A node is a single participant in the Gargantis peer-to-peer network. Nodes are homogeneous: every node runs essentially the same software, in the browser, using JavaScript for logic and WebGL for rendering and GPU computation.
There is no client/server split. A node that renders a scene for a user and a node run headless as an always-on peer are the same software in different configurations. Every node is ephemeral — including the always-on one, which may still vanish at any time; the protocol assumes this and must never depend on any node persisting. An always-on configuration is not privileged: it merely improves availability and discovery for others at the margin, while the network stays correct with none.
Responsibilities#
- Join the P2P network and discover peers via Helia / IPFS.
- Subscribe to the realm partitions currently of interest (visible), using the Bounding Volume Hierarchy to bound what it pulls.
- Assemble the Scene Hierarchy from incoming structural and parameter streams via the Scene Composition Protocol.
- Run the per-realm game loop when it is contributing simulation, and render via WebGL.
- Represent the user through a persona.
The browser-facing explorer that lets a person walk the Gargantisphere is Gargantis Scout.