Josh Creek
ae4a6f937f
Closes §8.43's 'failed-reconnect UX' gap, found immediately after wiring connect_to_assignment() itself: even with that fix in place, a connection failure had nowhere to go. connect_to_assignment()'s synchronous failures (assignment missing/expired, invalid endpoint, NetworkManager.join() erroring immediately) only ever emitted assignment_connection_failed -- a signal nothing in the client listened to. state.phase would stay stuck at ASSIGNED, the UI would keep showing "Your match server is ready" forever, with no way back to a fresh search. Worse, the likelier real-world failure mode had no handler at all: NetworkManager.join() returns OK immediately once the attempt starts, but the actual ENet handshake can still fail asynchronously afterward (unreachable server, refused connection, ENet's own ~5s connect timeout). This is exactly the gap main_menu.gd's own _on_connection_failed exists to cover for the direct-join flow (see its header comment) -- nothing covered the equivalent for a matchmaking-driven connect. ControlPlaneClient now connects both assignment_connection_failed and NetworkManager.connection_failed (guarded to state.phase == CONNECTING, so it never misattributes an unrelated direct-join failure to a matchmaking search) to state.fail(...), so either failure mode now surfaces as a failed search the player can actually retry from. Verified: three new test_control_plane_client.gd tests cover the synchronous failure path, the async NetworkManager.connection_failed path (via a real end-to-end ASSIGNED -> CONNECTING flow), and that an unrelated connection_failed outside CONNECTING is correctly ignored. 220/220 tests pass, stable across 3 repeated runs, no crash, no engine-level error; full make verify-multiplayer-local and the complete make verify-enet-integration suite (all five cases) both clean; zero new crash reports throughout. Also fixes a markdown table-integrity mistake introduced while documenting this in the same edit pass: an earlier Edit call accidentally duplicated a sentence and dropped the row's closing 'remains' clause in §8.43 -- caught and corrected before commit via the usual pipe-count check.
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
Cosmic Clash is a single Godot 4.7 project, written entirely in GDScript. That same project exports both the interactive game and a headless dedicated server for online multiplayer. See docs/TECH_STACK.md for the full stack and the reasoning behind each choice.
Online play with casual and ranked queues is a 1.0 requirement, and it needs a small backend service for identity, matchmaking and ratings — separate from the Godot project, and not yet built. See docs/MATCHMAKING.md.
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 original local-only milestone is complete; the 1.0 scope now includes
dedicated online play plus casual and ranked matchmaking. Community servers
remain self-hostable, while project-hosted match servers are allocated per
match through the provider-portable control plane described in
docs/MATCHMAKING.md. Split-screen remains deferred.
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.