Computer players so nobody plays an empty game

The work: 19 October 2026 · Written 1 November 2026 · Entry 13 of 17

A matchmaking system has a hard problem when a site is small: sometimes nobody else is online. On 19 October 2026 the project added computer players, marked CPU, so that a lone player always has company, and a room never starts empty.

Inside the game

The computer players are part of the game itself, not a separate program. Each one is owned by one human player in the room, and its key presses are produced by that player's computer and sent like any other key press. Because the game is deterministic, every computer sees the same bot doing the same thing.

How many companions

A player who is alone gets a companion. In a game, the number of computer players can differ from one game to another; each game says how many it wants. When a real player joins, a computer player gives up its seat in the same moment, and when a player leaves, a computer player can take the seat.

Search while you play

Pressing Match does not stop what you are doing. While the site searches for opponents you keep playing with the computer players, and a small note shows that the search is going on. When opponents are found, the solo game ends and the shared game starts.

Labelled, and invisible to the rules

A computer player is always labelled CPU, so nobody is fooled into thinking they raced a person. The bots live only inside the simulation: the server does not know about them, and a replay of a game with bots plays back exactly the same as the original.