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coder-bot 5090341591 Bring in Godot project + address review feedback (this branch had none of it)
This branch never actually had the Godot scaffold — a workspace-reuse bug
(see agp source repo) let leftover backend/**/__pycache__/*.pyc files from
an unrelated task get swept into this branch's only prior commit, which
was checkpointed under this task's title despite containing zero Godot
files. Removing that garbage and bringing over the real project from
agent/997c429bc6b4 (the original PR's branch) with the review feedback
addressed:

- Play button no longer references the nonexistent scenes/game.tscn.
- Wired PlayButton/QuitButton [connection] entries in main_menu.tscn.
- Removed the invalid uid="uid://main_menu".
- Added .gitignore for .godot/.
- Removed the non-standard [export]/[export_options] sections from
  project.godot (Godot 4 uses export_presets.cfg, not this).
2026-08-17 21:24:43 +00:00
coder-bot 4ef6196091 WIP checkpoint: Address review feedback: Initialize Godot 4 project structure 2026-08-17 20:52:39 +00:00
9 changed files with 83 additions and 369 deletions
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# Godot 4 editor cache/import directory
.godot/
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# Editor Architecture: Godot Editor Plugin vs. In-Game Editor
> **Status:** Proposed
> **Owner:** Platform team
> **Related:** World chunk data format & persistence, server authority + client
> prediction, content moderation & age verification, avatar component system
> **Godot version:** 4.6.2 stable
## 1. Overview
This document evaluates the two primary ways to build the **world/level
authoring tool** for **agp-game**:
- **(a) Godot editor plugin** — extend the Godot editor itself with custom
panels, dock widgets, and tools that operate on the project's scenes and
resources.
- **(b) In-game editor** — a fully custom editor built as game UI (Godot
`Control` nodes) that runs inside the running game, editing the game's own
world data.
The goal is to pick the approach that best fits the platform's constraints:
a **server-authoritative** multiplayer game where the **world is stored as
versioned chunks** (see `world.md`), content is **moderation-flagged** (see
`content_moderation.md`), and the client is a **shipped binary** that players
run (not a dev tool).
This document is a **decision record**: it lays out the trade-offs, gives a
clear recommendation, and defines the resulting architecture boundaries.
---
## 2. Context & Constraints
Before comparing the two approaches, we must fix the constraints that drive the
decision. These come from the existing architecture docs.
### 2.1 The World Is Data, Not Scenes
`world.md` defines the world as **chunk data** (JSON for authoring, binary for
runtime/network), persisted in SQLite on the server. A chunk is the atomic unit
of load, save, and stream. The **server is the only writer** to the store;
clients submit **deltas** against a `base_revision` and the server validates and
applies them.
**Implication:** The editor's output is **chunk payloads**, not `.tscn` scene
files. Whatever editor we build must serialize to the chunk contract, not to
Godot scene resources.
### 2.2 Server-Authoritative & Moderation-Aware
- The server validates every edit (schema, bounds, moderation) before
persisting (`world.md` §5.4).
- Content carries **content flags** aggregated from referenced assets/scripts
(`content_moderation.md` §3). Mature content is gated behind age verification.
- The client receives a **content manifest** and never loads content not in it.
**Implication:** An editor that runs on a **player's machine** cannot be the
authority on what gets published. Editing must go through the server's
validation pipeline, and the editor must surface moderation flags.
### 2.3 The Client Is a Shipped Binary
The game is a multiplayer product. Players run a **release build**. The Godot
editor is a **development tool** that players do not have.
**Implication:** If authoring is a first-class *player* feature (user-generated
content), the editor must ship inside the game binary. If authoring is a
*developer/platform* feature, it can live in the editor.
### 2.4 Two Distinct Audiences
The evaluation must separate two audiences, because they have opposite needs:
| Audience | Who | Where they run | What they build |
|----------|-----|----------------|-----------------|
| **Platform/dev** | The team building the game | Godot editor (dev machines) | Base worlds, rooms, templates, test levels |
| **Players (UGC)** | End users | The shipped game | Their own rooms/worlds, published to the server |
The two approaches map cleanly onto these audiences, and the right answer is
likely **both** — but with a clear primary recommendation.
---
## 3. Approach (a): Godot Editor Plugin
### 3.1 What It Is
A Godot editor plugin is a set of scripts (and optionally scenes) that extend
the editor via the `EditorPlugin` API. It can add:
- **Dock panels** (`add_control_to_dock`) — e.g., a chunk/tile palette panel.
- **Toolbar buttons** (`add_control_to_container`).
- **Inspector plugins** (`EditorInspectorPlugin`) — custom property editors.
- **Import plugins** (`EditorImportPlugin`) — custom asset importers.
