Usurper Reborn - v0.27.0 Release Notes

Online Multiplayer

This release adds full online multiplayer support, allowing players to connect to a shared game world via SSH.

Online Server Architecture

• Shared SQLite Backend: All online players share a single SQLite database for persistent world state, player saves, and cross-player interactions
• SSH-Based Connectivity: Players connect via ssh usurper@<server> -p 4000 using a shared gateway account. Real authentication is handled in-game.
• Dedicated sshd Instance: Online play runs on a separate sshd service (port 4000) isolated from the server's admin SSH (port 22)
• Stdio I/O Mode: Online connections use --online --stdio for SSH transport compatibility

In-Game Authentication System

• Login/Register Screen: When connecting without a --user flag, players see an in-game authentication screen with options to login, register a new account, or quit
• PBKDF2 Password Hashing: Passwords are hashed with 100,000 iterations of PBKDF2-SHA256 with random 16-byte salts, stored as salt:hash base64 pairs
• Constant-Time Comparison: Password verification uses CryptographicOperations.FixedTimeEquals to prevent timing attacks
• Case-Insensitive Usernames: All username lookups use LOWER() for consistent matching while preserving display name casing
• Account Validation: Usernames must be 2-20 characters (letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens, underscores). Duplicate detection is case-insensitive.
• Ban Support: Banned players are rejected at login with a message
• Max Login Attempts: 5 failed login attempts before automatic disconnect

Online State Management

• OnlineStateManager: Coordinates player state across the shared database - saves, loads, and syncs player data
• SqlSaveBackend: Full SQLite backend for player data, authentication, world state, chat, and leaderboards
• Player Presence: Tracks online/offline status with heartbeat timestamps
• Cross-Player Visibility: Players can see who else is online in the shared world

Server Deployment

• Automated Setup: scripts-server/setup-server.sh configures the entire server (user creation, directory structure, sshd config, firewall rules)
• Server Scripts: Includes usurper-shell.sh (login shell), usurper-world.service (world simulator systemd unit), usurper-logrotate.conf (log rotation), update-server.sh (update deployment), and backup.sh (database backup)
• Tarball Packaging: Linux builds include a compressed tarball (usurper-reborn-server.tar.gz) for easy server transfer
• SERVER_DEPLOYMENT.md: Comprehensive deployment guide covering AWS setup, SSH configuration, firewall rules, and maintenance procedures

New Files

• Scripts/Systems/OnlineAuthScreen.cs - Login/register UI for SSH connections
• Scripts/Systems/OnlineStateManager.cs - Online player state coordination
• Scripts/Systems/SqlSaveBackend.cs - SQLite shared backend for multiplayer
• DOCS/SERVER_DEPLOYMENT.md - Server deployment guide
• scripts-server/setup-server.sh - Automated server setup script
• scripts-server/usurper-shell.sh - Custom login shell for per-player accounts
• scripts-server/usurper-world.service - World simulator systemd service
• scripts-server/usurper-logrotate.conf - Log rotation configuration
• scripts-server/update-server.sh - Server update script
• scripts-server/backup.sh - Database backup script

Website & Browser Play (usurper-reborn.net)

• Browser-Based Play: Players can now play directly in their browser at https://usurper-reborn.net using an embedded xterm.js terminal that connects via WebSocket-to-SSH proxy
• Live Stats Dashboard: The landing page displays a real-time "World Status" section with:
  • Online player list (name, class, level, location, connection type) with pulsing green indicator
  • Player leaderboard / Hall of Fame (rank, name, class, level, experience) with online indicators
  • Aggregate stats: total players, monsters slain, average level, deepest floor, total gold, marriages/children
  • Highlights: top adventurer, current ruler, most popular class
  • Recent news feed from the game world
  • Auto-refreshes every 30 seconds
• Stats REST API: GET /api/stats endpoint serves live game statistics from the SQLite database with 30-second cache
• Landing Page Content: Comprehensive game info including story lore, all 7 Old Gods, 11 classes with stat bars, 10 races, 4 companions with backstories, 5 endings, game history, BBS list, credits, and SVG favicon
• Nginx Reverse Proxy: Serves static files, proxies /ws for WebSocket terminal and /api/ for stats endpoint to Node.js on port 3000
• SSL Support: Let's Encrypt certificates via certbot for HTTPS

New Website Files

• web/index.html - Landing page with xterm.js terminal, live stats dashboard, game lore
• web/ssh-proxy.js - Node.js HTTP + WebSocket server (ws + ssh2 + better-sqlite3)
• web/package.json - Node.js dependencies
• scripts-server/nginx-usurper.conf - Nginx reverse proxy configuration
• scripts-server/usurper-web.service - Systemd service for web proxy

Online Chat System

• Cross-Location Chat: /say, /tell, /who, and /news commands work from any game location, not just Main Street
• Live Message Display: Incoming chat messages from other players appear at every input prompt across all locations
• Message Sent Confirmation: /say and /tell commands now show "Message sent!" with a brief pause so you can see your message was sent
• Press Any Key Pauses: Who's Online and News Feed screens now wait for a keypress before returning to the menu
• Connection Type Tracking: Who's Online shows how each player is connected (Web, SSH, BBS, Steam, or Local) both in-game and on the website

Hall of Fame / Leaderboard

• In-Game Hall of Fame: The Fame menu on Main Street now includes all online players from the shared database, ranked alongside NPCs by level and experience. Online players show an [ON] tag.
• Website Leaderboard: The landing page displays a "Hall of Fame" section with all registered players ranked by level and experience, showing class, rank (with gold/silver/bronze styling for top 3), and online status indicators.

