek
9f28c02488
Adds the §6.1 state machine, its broadcast, and the client side that follows it. Physics, freezing and input are deliberately NOT gated on state yet - 5.3 and 5.4 own freeze/unfreeze at kickoff and goal, and doing it here would change the conditions every Phase 4 prediction gate was measured under. scripts/match_state.gd holds the enum and transition table as pure data with no scene or RPC dependency, so the table is checked exhaustively rather than by example: every state reachable, every state has an exit, no self-transitions, abort-to-LOBBY from anywhere per §6.4, illegal shortcuts rejected, unknown values refused rather than coerced. The enum values are the wire format - match_state has been a u8 in the snapshot header since §2.4 - so a test pins them; only append, never renumber. The server validates every transition and push_errors an illegal one rather than following it. Clients deliberately do NOT enforce the table: authoritative state must be accepted, and a late joiner legitimately jumps straight to PLAYING. Two channels carry the state. state_change (reliable, channel 0) is prompt and carries an absolute at_tick, never a duration. The snapshot's match_state byte is the catch-up path for a client not yet sent a transition - a late joiner, or the window between scene load and the first RPC. The byte needs a tick guard, and this was found the hard way. Snapshots are unreliable_ordered on channel 2 and ordering holds only within a channel, so a state_change for tick N routinely arrives before an in-flight snapshot from tick N-2. Without the guard the client applies the new state then gets dragged back by the older byte, oscillating on every transition - observed directly as LOADING -> WARMUP -> LOBBY -> PLAYING -> LOBBY while running a deliberately-broken-byte control. Only a byte at least as new as match_state_since_tick is accepted. WARMUP_TICKS/GOAL_PAUSE_TICKS are honest placeholders so 5.1 drives real transitions to verify against; 5.3 and 5.4 replace them. The server also leaves LOADING immediately rather than waiting for scene_ready, which does not exist yet. New smoke flag --exercise-match-state, passed to both roles: the host forces a goal to drive a GOAL_PAUSE cycle, the client records the sequence and asserts every consecutive pair is legal, that ticks are monotonic, and that the wire byte agrees with its own state. Observed LOADING -> WARMUP -> PLAYING -> GOAL_PAUSE -> WARMUP with tick deltas matching the configured durations exactly. Verified against a control: hardcoding the snapshot byte back to 0 fails both the byte assertion and the transition-legality assertion. The byte is asserted separately from the RPC precisely because everything else in the check is RPC-driven and would pass with a dead byte - the same gap that hid the Phase 4 label bug (gotcha 47). Regression: 81 unit tests; 60s free-flight LAN (p99 0.148m, 0 hard snaps, marker 0/3364); transition gate 0.00%; ball contact; two-bot CI.
Cosmic Clash
In "Cosmic Clash," the heart-pounding action takes place in variable gravity environments where vehicles hover just above the ground. In this thrilling spiritual successor to Rocket League, players engage in high-speed, gravity-defying matches set in the far reaches of space. Each pitch is situated in a unique environment or planet, offering breathtaking vistas and challenging terrain. But instead of cars, competitors pilot rocket-powered ships, each equipped with its own set of customisable features and special abilities.
Ships hover just above the ground, defying the laws of physics and adding an extra layer of intensity to the gameplay. With no friction to hold them back, players must master the art of control as they glide effortlessly across the pitch, executing precise manoeuvres and lightning-fast aerial tricks. With precise control and lightning-fast reflexes, players boost, drift, slam and even turn upside down on their way to victory, scoring epic goals against their opponents.
Whether you're soaring through asteroid fields, navigating treacherous alien landscapes, or battling in the depths of cosmic storms, "Cosmic Clash" delivers non-stop action and adrenaline-pumping excitement that's out of this world! Get ready to take your skills to the stars and dominate the galaxy in the ultimate celestial showdown!
Reason for being
Since Epic Games bought Psyonix, Rocket League has never been the same, and rather than releasing an Unreal Engine 5 version of the game, or giving any meaningful updates, instead item trading was removed and 'Rocket Racing' was added to Fortnite. With no one else stepping up to the plate, it falls to the Open Source Community to come up with a spiritual successor, to keep the spirit of the game alive.
Legality
The concept of 'vehicle soccer' cannot be copyrighted, but the original expression of ideas such as the specific code, art, music and narrative of a game can be. So long as all code, assets game design and other elements are made from scratch, this project will remain legal. The use of an alternative game engine, Godot, serves to ensure that this is achieved, as does the move to using space ships instead of cars as the vehicles.
Technical Information
This project is composed of two parts:
- Godot game
- C# backend
Contributing
Eventually there will be contributor guidelines, but for now open a PR and make sure it has been formatted according to the auto-formatting rules.
Gameplay
The core gameplay is still football/soccer but with vehicles, however there are key changes to the format used in Rocket League. The vehicles are now space ships, which hover above the surface of the pitch. This will impact core game mechanics, enabling near-immediate changes in direction (thanks to those spacefaring engines!), the ability to play upside down (which will change the way you interact with the ball in as-yet unknown ways), slamming down at full boost speed, and many more that will be discovered along the way.
Bots
There will be default bots available, trained using reinforcement learning, and it will be possible to train your own using a gym for submission to be included in the game itself. It will NOT be possible to connect bots to the game, and with the community itself ensuring rigorous anti-cheat measures are in place we will aim to keep it that way. Cheaters have no place here.
MVP
The first version of this game will be JUST the game, no server-side functionality at all. It will be a local only game where you can play against bots. Split-screen multiplayer could be added in a version 0.2 if demand is high enough. If there is sufficient interest then the server-side functionality can be added to enable online play, with a system in place to ensure that servers can be paid for (perhaps a cheap monthly subscription model?).
Monetisation
The aim for this project is NOT to monetise it. Rocket League saw terrible changes once the Item Shop was added, and even the costs for crates and keys prevented some members of the community from collecting items and fully enjoying the game. Instead, this game will, if it becomes successful enough to warrant online servers, only use funding to keep itself running, and in the event anyone needs to be employed full time to maintain it with a growing playerbase, to pay them a fair wage for their time. Any additional profit in any given year should be held for maintaining servers in the future should demand fall, or for any future needs of the game such as a large effort to upgrade to a new engine, anti-cheating measures, etc.