- **Scene/Node plugins** (`EditorNode3DGizmoPlugin`) — custom gizmos.
- **Menu entries** (`add_tool_menu_item`).
Plugins are enabled per-project via `project.godot` (`[editor_plugins]`).
### 3.2 Pros
- **Full editor power for free:** You get the scene tree, inspector, viewport
navigation, undo/redo, gizmos, and asset pipeline — all battle-tested.
- **Native Godot editing:** Editing `.tscn` scenes, materials, and nodes is
exactly what the editor is built for. Great for authoring **base content**
(rooms, templates, avatar base bodies).
- **Fast iteration for devs:** The platform team can build and test levels
directly in the tool they already use.
- **Undo/redo, selection, snapping** come from the editor's `EditorUndoRedoManager`.
- **No runtime footprint:** Editor-only code is stripped from export builds
(`@tool` scripts and editor plugins are not shipped to players).
### 3.3 Cons
- **Not available to players.** Players don't run the Godot editor. Any
player-facing UGC authoring cannot use this approach.
- **Tied to the editor's UX.** You inherit the editor's look and interaction
model; deep customization is limited by what the editor API exposes.
- **Editor API churn.** `EditorPlugin` APIs change between Godot versions;
plugins are more brittle across upgrades than game code.
- **Scene-centric, not data-centric.** The editor is optimized for scenes and
resources. Our world is **chunk data** (`world.md`). We'd have to build a
translation layer (scene ↔ chunk) and keep it in sync — a real source of
drift.
- **Single-user, local.** The editor edits local files. It does not natively
talk to our server-authoritative chunk store or the moderation pipeline.
- **Headless/CI friction.** Validating plugin behavior in CI requires running
the editor headless, which is heavier than testing game code.
### 3.4 Fit for Our Constraints
- **Platform/dev authoring:** Excellent. This is the natural home for building
base worlds, rooms, and templates.
- **Player UGC:** Not applicable. Players cannot run the editor.
- **Server-authoritative chunk store:** Poor fit natively. The editor edits
local scenes; we'd bolt on a chunk export/import and a server sync layer.
---
## 4. Approach (b): In-Game Editor
### 4.1 What It Is
A fully custom editor built as **game UI** — Godot `Control` nodes (panels,
buttons, toolbars) that run inside the running game. It edits the game's own
world data model (chunks) and submits edits through the normal server pipeline.
### 4.2 Pros
- **Ships to players.** The editor is part of the game binary, so **player UGC
authoring is possible** — the core requirement for a user-generated-content
platform.
- **Data-native.** The editor operates directly on the **chunk model**
(`world.md`), so there is no scene↔chunk translation layer and no drift.
- **Server-authoritative by construction.** Edits go through the same
`request_chunk_edit` RPCs as gameplay, so validation, revisioning, and
moderation apply uniformly. The editor cannot bypass the server.
- **Moderation-aware.** Because edits flow through the server, content flags are
computed and enforced at the boundary (`content_moderation.md` §4). The editor
can surface flags and gate mature content.
- **One codebase, one UX.** The editor uses the same UI toolkit and art style as
the game; no separate editor theme to maintain.
- **Testable in CI.** The editor is ordinary game code; it can be exercised
headlessly and unit-tested like any other system.
### 4.3 Cons
- **We build everything.** No free scene tree, inspector, gizmos, or undo/redo.
We must implement selection, snapping, undo/redo, viewport navigation, and
property editing ourselves.
- **Runtime footprint.** Editor UI ships in the binary (though it can be gated
behind a feature flag / separate scene that is only instantiated on demand).
- **More upfront work.** A usable in-game editor is a large feature; it needs
its own architecture (tool modes, gizmos, palette, inspector).
- **Not ideal for deep asset authoring.** Modeling a mesh or authoring a
material is better done in the Godot editor / DCC tools. The in-game editor
should focus on **world composition** (placing tiles and objects), not asset
creation.
### 4.4 Fit for Our Constraints
- **Platform/dev authoring:** Workable but not ideal for deep asset work.
- **Player UGC:** The **only** viable approach. Players can only author through
the shipped game.
- **Server-authoritative chunk store:** Excellent fit. The editor is a client
that submits validated deltas.
