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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11When a turn-based match changes before a player’s action reaches the server, do not apply that action to the old board. Treat each move as a proposal tied to a specific game-state version: the server checks it against the current authoritative state, rejects it if it is stale, and gives the client a way to refresh. This prevents competing devices or players from silently overwriting a valid move.
What a stale move is—and why last-write-wins is unsafe
A stale move is an action submitted from a view of the match that is no longer current. For example, a player may have a board open on two devices, or a request may be delayed while another action advances the match. The action may have been legal when the player chose it, but that does not make it legal in the state the server has now.
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For live match actions, the client proposes; the server decides. The server should own the authoritative match state and rules, verify the player’s seat and turn, validate the proposed action against the current state, and commit only a valid transition. Unity’s game-state management example follows that sequence: load state, check whose turn it is, validate the requested piece and move, update the board, and publish the result.
Last-write-wins is not a safe substitute for those checks. It may make replicas converge on one value, but it does not establish that the surviving move was legal. EigenInteractive’s engine documentation puts the versioning principle succinctly: “A version is a fact, not a suggestion.”
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Use versioned, serialized commits for sequential turns
Give every committed match transition a monotonically increasing version or revision. A client includes the version it last observed with its move. The server compares that expected version with the current version as part of the same serialized or atomic operation that commits the action. If another move has committed first, the request is stale and must be considered against the new state—not applied to the old one.
A practical server-side flow is:
- Receive the game ID, player or seat identity, expected state version, and proposed move.
- Route the command through a per-game serialized handler or an atomic conditional transaction. Load authoritative state and verify the player’s identity, turn, any applicable deadline, and the move’s legality under the game’s rules.
- If the expected version differs from the current version, reject the move without changing the match. Return the current version or provide a way to fetch the current state.
- If the version matches and the move is legal, commit the complete transition and advance the version exactly once.
- Publish the committed result to relevant clients so they can reconcile their displayed state.
EigenInteractive describes per-game command serialization to prevent two writers from racing on one game row. The same compare-and-commit rule can be implemented with a database transaction or conditional update, or by routing state-changing commands through a single owner for each game. The appropriate mechanism depends on the persistence system; the essential requirement is that checking the version and committing the move cannot be separated by a competing write.
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There are game-specific exceptions. EigenInteractive describes an exception for simultaneous moves when the acting seat’s observation has not changed. That is a rules-engine choice, not a general license to accept stale requests. Use it only when the game’s rules and information model explicitly make the action valid despite the intervening transition.
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What the client should show after a conflict
While a move is pending
An optimistic client can animate a tentative move immediately, but it should mark that move as pending rather than present it as committed. The server’s accepted state and version remain authoritative.
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When the server accepts the move
Reconcile the preview with the committed result and version returned by the server. Do not let a local animation or cached board become an alternate source of truth.
When the server rejects a stale move
Refresh or replace the client’s state with the current server state, then explain plainly that the board changed before the move was accepted. Let the player choose what to do next. Do not automatically replay the old action on the new state unless the rules explicitly guarantee that the player’s intent remains valid there.
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After a timeout or reconnect
A client that may have missed a response should fetch the current state or request the missing transition range, then resume from a server-provided version. As an additional safeguard, use a request ID or idempotency token for commands: if a timed-out request already committed and is retried, the server can return the original result instead of applying the move twice. This is a protocol design recommendation, not a universal feature specified by the cited vendors.
Keep hidden information on the server. Build each player’s refreshed view from authoritative state and send only what that player is allowed to observe; a conflict refresh must not expose an opponent’s hidden cards, orders, or other private information.
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Do not confuse a stale move with a cloud-save conflict
A stale live move is a match-action problem: the match has advanced, so the server must decide whether the proposed action is valid in the current state. A cloud-save conflict is a synchronization problem: local data and cloud data have both changed within a save-sync unit. Microsoft’s Game Saves conflicts documentation addresses that save-data scenario. Choosing or merging saves does not replace server-side validation of whose turn it is or whether a live move is legal.
Choosing a backend approach
Unity documents Cloud Code as an option for turn-based game logic and state management, while Heroic Labs documents Nakama’s support for authoritative active and passive turn-based multiplayer. These are examples of approaches, not a complete market survey or an assertion that their transaction semantics are identical.
| What to assess | Question to answer |
|---|---|
| Trusted rule execution | Do game rules run on a trusted server, rather than relying on clients to enforce legality? |
| Per-match write control | Are commands for one match serialized, or can writes be committed conditionally against a version? |
| Persistence and recovery | How are accepted transitions stored and recovered after a process or connection failure? |
| Client updates | How do clients obtain ordered updates or refresh after reconnecting? |
| Hidden information | Can the server provide each player only their permitted observation? |
| Operational fit | Does the deployment and operating model suit the game’s turn cadence and environment? |
Server authority also has a latency cost because state changes travel through the server. Unity’s Netcode for GameObjects 2.13.0 authority documentation notes that consideration. For asynchronous turn-based play, weigh that delay against the value of central validation and consistent outcomes. Unity’s game-state management guidance and turn-based games guidance, alongside Heroic Labs’ authoritative multiplayer documentation, describe vendor-specific capabilities; check their current detailed documentation before choosing an implementation.
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