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Core Concepts

RoundKit is built around four core concepts. Understanding how they fit together makes the rest of the API straightforward.

A round is a state machine, not a script​

Many round systems evolve into if phase == "X" checks spread across multiple scripts, where phases, player state, timers, and win logic become tightly coupled. RoundKit separates those responsibilities into four pieces.

  • RoundManager: owns the round lifecycle, updates the active phase, and coordinates transitions.
  • Phases: define each stage of the round, its allowed transitions, and its enter, update, and exit behavior.
  • Context: the API exposed to phases, win conditions, and game code.
  • WinCondition: evaluates whether a phase should end and returns the outcome.

Supporting systems:

  • PlayerStateRegistry / RoundMetricRegistry: store round-scoped player and shared state.
  • RoundEventBus: provides event-based communication between round systems.

How they fit together​

Untitled diagram-2026-08-01-004944

A few things worth noticing in this diagram:

Game code interacts with the round through Context, not RoundManager. Win conditions report a WinOutcome; phases decide how to respond. Player state is scoped to the current round and is cleared when the round ends. Systems that don't belong in a phase hook can communicate through RoundEventBus.

Why it's structured this way​

The split exists because these three questions tend to change independently of each other in a real game:

  1. What stages does a round go through? (phases)
  2. When has someone won? (win conditions)
  3. What happens to a player mid-round who disconnects? (reconnection policies, covered later)

Phases, win conditions, and reconnection policies solve different problems and tend to change independently. Keeping them separate lets you replace a win condition without modifying phase definitions, or add phases without rewriting game logic.

RoundKit doesn't introduce concepts you couldn't build yourself. It provides a structure that keeps those concepts independent as your game grows.

The following sections introduce each component in more detail.