Documentation pass for a cold start
ci / verify (push) Successful in 49s

Audited the whole set rather than appending to it, and the two files a fresh
session reads first were both wrong.

README claimed the emergency escape takes three seconds and is CANCELLED BY
DAMAGE. It takes one, and damage explicitly does not interrupt it -- that is a
settled decision with its own entry in DECISIONS.md, and the front page said
the opposite. It also described one stationary boss, one hub portal, and none
of characters, permadeath, levels, inventory, loot, upgrades, settings or
credits. Rewritten, with the "not ready for the internet" warning made explicit.

ROADMAP had no "what is next" at all: every stage reads *done*, which for a
cold start is a dead end. It opens with where things stand and a table of
candidates -- auth, a reason to play past level 15, an economy, hit feedback,
replacing the non-redistributable packs, DTLS -- each with what blocks it, and
says plainly that the user has chosen none of them. Open questions renumbered
from the orphaned 8-11 they were left at, with the solved one dropped and three
real ones added.

ARCHITECTURE's file map listed two files twice, missed five subsystems
(upgrades, stats, poison, settings, credits, the UI theme), and still said
MapGen.build() is "the entry point both sides use" -- it is server-only, and
the whole anti-map-hack story depends on that. Rebuilt by layer and audited
against the tree: every path listed exists, and every one of the 64 source
files is covered.

CLAUDE.md's security paragraph said a client can send "exactly two things"
plus two roster requests. There are five client -> server messages. That number
is the security model, so it is now a table naming each one and what it
carries. Also records that nothing automated can see the screen.

Smaller: a stale 156/156 test count in ASSETS.md, and test counts refreshed to
468 where they are quoted.

check.sh clean, 468 tests, SMOKE PASS, all four diagnostics green, no broken
internal links.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-09-07 16:20:10 +02:00
parent 61680d00d7
commit b8332b697d
5 changed files with 198 additions and 65 deletions
+24 -8
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@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ the obvious default.
```bash
tools/check.sh # parse-check every script (~5s) -- run after every edit
tools/test.sh # GUT suite, headless (~3s)
tools/test.sh # 468 GUT tests, headless (~4s)
tools/smoke.sh # real server + 4 bot clients over ENet (~40s)
tools/server.sh # dedicated server
tools/client.sh --listen # host and play, no menu
@@ -37,6 +37,12 @@ test cannot cover any of them: bots are poor shots, so they rarely kill
anything, which means they neither earn levels, produce drops, nor ever reach
the quartermaster.
**Nothing automated can see the screen.** `check.sh`, the suite and `smoke.sh`
have all passed with the entire interface rendering unstyled, an invisible
slider and an invisible scrollbar. After touching anything under `src/ui/` or
`src/view/`, run `screenshot.tscn` and open the files. It needs a display, so it
is not a gate.
Everything after `--` goes to `GameOpts.parse()`:
| Flag | Effect |
@@ -69,12 +75,22 @@ push (~35s, skip deliberately with `SKIP_SMOKE_HOOK=1 git push`).
**The server decides everything; the client only sends intent.**
A client can send exactly two things: an [InputFrame] (move vector, aim angle,
five button bits, an inventory slot) and a handshake — plus the two low-rate
character-roster requests, which are also pure intent. There is no message for
"I moved here", "I hit that", "I took damage", "my escape finished" or "I now
own this item". Adding one would collapse the whole security model, so don't —
validate-after-the-fact is strictly weaker than having no code path at all.
There are exactly **five** client -> server messages, and that number is worth
watching:
| Message | Carries |
| --- | --- |
| `c_hello` | protocol version + an opaque auth ticket |
| `c_input` | an [InputFrame]: move vector, aim angle, five button bits, an inventory slot |
| `c_select_character` | a character id, checked against *that account's* list |
| `c_create_character` | a name, sanitised at the boundary |
| `c_choose_upgrade` | an index into the three options the SERVER put on the table |
Every one is pure intent. There is no message for "I moved here", "I hit that",
"I took damage", "my escape finished", "I now own this item", "I am in this
dungeon" or "my damage is X". Adding one would collapse the whole security
model, so don't — validate-after-the-fact is strictly weaker than having no code
path at all.