---
## 5. Comparison Matrix
| Criterion | (a) Editor plugin | (b) In-game editor |
|-----------|-------------------|--------------------|
| Ships to players | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Player UGC authoring | ❌ Impossible | ✅ Core capability |
| World data model fit | ⚠️ Scene-centric; needs translation layer | ✅ Chunk-native |
| Server-authoritative edits | ⚠️ Bolted on | ✅ Native (same RPCs) |
| Moderation enforcement | ⚠️ Manual | ✅ At the boundary |
| Free editor features (undo, gizmos, inspector) | ✅ Rich | ❌ Build ourselves |
| Runtime footprint | ✅ None (stripped from export) | ⚠️ Ships in binary (gated) |
| Dev iteration speed | ✅ Fast | ⚠️ Slower to build |
| Deep asset authoring (mesh/material) | ✅ Native | ❌ Out of scope |
| CI testability | ⚠️ Heavier (headless editor) | ✅ Ordinary game code |
| Editor API churn risk | ⚠️ Higher | ✅ None (game code) |
---
## 6. Recommendation
**Primary recommendation: build the in-game editor (b) as the platform's
authoring surface, and use a lightweight Godot editor plugin (a) only as an
internal dev convenience.**
### 6.1 Rationale
1. **Player UGC is the deciding factor.** The platform's value proposition is
user-generated content (rooms, worlds, avatars). Players cannot run the Godot
editor, so **only an in-game editor can deliver player authoring**. This is a
hard requirement that the editor-plugin approach cannot meet.
2. **The world is data, and the in-game editor is data-native.** `world.md`
defines chunks as the atomic unit. An in-game editor edits chunks directly
and submits them through the server pipeline. An editor plugin would force a
scene↔chunk translation layer that is a constant source of drift and bugs.
3. **Server authority and moderation fall out naturally.** Because in-game
edits use the same `request_chunk_edit` RPCs as gameplay, validation,
revisioning, optimistic concurrency, and content-flag enforcement
(`content_moderation.md`) apply uniformly. The editor cannot bypass the
server — which is exactly what a moderation-aware UGC platform needs.
4. **The editor-plugin's strengths are not what we need.** Its free features
(scene tree, inspector, gizmos) are for editing Godot scenes and resources.
Our authoring is world composition against a chunk contract, not scene
editing. The plugin's main win — deep asset authoring — is better served by
DCC tools and the Godot editor for the *platform team*, not by a plugin we
must maintain.
### 6.2 The Role of the Editor Plugin (Dev Convenience Only)
We still recommend a **small, optional** editor plugin for the **platform team**
to author **base content** (base rooms, templates, avatar base bodies, test
levels) directly in the Godot editor. This is a dev-time convenience, not a
product feature:
- It can export a scene/resource as a **chunk** (reusing the same encoder as the
in-game editor) so dev-authored content flows into the same pipeline.
- It is **not shipped** to players and is **not** the authoring surface for UGC.
- It should be kept thin to minimize editor-API churn risk.
### 6.3 Scope Boundary
To keep the in-game editor tractable, define its scope clearly:
- **In scope (world composition):** placing tiles, placing static/dynamic
objects, setting transforms, editing object properties, saving/loading chunks,
submitting edits to the server, showing moderation flags.
- **Out of scope (asset creation):** modeling meshes, authoring materials,
rigging avatars. These are done in DCC tools / the Godot editor and imported
as catalog assets (see `avatar.md` §7). The in-game editor **references**
catalog assets by id; it does not create them.
---
## 7. Resulting Architecture
### 7.1 Shared Editor Core
Both the in-game editor and the (optional) dev plugin should share a single
**editor core** that operates on the chunk model. This avoids two divergent
implementations.
```
EditorCore (shared, data-native)
├── ChunkEditorModel # in-memory chunk being edited (tiles, objects, flags)
├── ChunkEncoder # JSON/binary encode/decode (world.md §3)
├── EditSession # base_revision tracking, delta generation
├── EditSubmitter # request_chunk_edit RPC wrapper + conflict handling
├── UndoRedoStack # command pattern over chunk mutations
├── SelectionManager # selected tiles/objects
├── ToolRegistry # brush, object-place, select, erase, etc.
└── ModerationView # surfaces content flags; gates mature content
```
### 7.2 In-Game Editor (Primary)
```
InGameEditor (Control-based UI, shipped in binary, gated by feature flag)
├── EditorViewport # custom 2D/3D viewport with camera navigation
├── Toolbar # tool mode switcher
├── PalettePanel # tile/object palette (from catalog)
├── InspectorPanel # property editor for selected object
├── ChunkBrowser # load/save chunks, list rooms
└── EditorCore # shared core (above)
```
- Instantiated only when the player enters "build mode" (a separate scene /
feature flag), so the runtime footprint is negligible during normal play.
- Submits edits via `request_chunk_edit`; handles `chunk_edit_result` conflicts
by re-fetching and re-applying (`world.md` §5.4).
### 7.3 Dev Editor Plugin (Optional, Thin)
```
DevChunkPlugin (EditorPlugin, dev-only, not shipped)
├── Dock panel: "Chunk Export"
├── Reads the current scene / selected nodes
├── Maps scene content → chunk model (via EditorCore.ChunkEncoder)
└── Exports a .chunk.json / submits to a dev server
```
Kept thin to minimize editor-API churn. Its only job is to let the platform team
author base content in the editor and push it into the same chunk pipeline.
