WaTo

3D PvP Tower Defense game built with C++20. Features client-server architecture with deterministic lockstep networking, custom bit-level serialization, and an ECS using EnTT.

Getting Started

git clone --recurse-submodules -j8 git@github.com:robinwils/wato.git
cd wato
git lfs pull

Prerequisites

• CMake 3.29+
• Ninja
• C++20 compiler (GCC 12+, Clang 16+, or MSVC 17+)
• Git LFS
• vcpkg (included as submodule)

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

sudo apt-get install -y \
    zip unzip curl ca-certificates git git-lfs \
    build-essential ninja-build cmake pkg-config \
    autoconf automake libtool \
    libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libvulkan-dev \
    libxinerama-dev libxcursor-dev xorg-dev libx11-dev \
    libwayland-dev libxkbcommon-dev wayland-protocols

autoconf, automake, libtool are needed by vcpkg to build libsodium from source. The libvulkan-dev, X11 and Wayland packages are only needed when building the client (ENABLE_CLIENT=ON).

macOS

Xcode Command Line Tools provide clang and system headers. Install additional tools via Homebrew:

xcode-select --install
brew install cmake ninja autoconf automake libtool

Windows

1. Install Visual Studio 2022 (Community or Build Tools) with the "Desktop development with C++" workload
2. Install CMake 3.29+ and Ninja (or via choco install cmake ninja)
3. Install the Vulkan SDK

Run builds from a Developer Command Prompt (or use vcvarsall.bat) so MSVC is on PATH.

Build

CMake presets handle all configuration:

# Configure
cmake --preset unixlike-gcc-debug        # Linux GCC
cmake --preset unixlike-clang-debug      # Linux/macOS Clang
cmake --preset windows-msvc-debug        # Windows MSVC

# Build
cmake --build --preset <preset-name>

Append -sccache to any preset name to use sccache (e.g. unixlike-clang-debug-sccache).

Replace debug with release for optimized builds.

Build Targets

Target	Description	Option
wato	Game client	ENABLE_CLIENT=ON
watod	Dedicated server	ENABLE_SERVER=ON
wato_tests	Test suite	ENABLE_TESTS=ON

Tests

./out/build/<preset-name>/test/wato_tests

Docker Compose

Three services run via docker-compose.yml at the project root:

Service	Description	Port
watohttpd	PocketBase backend (auth, matchmaking)	internal :8090
caddy	Reverse proxy with automatic TLS	:443
watod	Dedicated game server	:7777/udp

Environment Variables

All variables come from the shell environment (use direnv with .envrc):

Variable	Description	Dev default
DOMAIN	Domain for Caddy TLS	localhost
CADDYFILE	Path to Caddyfile	./Caddyfile.dev
AUTOMIGRATE	Auto-run PocketBase migrations	1
ADMIN_EMAIL	PocketBase admin email	admin@wato.com
ADMIN_PASSWORD	PocketBase admin password	Wato1234!
PB_TOKEN	PocketBase admin token for watod	(set in .envrc)

Quick Start

direnv allow
docker compose up --build

# Verify
docker compose ps                          # 3 services running
curl -k https://localhost/api/health       # PocketBase OK
docker compose logs watod                  # watod connected

Trusting Caddy's CA on the Host

In development, Caddy generates a local CA. For the game client (running outside Docker) to connect via HTTPS:

docker compose cp caddy:/data/caddy/pki/authorities/local/root.crt /tmp/caddy-root.crt

# Linux
sudo cp /tmp/caddy-root.crt /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/caddy-local.crt
sudo update-ca-certificates

# macOS
sudo security add-trusted-cert -d -r trustRoot -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain /tmp/caddy-root.crt

Dev vs Prod

	Dev	Prod
DOMAIN	localhost	wato.example.com
CADDYFILE	./Caddyfile.dev	./Caddyfile.prod
TLS	Internal (self-signed)	Let's Encrypt
AUTOMIGRATE	1	(empty)