When a new player action needs a message, look at whether it fits in the input
frame first. Item use and drop did, and got the redundancy, the replay guard and
@@ -95,7 +111,7 @@ and `tests/integration/test_replica_parity.gd` pin this down.
| `src/actors/` | Data-only `Resource` definitions: `EnemyDef`, `BossDef`, `ItemDef`, `LootDrop`, `DungeonDef`, `UpgradeDef`. Shapes, not instances. |
| `src/sim/patterns/` | Bullet emitters — the authoring surface for every enemy and boss. Emitters are stateless: they are shared resources, and two bosses of the same kind must not stomp each other. |
| `src/sim/map_grid.gd` | Tile grid: collision, line of sight, chunk streaming. |
| `src/sim/map_gen.gd` | Dungeon generation; `build()` is the only entry point. |
| `src/sim/map_gen.gd` | Dungeon generation. **Server-side only** — handing a client the seed would be a map hack with no work required. |
| `src/content/rooms.gd` | Hand-authored room stamps (hub, boss arenas) as text. |
| `src/meta/` | Accounts, characters, persistence, XP curve. Server-owned. |
| `src/content/content.gd` | All enemies and bosses, defined in code. Source of truth. |
+36 -24
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@@ -12,39 +12,51 @@ tools/client.sh --join --name ada # connect a client
Or run one client and press **Host and play** for a listen server.
**Controls** — WASD move, mouse aim, LMB fire, **E** on the ring in the hub to
enter a dungeon, **hold F** for three seconds to escape back to the hub.
## Develop
```bash
tools/check.sh # parse-check every script ~5s
tools/test.sh # GUT suite, headless ~2s
tools/smoke.sh # server + 2 bot clients, ENet ~35s
godot --headless --path . --script tools/bench.gd
```
Read [CLAUDE.md](CLAUDE.md) first — it is short, and the Godot CLI gotchas in it
will otherwise cost an afternoon.
**Controls** — WASD move, mouse aim, LMB fire, **E** to pick up loot and to use
the hub's portals and quartermaster, **14** use an inventory slot, **shift+14**
drop one, **hold F** for one second to escape a dungeon, **Esc** menu, **F1**
hitbox overlay. Every one of those is rebindable in Settings.
## What is here
| | |
| --- | --- |
| **Twin-stick bullet hell** | Server-simulated bullet field, ~350 concurrent bullets at 0.24 ms/tick. |
| **Authoritative multiplayer** | Clients send input only. Hits, damage, death and instance transfers are server decisions. Prediction + reconciliation for the local player. |
| **Enemies** | Four readable behaviours (static, drift, orbit, approach, strafe) composed with bullet emitters. |
| **Boss** | The Warden of the Fold: stationary, four phases, each adding one idea. Defined entirely as data. |
| **Lobby hub** | Shared persistent instance with a portal into dungeon runs. |
| **Emergency escape** | Three-second channel back to the hub, cancelled by damage. |
| **Twin-stick bullet hell** | Server-simulated bullet field, ~300 concurrent bullets at 0.28 ms/tick — around 60x headroom against the 60 Hz budget. |
| **Authoritative multiplayer** | Clients send input and nothing else. Hits, damage, death, loot, upgrades and instance transfers are all server decisions. Prediction and reconciliation for the local player. |
| **Enemies** | Five readable movements (static, drift, orbit, approach, strafe) composed with bullet emitters. Nothing deals contact damage; every threat is a bullet you can see. |
| **Two bosses** | The Warden of the Fold stands still through four phases. The Cantor of the Vault walks a circuit, chases, orbits, and marks the floor before it strikes. Both are pure data. |
| **Three dungeons** | Two real runs, one per boss, plus a Proving Grounds: the same content at a fraction of the health and ten times the drop rate, for testing by hand. |