### 7.4 Data Flow
```
[In-game editor] --request_chunk_edit(delta, base_revision)--> [Server]
^ | validate
| | apply
+--chunk_edit_result(ok/new_revision | conflict)-----------| persist
v
SQLite (world.db)
[Dev plugin] --export chunk JSON--> [EditorCore.ChunkEncoder] --> [Server]
```
Both paths converge on the **same server validation pipeline**, so moderation
and revisioning are uniform regardless of authoring surface.
---
## 8. Risks & Mitigations
| Risk | Mitigation |
|------|------------|
| In-game editor is a large build | Scope it to world composition (§6.3); reuse EditorCore; ship behind a feature flag |
| Custom viewport/gizmos are hard | Start with a 2D tile editor (matches `CHUNK_SIZE_Z=1` default); add 3D later |
| Undo/redo complexity | Use a command pattern over chunk mutations; test headlessly |
| Editor-plugin API churn | Keep the plugin thin; treat it as dev-only convenience, not a product surface |
| Drift between dev plugin and in-game editor | Both use the same `EditorCore`/`ChunkEncoder` |
| Players bypass moderation | Impossible by construction: edits go through server validation |
---
## 9. Open Questions / Future Work
- **3D editing:** The default world is flat (`CHUNK_SIZE_Z=1`). A 3D in-game
editor (volumetric chunks) is future work (`world.md` §8).
- **Collaborative editing:** Multiple players editing the same chunk concurrently
— the optimistic-concurrency model already supports it, but the UX (live
cursors, conflict resolution) is unspecified.
- **Template library:** A curated set of room templates players can start from.
- **Publish/review flow:** How a player's authored room enters the moderation
review queue (`content_moderation.md` §6) and becomes publicly joinable.
---
## 10. Summary
| Concern | Decision |
|---------|----------|
| Primary authoring surface | **In-game editor** (ships to players, enables UGC) |
| Dev authoring convenience | Thin, optional **editor plugin** (not shipped) |
| World data model | Both operate on the **chunk model** via a shared `EditorCore` |
| Server authority | Edits go through `request_chunk_edit`; server validates |
| Moderation | Enforced at the server boundary for both paths |
| In-game editor scope | World composition only; asset creation is out of scope |
| Runtime footprint | Editor gated behind a feature flag / separate scene |
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; Engine configuration file.
; It's best edited using the editor UI and not directly,
; but it can also be edited by hand.
config_version=5
[application]
config/name="AGP-Game"
run/main_scene="res://scenes/main_menu.tscn"
config/features=PackedStringArray("4.6.2")
[autoload]
[display]
window/size/viewport_width=1920
window/size/viewport_height=1080
window/stretch/mode="canvas_items"
[rendering]
renderer/rendering_method="gl_compatibility"
renderer/rendering_method.mobile="gl_compatibility"
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[gd_scene load_steps=2 format=3]
[ext_resource type="Script" path="res://scripts/main_menu.gd" id="1_main"]
[node name="MainMenu" type="Control"]
anchors_preset = 15
anchor_right = 1.0
anchor_bottom = 1.0
grow_horizontal = 2
grow_vertical = 2
script = ExtResource("1_main")
[node name="CenterContainer" type="CenterContainer" parent="."]
layout_mode = 3
anchors_preset = 15
anchor_right = 1.0
anchor_bottom = 1.0
grow_horizontal = 2
grow_vertical = 2
[node name="VBoxContainer" type="VBoxContainer" parent="CenterContainer"]
layout_mode = 1
theme_override_constants/separation = 16
size_flags_horizontal = 4
[node name="TitleLabel" type="Label" parent="CenterContainer/VBoxContainer"]
layout_mode = 1
text = "AGP Game"
horizontal_alignment = 1
theme_override_font_sizes/font_size = 72
[node name="PlayButton" type="Button" parent="CenterContainer/VBoxContainer"]
layout_mode = 1
text = "Play"
size_flags_horizontal = 4
[node name="QuitButton" type="Button" parent="CenterContainer/VBoxContainer"]
layout_mode = 1
text = "Quit"
size_flags_horizontal = 4
[connection signal="pressed" from="CenterContainer/VBoxContainer/PlayButton" to="." method="_on_play_button_pressed"]
[connection signal="pressed" from="CenterContainer/VBoxContainer/QuitButton" to="." method="_on_quit_button_pressed"]
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extends Control
func _ready():
pass
func _on_play_button_pressed():
# No gameplay scene exists yet — wire this to the real scene once one lands.
print("Play pressed — no gameplay scene yet")
func _on_quit_button_pressed():
get_tree().quit()