Maglev Cycle 6: Dual Same-Type Clients

The Context

With one Godot client verified end-to-end and the observability stack live (Cycle 2), the next question is whether the gateway can multiplex two same-type connections into one zone server tick while keeping both clients synchronized. Observability must be running before this cycle begins — a broadcast failure here is unattributable without gateway traces.

The Problem Statement

16 clients in one zone is the minimum to qualify as MMOG load. 14 are taskweft bots (~15 MB each, not full Godot processes); 1 is the PCVR human; 1 is the Steam Deck human. Connection-slot handling, datagram ordering, and state broadcast to 16 sockets have not been tested under concurrent load.

Design

16 clients connect to the gateway simultaneously. All receive datagram state from the same zone server instance each tick. One static entity in an empty world.

Pass criteria:

Estimate

5 days (2026-05-13 → 2026-05-19). Taskweft bots are proven (93 PropCheck properties passing). The work is wiring 14 bots to the gateway and adding the reconnect storm and network condition harnesses. No prior multi-bot gateway test exists in the history; projecting from the gateway build pace.

CRIS Score

Factor Score Evidence
Complexity 6 16 same-type connections; taskweft bots are proven infrastructure but have not been combined with the gateway at this count.
Reach 10 All subsequent cycles run at 16-client load.
Impediment 9 A desync at 16 clients means the gateway’s broadcast path is broken before heterogeneous input is added.
Stakeholder 10 Gate for Cycles 7–10.
Total 8.75 Build after Cycles 1 and 2 pass.

The Downsides

16 same-type bots leave the heterogeneous input path unvalidated.

The Road Not Taken

Starting immediately with heterogeneous IK and gamepad inputs at 16-client scale was rejected — a broadcast failure at full complexity would be ambiguous between gateway capacity and input-mux issues. Cycle 6 uses uniform bots to isolate the broadcast path.

Status

Status: Draft

Decision Makers

  • Lead Architect / Fabric Maintainer

Tags

  • maglev-cycle-6, mmog-load, gateway, smoke-test, galls-law, 20260506-maglev-cycle-6-mmog-load, present-proposal-template

Further Reading

@misc{v_sekai_2026,
  title = {V-Sekai},
  year  = {2026},
  url   = {https://v-sekai.org/}
}