| **Characters** | Up to five living per account, permadeath, levels 115, experience shared across the party undivided. |
| **Inventory and loot** | Four slots, always on screen. Loot is either world-shared or instanced per player, and the instanced kind is filtered on the wire rather than hidden in the client. |
| **Upgrades** | Seven, drawn three at a time and spent at a hub NPC. Damage, fire rate, extra projectiles, splitting, poison, and a legendary that deletes enemy bullets. |
| **Emergency escape** | A one-second channel back to the hub that damage does **not** interrupt — because if it did, quitting the process would be the better escape. Dropping your connection runs the same channel. |
| **Settings** | Rebindable controls and volumes, and an in-game credits screen. |
## Develop
```bash
tools/check.sh # parse-check every script ~5s
tools/test.sh # 468 GUT tests, headless ~4s
tools/smoke.sh # server + 4 bot clients over ENet ~40s
```
Read [CLAUDE.md](CLAUDE.md) first — it is short, and the Godot CLI gotchas in it
will otherwise cost an afternoon.
## Docs
- [docs/ROADMAP.md](docs/ROADMAP.md) — what is built, what is next, where each feature lives
- [docs/DECISIONS.md](docs/DECISIONS.md) — settled design decisions and their reasoning
- [CREDITS.md](CREDITS.md) — third-party asset attribution
- [CLAUDE.md](CLAUDE.md) — commands, invariants, Godot CLI gotchas
- [docs/WORKFLOW.md](docs/WORKFLOW.md) — agent-assisted Godot development, and why the setup looks like this
- [docs/ARCHITECTURE.md](docs/ARCHITECTURE.md) — code map and the node-free simulation
- [docs/NETCODE.md](docs/NETCODE.md) — replication model, hit validation, known gaps
- [docs/ROADMAP.md](docs/ROADMAP.md) — what is built and what is next
- [docs/WORKFLOW.md](docs/WORKFLOW.md) — agent-assisted Godot development, and the verification traps this project has actually hit
- [docs/ASSETS.md](docs/ASSETS.md) — asset packs and their licence findings
- [CREDITS.md](CREDITS.md) — third-party attribution
- [CLAUDE.md](CLAUDE.md) — commands, invariants, Godot CLI gotchas
## Not ready for the internet
`LocalAuthProvider` lets any client claim any account id. It exists to have the
same shape as Steamworks so swapping is one class, and it must be replaced
before this is reachable from anywhere untrusted. There is no transport
encryption either. See [docs/ROADMAP.md](docs/ROADMAP.md).
+78 -16
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@@ -62,15 +62,24 @@ travel less than one tile per tick or the point test steps over walls (pinned by
## Where the layers sit now
Stage 1 and 2 added two things worth knowing before reading any file:
Four things are worth knowing before reading any file:
- **Geometry is per-world.** There is no global arena. `SimWorld.map` is a
[MapGrid](../src/sim/map_grid.gd); the hub and every dungeon have their own,
and the client holds a *partial* copy streamed to it in chunks.
- **`src/meta/` is server-only.** Accounts, characters, levels and experience
live there. The simulation reads a player's level and maximum health; it never
writes progression. One writer means a level cannot disagree with the
- **`src/meta/` is server-only.** Accounts, characters, levels, experience,
inventories and upgrades live there. The simulation reads a player's level and
maximum health and moves items between the ground and a bag; it never writes
progression or touches the store. It announces what happened and
`ServerRuntime` banks it. One writer means a level cannot disagree with the
experience that earned it.
- **Derived, never stored.** Level comes from lifetime experience; combat
numbers come from the upgrade list ([PlayerStats](../src/sim/player_stats.gd));
maximum health comes from the level and the upgrades. Nothing that can be
recomputed is persisted, so nothing saved can disagree with what produced it.
