Roadmap for @colyseus/schema 3.0

[endel]

Hi everybody, I have been working on the upcoming version 3.0 of @colyseus/schema since last month, and I think I can finally share what's planned to land on this next version.

• Deprecate @filter() and @filterChildren()
• Introduce a StateView build block that allows to filter data per client
  • Use cases:
    • Allow "private fields" per schema instance
    • Allow "level of detail". Clients would receive most fields, yet some are only synchronized if inside the client's "StateView"
    • Area-based: Clients would receive only data regarding its proximities
    • Team-owned data: only visible to user's team
    • ...more?
• De-couple encode and decode methods from Schema instances
• De-couple client-side callbacks from Schema instances
  • Breaking changes are coming the callback API again... (there's some heated discussion at onChange is triggered when elements are removed schema#155)
  • Fix Re-using schema instances on many places & missing callbacks schema#151
  • Fix onAdd callback gets called multiple times schema#147 (comment)
• Fix known issues from ArraySchema (ArraySchema: known issues #641)
• Avoid global type Context ("Local schema mismatch from server" - when defining multiple rooms/states colyseus-unity-sdk#131)
• Expose APIs to:
  • Allow to encode/decode arbitrary structures (no need to inherit from Schema class)
  • Allow to customize the change tracking, encoding and decoding at the byte level

---

I'll be posting updates for feedback once APIs are more established. If you have any early feedback they are very welcome! 🙌

[Alaadel]

Looking forward to this!
Would be nice to have a before-and-after code snippets to understand the changes I will need to make to my existing servers.
Any estimated release date please?

[endel]

Hi @Alaadel 👋

So far the de-coupled and new callback API is looking like this: colyseus/schema#155 (comment), (feel free to add your thoughts on that issue if you have any feedback 🙌 )

I don't have a clear estimation yet - I'm expecting to have a "preview" version available around June, initially only for the JavaScript SDK. After gathering feedback from the community and fixing rough edges of the "preview" version, the other SDKs will follow with the release of a "stable" version.

[orion3dgames]

I missed this @endel . Looks great! The ideas you have for the replacement of filter/filterChildren looks amazing and should be very useful for lots of people. Especially the area of interest part. This deserves a sponsorship! :) Cheers (Rigolo/Orion)

[NoahHahm]

I'm looking forward to 3.0.
In the case of simple puzzles or games played on the screen, they can be developed with simple schema synchronization.
In the case of multiplayer where the space is wide, LOD is necessary.
3.0 Will there be a priority for a synchronized development methodology by interest in StateView?