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Summer checks every upload: the platforms, the packs and the files they name. Those checks show that your export is well formed. They can’t show that a player who presses Play online gets into a game. This page covers what the upload checks can’t see. Each check is here because a real release failed without it. We add a check whenever that happens again.

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Before every release

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Games with a server

  • Your server starts its server scene. See check 1.
  • Online join works with the version you release. See check 2.

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Games with online play

  • Players can find online play without changing a setting, or you decided on purpose that they can’t. See check 3.
  • Online progress is saved by your server, not only on the player’s device. See check 4.
  • Players can get back to the title from inside the game. See check 5.

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Every game that uses Summer

  • Your game doesn’t hard-code its Game ID. See check 6.

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The checks

Run the checks on the file you upload: your summer.games .zip. Export it as usual, in the editor (Project → Export, the summer.games preset) or with your agent, and take the server out of it:
A server pack you export on its own with your server preset is not the same file. It can pass a check that the uploaded .zip fails.

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1. Your server starts its server scene

Summer starts your game’s server with no scene named. The server pack’s own main scene decides what runs. Your server preset carries the custom feature summer_authority, and project.godot sets that feature’s main scene to your server scene:
project.godot
export_presets.cfg (your server preset)
If the preset is missing summer_authority, the server starts your players’ main scene instead, usually the title screen. That scene never tells Summer the server is ready, so every online join fails. Check it. Start the server from your .zip the way Summer does, with no scene named:
<summer> is the Summer Engine executable. Stop it after a few seconds and find the first Completed load for: 'res://…tscn' line. It must be your server scene, such as res://authority/main.tscn. If it shows your title or client scene, add summer_authority to the server preset’s Custom Features and export again. Local Play always starts your server scene by name, so a game can work there and still fail this check.

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2. Join online with the version you release

The check above runs on your computer. Players use a hosted server, so also test there: right after you promote a new version, open your game in a Summer Games app, join online and play until you’re in the game. Do it before you tell players about the update. If the join fails, see Players can’t join online.

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3. Players can find online play

A new player should reach online play without changing a setting. If online play is off by default, for example behind a grown-ups setting, make that a deliberate choice. Then join online yourself before every release, because no player will find it broken for you.

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4. Your server saves online progress

In online play, your server saves each player’s progress with player progress and loads it when they join. Progress kept only on the player’s device is lost when they reinstall or switch device, and players can edit it. To test, play online, earn something, leave, then join from another device.

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5. Players can get back to the title

Inside a game, players need a way back to the title screen, such as a pause menu or a Leave button, online and offline. Without one, the only way out is to close the app.

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6. Your game doesn’t hard-code its Game ID

Start Summer with no Game ID:
Summer then takes your game’s identity from wherever the game runs: the Summer Games app, your hosted server or Local Play. The exported .zip is portable, so its summer.build.json has no gameId. If your code reads gameId from that file and falls back to a made-up ID such as "game.my-game", the hosted server refuses it with game_identity_mismatch. Your server then stops before it is ready, and players’ online joins fail. The Summer Games app refuses it the same way. Check it. Search your project for Summer.initialize. Every call passes no ID, or an ID your game received from Summer, never a fixed string or a fallback. Then join online with the released version (check 2). Local Play and a local run of server.pck don’t run under a hosted identity, so they can’t catch this.

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Troubleshooting

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Players can’t join online

Every online join waits and then fails with world_start_timeout, while the game works in Local Play. Most likely causes:
  • Your server pack starts the wrong scene. Run check 1. If it loads your title or client scene, add summer_authority to your server preset’s Custom Features, export a new version, upload it and promote it.
  • Your game passes a fixed Game ID. Run check 6. Call Summer.initialize() with no ID, export a new version, upload it and promote it.
An empty server log does not mean nothing ran. A release server holds back what your game prints when it isn’t attached to a terminal. Its output can look empty even while your title scene is running. Use check 1 on your own computer to see which scene starts. If checks 1 and 6 pass and joins still fail, ask on Discord with your game’s name and the time you tried.

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Ask your agent

Check my game is ready to release. Your agent runs every check on this page and tells you what fails.

Does this not help you? Reach out on Discord!