News Feed System

• Live Game Events: The news feed ([5] from Main Street or /news from anywhere) now shows real-time events from all players:
  • New character creation (with class)
  • Level ups (every 5 levels + first 3 levels)
  • Boss kills
  • Old God defeats and saves
  • Seal discoveries (with count)
  • Player deaths
  • Marriages
  • Achievement unlocks

Bug Fixes

• New player registration save bug: Newly registered accounts could not load because RegisterPlayer inserts player_data = '{}', which was treated as a valid save with version 0. Fixed by skipping empty '{}' records in GetPlayerSaves and ReadGameData, and adding fallback to character creation when load fails in online mode.
• Username case mismatch causing duplicate records: Registration stored usernames as lowercase but WriteGameData saved with original case, creating duplicate database rows. Fixed by normalizing to lowercase in WriteGameData. Read queries now use ORDER BY LENGTH(player_data) DESC to prefer records with actual data.
• Broadcast chat messages repeating infinitely: Broadcast messages (to_player = '*') were never marked as read, causing them to be re-fetched every 5-second poll cycle. Fixed with an ID watermark system that tracks the highest seen message ID, skipping already-processed messages.
• Who's Online showing 0 players: StartOnlineTracking() was defined but never called, so players were never registered in the online_players table. Wired into Program.cs after authentication.
• Web terminal box drawing characters garbled: SSH proxy converted UTF-8 data to Latin-1 via data.toString('binary'). Fixed by sending raw Buffer objects, preserving UTF-8 encoding for box drawing characters (║ ═ ╔ ╗).
• Web terminal duplicate keystrokes on reconnect: Each "Play Now" click registered additional terminal.onData handlers without disposing old ones, causing multiplied keystrokes. Fixed by tracking and disposing previous handlers before re-registering.
• Online mode hides [O]nline Play menu: The "Online Play" menu option is no longer shown when already connected in online mode
• Character name conflict resolved: Online mode now correctly uses RunBBSDoorMode() flow so the authenticated username becomes the character name automatically
• Version checking disabled for online mode: Automatic update checks are skipped in online server mode
• Who's Online always showing Main Street: OnlineStateManager.UpdateLocation() was never called when changing locations. Fixed by calling it in BaseLocation.EnterLocation() after updating the player's location.
• Private messages not delivered between players: SQLite string comparison is case-sensitive by default. Messages sent via /tell Ted stored to_player = "Ted" but the recipient's GetUnreadMessages query did exact case match. Fixed with LOWER() in both GetUnreadMessages and MarkMessagesRead queries.
• Achievement news events: Achievements now post to the shared news feed when unlocked in online mode.

Command Line Options

# Start in online mode (with in-game auth)
UsurperReborn --online --stdio

# Start in online mode (pre-authenticated, for scripted/BBS use)
UsurperReborn --online --user "PlayerName" --stdio

# Start in online mode with custom database path
UsurperReborn --online --stdio --db /var/usurper/usurper_online.db

Files Changed

• Console/Bootstrap/Program.cs - Online auth flow, StartOnlineTracking, connection type detection
• Scripts/BBS/DoorMode.cs - SetOnlineUsername(), online mode detection
• Scripts/Core/GameEngine.cs - Online mode uses RunBBSDoorMode(), hides online menu, fallback to character creation on load failure, death news
• Scripts/Core/GameConfig.cs - Version 0.27.0-alpha, "Online Multiplayer"
• Scripts/Systems/SqlSaveBackend.cs - Username normalization, empty record handling, ID watermark queries, GetMaxMessageId, connection_type column, case-insensitive message queries, GetAllPlayerSummaries
• Scripts/Systems/OnlineStateManager.cs - Message ID watermark, StartOnlineTracking with connection type, GetAllPlayerSummaries
• Scripts/Systems/OnlineChatSystem.cs - PressAnyKey, message sent confirmation, connection type in Who's Online
• Scripts/Systems/IOnlineSaveBackend.cs - GetUnreadMessages afterMessageId, GetMaxMessageId, GetAllPlayerSummaries, PlayerSummary class, ConnectionType on OnlinePlayerInfo
• Scripts/Systems/AchievementSystem.cs - Achievement unlock news events for online mode
• Scripts/Systems/CombatEngine.cs - Boss kill news events
• Scripts/Systems/RelationshipSystem.cs - Marriage news events
• Scripts/Locations/BaseLocation.cs - Online location tracking on EnterLocation
• Scripts/Locations/DevMenuLocation.cs - Separate online mode passcode
• Scripts/Locations/DungeonLocation.cs - Old God defeat/save news, seal collection news
• Scripts/Locations/LevelMasterLocation.cs - Level up news events
• Scripts/Locations/MainStreetLocation.cs - Online menu options, Hall of Fame includes online players
• Scripts/Systems/VersionChecker.cs - Skip update checks in online mode
• Scripts/Locations/SysOpLocation.cs - Skip update checks in online mode
• Scripts/Systems/SysOpConsoleManager.cs - Skip update checks in online mode
• web/index.html - Landing page, stats dashboard, leaderboard, connection type column, UTF-8 fix
• web/ssh-proxy.js - Stats API with leaderboard and connection type, UTF-8 fix
• web/package.json - Added better-sqlite3 dependency
• scripts-server/nginx-usurper.conf - Added /api/ proxy location
• scripts-server/usurper-web.service - Web proxy systemd service
• DOCS/SERVER_DEPLOYMENT.md - Added website setup and stats API documentation