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Melee-PC Development Roadmap

Scope and sequencing for Melee-PC, a native source-level PC port of Super Smash Bros. Melee (NTSC-U 1.02) on the Aurora engine (Dawn/WebGPU, SDL3) and modern C11/C++20.

This file carries no feature status. What is done, partly done or not started lives in one place, the status table in README.md. Everything below is the plan: what each phase covers and why it is ordered that way. Items stay listed after they ship so the design rationale does not get deleted with them.

Vision & Core Tenets

  1. Native Performance & Frame Pacing: Eliminate emulation overhead, runtime JIT compilation, and shader stutter using ahead-of-time pipeline caching and zero-copy asset streaming.
  2. Deterministic 60 Hz Simulation: The underlying physics, hitlag, RNG, damage calculation, blast zones, and combat logic must stay bit-identical to the GameCube NTSC-U 1.02 DOL.
  3. Modern Presentation: Widescreen (16:9 and window-aspect ultrawide), high-DPI UI scaling, internal resolution up to 10x native (6400x4800), and high-refresh presentation.
  4. Community & Competitive Parity: Target competitive tournament standards (UCF, 1000 Hz polling, hazardless stages, low input latency) and modding ecosystems (Dolphin-format HD textures, custom soundtracks, code mods).

Development Milestones

flowchart LR
    Phase1["Phase 1: Polish & Presentation"] --> Phase2["Phase 2: Competitive Parity"]
    Phase2 --> Phase3["Phase 3: High-Refresh & Practice"]
    Phase3 --> Phase4["Phase 4: Online Rollback Netcode"]
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Phase 1: Presentation Polish & System Integrations

Focus: Refine visual presentation, audio balance, and desktop integration.

  • Dolphin-Format Texture Replacements: Folder scanning (.dds / .png) with runtime reload.
  • Unlock All Toggle: Bypass character/stage unlock grind; unlock All-Star mode.
  • Multi-Bus Audio Control: Independent volume sliders for Music (BGM) vs. Sound Effects (SFX).
  • Wide HUD Anchoring: Anchor damage percentages, stock icons, and timer to the 16:9 viewport boundaries (on/off toggle).
  • Discord Rich Presence: Real-time rich presence displaying current mode, stage name, fighter played, and stock/time score. Needs API credentials before it can be built.
  • Custom Soundtrack Override: User-provided .ogg / .wav files in a music/ folder replace stage BGM.
  • Free / Unlocked Pause Camera: Remove rotation and boundary constraints on the pause camera for screenshots.

Phase 2: Tournament & Competitive Parity

Focus: Input precision, hardware adapters, and tournament rule compliance.

  • Direct 1000 Hz GameCube Controller Adapter Support:
    • Direct access to official Nintendo Wii U/Switch GC Adapters and Mayflash (Wii U mode), bypassing the OS gamepad translation layer so the game sees raw 8-bit stick and trigger values.
    • 1 ms (1000 Hz) polling off the dedicated input thread.
  • UCF (Universal Controller Fix):
    • Dashback Fix: Eliminate controller polling variance on dash turns.
    • Shield Drop Fix: Standardize diagonal shield drop input thresholds on analog gates.
  • Extended Hazardless Stages:
    • Dream Land 64 (Whispy Woods wind disabled).
    • Yoshi's Story (Shy Guys fly-bys disabled; Randall the Cloud togglable).
    • Fountain of Dreams (fixed platform heights).
  • Controller Haptics & Visuals:
    • Rumble for SDL3 gamepads and GameCube adapter motors, driven from the game's own PADControlMotor calls.
    • Controller lightbar / RGB LED synchronization with player port colors (P1 Red, P2 Blue, P3 Yellow, P4 Green).
  • 2-Player Keyboard Remapping:
    • Configurable in-game keyboard remapping.
    • Support for two players sharing a single keyboard (e.g. WASD + JKL vs. Numpad + Arrows).

Phase 3: High-Refresh-Rate Interpolation & Training Suite

Focus: Cutting-edge display performance and competitive practice tools (UnclePunch-inspired).

