(WIP) NetplayJS

Make peer-to-peer WebRTC-based multiplayer games in Javascript, no server hosting or network synchronization code required! Powered by PeerJS.

CHECK THE DEMOS

NetplayJS consists of:

• Implementations of Rollback netcode and Lockstep netcode in Javascript
• A prototyping framework that lets you create a multiplayer game in a few lines of code
• A collection of demos built in the prototyping framework

Quick Start

Let's make a quick game in the prototyping framework. Add this script tag to your HTML.

<script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/dist/netplay.js"></script>

Add this javascript code.

class SimpleGame extends netplayjs.Game {
  // In the constructor, we initialize the state of our game.
  constructor() {
    super();
    // Initialize our player positions.
    this.aPos = { x: 100, y: 150 };
    this.bPos = { x: 500, y: 150 };
  }

  // The tick function takes a map of Player -> Input and
  // simulates the game forward. Think of it like making
  // a local multiplayer game with multiple controllers.
  tick(playerInputs) {
    for (const [player, input] of playerInputs.entries()) {
      // Generate player velocity from input keys.
      const vel = {
        x:
          (input.pressed.ArrowLeft ? -1 : 0) +
          (input.pressed.ArrowRight ? 1 : 0),
        y:
          (input.pressed.ArrowDown ? -1 : 0) +
          (input.pressed.ArrowUp ? 1 : 0),
      };

      // Apply the velocity to the appropriate player.
      if (player.getID() == 0) {
        this.aPos.x += vel.x * 5;
        this.aPos.y -= vel.y * 5;
      } else if (player.getID() == 1) {
        this.bPos.x += vel.x * 5;
        this.bPos.y -= vel.y * 5;
      }
    }
  }

  // Normally, we have to implement a serialize / deserialize function
  // for our state. However, there is an autoserializer that can handle
  // simple states for us. We don't need to do anything here!
  // serialize() {}
  // deserialize(value) {}

  // Draw the state of our game onto a canvas.
  draw(canvas) {
    const ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");

    // Fill with black.
    ctx.fillStyle = "black";
    ctx.fillRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);

    // Draw squares for the players.
    ctx.fillStyle = "red";
    ctx.fillRect(this.aPos.x - 5, this.aPos.y - 5, 10, 10);
    ctx.fillStyle = "blue";
    ctx.fillRect(this.bPos.x - 5, this.bPos.y - 5, 10, 10);
  }
}

SimpleGame.timestep = 1000 / 60; // Our game runs at 60 FPS
SimpleGame.canvasSize = { width: 600, height: 300 };

// Because our game can be easily rewound, we will use Rollback netcode
// If your game cannot be rewound, you should use LockstepWrapper instead.
new netplayjs.RollbackWrapper(SimpleGame).start();

And voila - a real-time networked game with rollback and client-side prediction.

Basic Usage

NetplayJS is powered by an implementation of Rollback netcode (like GGPO) in Javascript. The library is written in TypeScript, and it is highly recommended that you use it with TypeScript as well.

Installation

npm install --save netplayjs

import { NetplayPlayer, DefaultInput, Game, RollbackWrapper } from "netplayjs";

Game State Serialization

The client-side prediction and rewind capabilities of netplayjs are based off of the ability to serialize and deserialize the state of the game. In the simple example above, the autoserializer can take care of rewinding our states and sending them over a network. For most games, however, you will need to implement your own logic. You can do this by overriding Game.serialize and Game.deserialize in your subclass.

Advanced Usage

If you want to integrate rollback into an existing game, or otherwise find the prototyping framework too restrictive, you can use the core netcode implementations. These implementations are abstract enough to be used in any project.

let rollbackNetcode = new RollbackNetcode(...)
rollbackNetcode.start();