- **`src/core/settings.gd` is the exception to "shared".** Everything else in
`src/core/` is agreed by both sides; settings are the player's own machine
and never reach the server.
## Tick
@@ -96,6 +105,13 @@ BossDef = stats + ordered phases
`SimWorld._run_emitters()` is shared by enemies and bosses, so any pattern can
be dropped on either. A boss is four phases layering one idea at a time; a new
boss is a new function in `src/content/content.gd` and zero simulation changes.
`SimWorld._move_boss()` is the same idea for movement: the mode is a field on
the phase, and adding a boss that walks needs no code.
Emitters are **stateless**. They are shared resources — two bosses of the same
kind would otherwise stomp each other's timers — so anything an emitter needs to
remember between two ticks has to be derived instead. `TelegraphedStrikeEmitter`
computes its strike positions from the volley number for exactly this reason.
## Entry point
@@ -108,30 +124,76 @@ after `--`:
## File map
Grouped by layer. The rule the whole thing hangs on: **`src/sim/` imports
nothing from `net`, `view` or `ui`, and never touches `Net`.**
### Shared constants and helpers
| File | Role |
| --- | --- |
| `src/core/sim_config.gd` | Every constant server and client must agree on. |
| `src/core/movement.gd` | Pure movement + overlap helpers. Shared by prediction. |
| `src/core/game_log.gd`, `game_opts.gd` | Static; usable from tools and tests. |
| `src/sim/sim_world.gd` | The simulation. Authority flag decides what runs. |
| `src/core/settings.gd` | Client-local preferences. Never reaches the server. |
| `src/core/credits.gd` | Third-party assets and their licences. Two are CC BY, so this is a legal requirement. |
### The simulation
| File | Role |
| --- | --- |
| `src/sim/sim_world.gd` | The simulation. The authority flag decides what runs. |
| `src/sim/bullet_pool.gd` | Struct-of-arrays bullet storage and integration. |
| `src/sim/input_frame.gd` | The only thing a client may assert about itself. |
| `src/net/net_codec.gd` | Snapshot / event / input binary codecs. |
| `src/net/server_runtime.gd` | Instances, ticking, transfers, broadcast. |
| `src/net/client_runtime.gd` | Prediction, reconciliation, interpolation, bot input. |
| `src/instances/instance.gd` | Lobby hub and dungeon progression. |
| `src/autoload/net.gd` | ENet lifecycle, RPCs, local loopback for listen servers. |
| `src/sim/player_stats.gd` | Combat numbers derived from a character's upgrades. |
| `src/sim/poison_track.gd` | Damage over time. O(1) per actor per tick however many doses. |
| `src/sim/sim_loot.gd` | An item on the ground: world-shared, or owned by one peer. |
| `src/sim/sim_portal.gd` | A dungeon entrance, and which dungeon it opens. |
| `src/sim/map_grid.gd` | Tile grid: collision, line of sight, chunked streaming. |
| `src/sim/map_gen.gd` | Dungeon generation. `build()` is the only entry point both sides use. |
| `src/content/rooms.gd` | Hand-authored stamps: the hub and each boss arena, as text. |
| `src/sim/map_gen.gd` | Dungeon generation. **Server-side only** — the client is never given the seed. |
| `src/sim/patterns/` | Bullet emitters. Stateless; the authoring surface for every fight. |
### Content (data, in code)
| File | Role |
| --- | --- |
| `src/content/content.gd` | Every enemy and boss. `ALL_ENEMIES` / `ALL_BOSSES` are what the tools and tests iterate. |
| `src/content/items.gd` | Every item. `Items.ORDER` doubles as the wire format. |
| `src/sim/sim_loot.gd` | An item on the ground. World-shared, or owned by one peer. |
| `src/content/upgrades.gd` | The seven upgrades and their draw weights. |
| `src/content/dungeons.gd` | The kinds of run. `ORDER` is a wire format *and* the hub's portal order. |
| `src/content/rooms.gd` | Hand-authored stamps: the hub and each boss arena, as text. |
| `src/actors/` | The `Resource` definitions those tables build: enemy, boss, item, loot, upgrade, dungeon. |
### Server-owned state
| File | Role |
| --- | --- |
| `src/meta/progression.gd` | XP curve and what a level is worth. Pure functions. |
| `src/meta/character.gd`, `character_store.gd` | Characters and their JSON persistence. Server-owned. |
| `src/meta/character.gd`, `character_store.gd` | Characters and their JSON persistence. |
| `src/meta/auth_provider.gd` | Identity, shaped like Steamworks so it swaps out. |
| `src/net/net_codec.gd` | Snapshot / event / input / roster / character / map-chunk codecs. |
| `src/net/server_runtime.gd` | Instances, ticking, transfers, interest, progression, map streaming. |
| `src/instances/instance.gd` | The hub and one dungeon run: a world plus a peer list. |
### Network
| File | Role |
| --- | --- |
| `src/net/net_codec.gd` | Every binary codec: snapshot, events, input, roster, characters, map chunks, portals, upgrade state. |
| `src/net/server_runtime.gd` | Instances, ticking, transfers, interest, progression, persistence, map streaming. |
| `src/net/client_runtime.gd` | Prediction, reconciliation, interpolation, bot input. |
| `src/net/protocol.gd` | Wire version and constants. Bump `VERSION` whenever a layout changes. |
| `src/autoload/net.gd` | ENet lifecycle, RPCs, local loopback for listen servers. The only autoload. |
### View and UI (read-only; decides nothing)
| File | Role |
| --- | --- |
| `src/view/world_view.gd` | Everything that is not a bullet. Fog, actors, loot, telegraphs. |
| `src/view/bullet_renderer.gd` | The bullet field: one MultiMesh per bullet kind. |
| `src/view/art.gd` | Every atlas rect and sound path, in one table. |
| `src/view/ui_theme.gd` | The control theme, built in code from the UI pack. |
| `src/view/debug_draw.gd` | F1 overlay: what the simulation collides against. |
| `src/view/game_scene.gd`, `sfx.gd` | Wiring the view to whatever client `Net` currently has. |
| `src/ui/hud.gd` | Bars, inventory, prompts. Drawn, not built from controls. |
| `src/ui/main_menu.gd`, `game_menu.gd` | Connect screen and the in-game menu. |
| `src/ui/character_select.gd` | Roster screen: pick or create. |
| `src/ui/upgrade_screen.gd` | The quartermaster's three choices, and what you hold. |
| `src/ui/settings_screen.gd`, `credits_screen.gd` | Controls, volumes, attribution. |
+5 -3
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@@ -51,9 +51,11 @@ modification.
So they live in `assets/local/`, which is gitignored. `Art.bullets_texture()`
and `Art.impact_texture()` load them at runtime if present and return null if
not; the bullet renderer falls back to a generated dot. Verified both ways: with
the files present the game uses them, and with them hidden the suite still
passes 156/156 and the game runs.
not; the bullet renderer falls back to a generated dot. Verified both ways: with the files
present the game uses them, and with them hidden the whole suite still passes
and the game runs`tests/unit/test_art.gd` has an explicit case for their
absence, because a clean clone is the configuration most contributors will
actually have.
This is also why nothing there may be `preload()`ed — `preload` resolves at
compile time and would fail the build on every machine that lacks the files.
+55 -14
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@@ -13,6 +13,41 @@ that may already have an answer.
Legend: **done** · **partial** (works, with a stated gap) · **todo** (not started)
---
## Where things stand
**Every stage in the original brief is built.** The MVP asked for a twin-stick
bullet hell, server-side hit validation, predictable enemies, an adaptable boss,
a lobby hub with dungeon runs, and an emergency escape. All of that exists, plus
the four stages that followed: characters and permadeath, inventory and loot,
upgrades, and a second boss that moves.
