Neon Rocket 3D

Boost. Jump. Chase the ball. First to five.

Browser car-soccer in a neon arena: Three.js visuals, RocketSim vehicle physics compiled to WebAssembly, three rule-based opponents, and self-hosted private 1v1 rooms.

Play the solo demo → · Browse the source · Host a private match

Actual Chrome capture of the English solo build — solo against NOVA-WF, running the native RocketSim WebAssembly engine. Not an online match or a rendered mockup.

The public demo is solo-only. GitHub Pages does not run the multiplayer server; private rooms and live spectating require self-hosting. The game interface is in English. This is an independent prototype, not an official Rocket League client or a production multiplayer service.

Inside the arena

• Drive, boost and fly: jumps, air control, powerslides, boost pickups, scoring and rematches, with an automatic chase camera.
• Pick your opponent: NOVA 1 pursues directly; NOVA 2 adds tactical interception; NOVA-WF adds shadow defense, boost routing and predictive attack. These are hand-written controllers, not trained neural networks.
• Challenge a friend: six-character private room codes, server-authoritative simulation and interpolated client rendering. No public matchmaking.
• Explore the engineering: a C++/WASM bridge, custom arena mesh, fixed-step networking and separate physics/evaluation experiments. RocketSim is an upstream engine, not an engine authored by this project.

Gallery · choose your opponent

Actual Chrome capture of the GitHub Pages lobby. Server-only controls are disabled; the notice explains why. Both gallery images are real, unaltered page captures. See capture provenance.

Run it yourself

Use Node.js 24+ with built-in node:sqlite, and a browser supporting WebGL and WebAssembly.

git clone https://github.com/airope/neon-rocket.git
cd neon-rocket
npm ci
npm test
npm run verify:native
npm start

Open http://localhost:3444. There is no frontend build step. Keep the server running while loading assets or playing online.

• The server creates data/nova-stats.sqlite on startup, including for solo use. It needs write permission; no separate database service is required.
• Keep the supplied native/rocketsim/dist/ and shared/rocketsim-wasm-bundled.js runtime assets. npm ci does not rebuild them.
• Defaults: HOST=127.0.0.1, PORT=3444. Override the database with NOVA_STATS_DB. For remote multiplayer, configure host/origin restrictions and HTTPS/WSS using the self-hosting guide.
• For a solo-only static export, run npm run build:demo; see static-demo verification before deploying.

Three engines, distinct jobs

Engine	Where it is used	Why it is here
RocketSim → WebAssembly	All three normal solo opponents in the browser; private 1v1 on the Node server	Native vehicle physics integrated through a project-specific C++/JS bridge
Rapier	NOVA 1 vs NOVA 2 spectator duel, with a local fallback; developer preview fixtures	A separate simulation and controller path
Cannon-es	Historical headless AI evaluation and parameter-search scripts	Reproducible controller experiments, not the playable native simulation

These paths are not interchangeable benchmarks. Historical evaluation scores do not establish the strength of the current solo opponents. See architecture and engine boundaries.

Controls

Input	Action
WASD / arrow keys	Drive and steer; pitch/yaw in the air
Space	Jump / second jump
Shift	Boost
Q / E	Air roll
C	Powerslide
Standard gamepad	Left stick / triggers to drive; primary / secondary / third face button for jump / boost / powerslide
On-screen touch controls	Steering, throttle, brake, jump, boost and drift

Keyboard gameplay has real-browser evidence. Physical gamepads, mobile devices and browser/OS combinations remain unverified; implemented input mappings are not hardware certification.

Verification, not promises

Recorded Chrome QA passed 42 checks on the public solo demo and 54 checks on the local server build, including two-client private-room play. Those runs establish behavior for the tested snapshot, not a hosted multiplayer service or every future revision. The verification report links CI evidence and reproducible commands.

Native scoring is covered by real-WASM integration fixtures; Rapier preview screenshots are not native scoring proof. Live contact-derived AI statistics are not certified. See the full limitations and release scope.

Read further

Architecture · Self-hosting · Verification · Release scope · Privacy · Security · Contributing

Licensing

The current code is available under the MIT license, including the v2.0.0 release. RocketSim, Bullet, compiler runtime and browser libraries retain their respective terms: see third-party notices.