Start a lobby countdown only when everyone present is truly ready

A match that starts while a friend is still joining, or counts down with someone who just clicked away, leaves one player behind and everybody annoyed. A ready check seems trivial, yet joins, leaves and changed minds during the countdown each break it. Here is what must restart it and what must not.

Why this works

A countdown is a promise that nothing will change before it ends. Whenever something does change, the honest move is to cancel it and start a full one later, so nobody is rushed or left behind by a clock that no longer fits.

When not to use it

Skip it for public games that fill themselves and start by a fixed timer, and for games where latecomers may join a running match. A ready check there only stalls players who would be happy to start.

In the full entry

• What to build, step by step
• Starting values and the reason for each
• 3 common mistakes and the fix
• A diagram of every state
• 19 lines of example code with 3 checks that pass
• How your AI shows you that it works

Say this to your AI

Use the Spielerando entry "Start a lobby countdown only when everyone present is truly ready" (read_entry coop-ready-check-and-start-countdown) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.

Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP