Exploring Optimistic Peer-to-Peer Synchronization Under Partial Observability for Real-Time Games : Design, Implementation, and Empirical Evaluation under Partial Observability

Sammanfattning

Distributed interactive applications, such as multiplayer games, require multipleindependent instances to maintain a sufficiently consistent shared state whileremaining responsive to local input. In fully decentralized settings, synchronizationbecomes particularly challenging when peers operate autonomously and possess onlypartial observability of the underlying simulation state. This thesis designs, implements, and evaluates a symmetric, optimistic, and partiallyobservable synchronization architecture for serverless execution, realized as a pluginfor the Bevy game engine. The implementation is evaluated using a simplifiedphysical simulation consisting of a single body orbiting a fixed point, chosen to providecontinuous dynamics and sensitivity to perturbations while remaining analyticallytractable. Multiple instances were executed in parallel to analyze divergence betweenpeers, deviations from ideal behavior, and synchronization efficacy under controlledconditions. The results show that, while the synchronization mechanism can suppress divergencefor extended periods, this behavior is not robust. The system exhibits abruptdivergence spikes and catastrophic failure modes arising from the synchronizationprocess itself rather than external disturbances. These findings demonstrate that, insymmetric and optimistic synchronization under partial observability, reconciliationcan interact with system dynamics in ways that introduce severe instability.