So there is no obvious "next ticket". What follows is the honest list of
candidates, none of which the user has chosen — **ask before starting one.**
| Candidate | Why it might be next | What it needs first |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Replace `LocalAuthProvider`** | It is the one thing standing between this and a server anyone else can reach. Any client can claim any account id. | Nothing technical — it is one `AuthProvider` subclass. Needs a decision about Steam vs something else. |
| **A reason to keep playing past level 15** | Levels cap, `--depth` never rises in play, and a cleared dungeon gives experience and a potion. The long loop is missing. | Open question 1 below. |
| **An economy** | Loot only drops from kills; nothing sells anything. The quartermaster is the obvious shop and has no currency to take. | Open questions 2 and 3. |
| **Impact and hit feedback** | `Art.IMPACT` is loaded and validated and nothing plays it. No hit flash, no screen shake, no death animation. | Nothing. This is the cheapest visible win. |
| **Replace the two non-redistributable packs** | Bullet and FX art is local-only and non-commercial, which blocks both a public repo copy and a commercial release. | CC0 or CC BY replacements. See [ASSETS.md](ASSETS.md). |
| **Transport encryption** | `ENetMultiplayerPeer` supports DTLS. Required before a public server, not before then. | Follows the auth decision. |
Each stage below also carries its own **Known gaps** section — those are smaller
and more specific than the table above.
### Known flake
`tools/smoke.sh` failed once in a pre-push hook and then passed on four
consecutive runs with no stray processes. It was not reproduced and is not
diagnosed. The suspicion is machine load — the smoke test has fixed tick budgets
and was competing with a full suite run — but that is a guess. If it recurs,
that is the first thing to check.
---
## Verification surface
What "everything passes" currently means. Numbers move; the shape does not.
@@ -441,18 +476,24 @@ Not oversights — each was considered and rejected for now, with the reasoning
## Open questions for the user
Genuinely unspecified. **Do not guess at these** — each changes the design, and
several have no obvious default.
several have no obvious default. The seven questions that blocked Stage 4 were
answered and are recorded in [DECISIONS.md](DECISIONS.md#upgrades); these are
what is left.
### Blocking nothing yet
8. **What advances dungeon depth?** `--depth` is a dev flag; nothing raises it
in play. Depth drives map size and could drive difficulty and rewards.
9. **Where do items come from outside a dungeon?** Loot only drops from kills.
If the hub should sell potions, that is the Stage 4 NPC's second job — and
it needs a currency, which the game does not have.
10. **Should items stack?** Four potions currently take four slots, which makes
a 4-slot bag small. Stacking is a count byte per slot plus a rule for
splitting one; neither is hard, but both change the UI.
11. **Attribution for four asset packs.** See [ASSETS.md](ASSETS.md) — two are
non-redistributable and local-only, and there is no in-game credits screen
yet, which CC BY 4.0 requires for the audio.
1. **What advances dungeon depth?** `--depth` is a dev flag and nothing raises
it in play. Depth already drives map size and could drive difficulty and
rewards. Without an answer there is no progression past level 15.
2. **Where do items come from outside a dungeon?** Loot only drops from kills.
If the hub should sell potions, that is the quartermaster's second job.
3. **Is there a currency?** Nothing drops money and nothing costs anything. A
shop needs one; so does any reward for a cleared run beyond experience.
4. **Should items stack?** Four potions currently take four slots, which makes a
four-slot bag small. Stacking is a count byte per slot plus a rule for
splitting one neither is hard, and both change the UI.
5. **Does a dungeon ever get harder within a run?** Enemies are placed once at
generation and never reinforce. That is a deliberate decision
([DECISIONS.md](DECISIONS.md#world)), but it means a slow party is never
punished for it.
6. **What happens to a party when one member dies?** Permadeath removes them to
the roster screen while the run continues without them. Nobody has said
whether that is right.