  • High-Refresh-Rate Frame Interpolation (120 Hz / 144 Hz / 240 Hz):
    • Keep gameplay simulation, physics, hitlag, and inputs locked at 60 Hz.
    • Interpolate camera matrices and fighter joint hierarchies (HSD_JObj) between 60 Hz ticks for smooth presentation on modern gaming monitors.
  • Training & Practice Tools:
    • Hitbox & Hurtbox Visualizer: Real-time rendering of attack hitboxes (red), grab boxes (yellow), hurtboxes (blue), and Environmental Collision Boxes (ECB) using Aurora's GX geometry layer.
    • L-Cancel Flash Indicator: Visual feedback on aerial landings (green flash on successful L-cancel, red flash on missed L-cancel).
    • Frame Advance & Slow Motion: Dedicated hotkeys to advance simulation frame-by-frame or run at 50% / 25% speed.
    • Savestates in Training Mode: Instant save and load slots to drill specific recovery or combo situations.
  • Replay Recording & Playback:
    • Record match inputs, RNG seeds, and metadata to Slippi .slp files.
    • Built-in replay playback and compatibility with Slippi Lab.

Phase 4: Serverless Online Netcode (BitTorrent-Style P2P Matchmaking & Rollback)

Focus: Zero-delay online play with completely decentralized, serverless peer matchmaking. Design document: docs/netcode-plan.md.

  • Native Rollback Netcode (Slippi model, re-implemented on native memory):
    • Input delay 0–4 (auto from RTT), 7-frame rollback window, repeat-last-input prediction, snapshots only on predicted frames.
    • Whole-region snapshot of game statics + live heaps (audio heap excluded); SFX/music/rumble gated during re-simulation.
    • Slippi-style time sync (trimmed-mean clock offset, stall/advance) applied to native frame pacing; per-frame desync checksums.
    • Determinism groundwork first: -ffp-contract=off on every TU game logic reaches, one vendored trig implementation instead of platform libm, shared RNG seed, deterministic (prewarmed) in-match disc loads, record/replay harness.
  • BitTorrent-Style Decentralized Matchmaking (Serverless P2P):
    • DHT / Kademlia Peer Discovery: Mainline DHT (BEP 5) via jech/dht; time-bucketed topic infohashes for queues; announce_peer(implied_port) + get_peers is the rendezvous, BEP 42 ip reveals the NAT mapping — no matchmaking server, no STUN.
    • Decentralized Connect Codes: NAME#XXXX (suffix derived from the player's ed25519 public key); Direct topics hash the code.
    • NAT Traversal & UDP Hole-Punching: Simultaneous open from the DHT socket (Slippi's approach); symmetric NAT re-queues, no relay.
    • Community Resilience & Longevity: Zero backend infrastructure means the online mode can never be shut down or abandoned.
  • Unranked, Ranked and Direct modes with Slippi's ranked ruleset (4 stock / 8:00 / items off / 6 legal stages / Bo3, loser picks with bans).
  • On-Device Rating (no server): ed25519 identity per install; Weng-Lin (OpenSkill) rating updated identically on both peers from a doubly-signed match record; hash-chained history published as BEP 44 DHT items and verified by opponents. Verifiable, explicitly not cheat-proof.
  • LAN Play: mDNS discovery, Double Dash-style lobby (player counter, host owns rules, load barriers, halt-together), direct IP fallback, same engine at delay 0.
  • Native Menu Integration: Online entry in the VS Mode submenu → Ranked / Unranked / Direct / LAN / Profile; lobby scene, then vanilla CSS/SSS/match/results driven by synced inputs; quick chat; name/delay/ping on the HUD.
  • Ultra-Low-Latency Presentation: late local input sampling, just-in-time tick scheduling against vblank, early + redundant input sends, DSCP marking; target button-to-photon at delay 1 below Slippi at delay 2.
  • macOS Support:
    • Exploration of macOS Apple Silicon (Metal) builds using GCC toolchains supporting scalar_storage_order.
  • RetroAchievements Integration:
    • Native achievement tracking for Single Player, Event Matches, Target Tests, and Home-Run Contest.

Feedback & Community

Discussions, bug reports, and feature proposals are welcome on GitHub Issues and Discord. The current feature-status table is in the README.