Play real-time multiplayer games with friends, straight from your browser! Try it out here.
I built PlayLounge to set up quick, casual gaming sessions with little overhead. Schedules don’t always align, so with PlayLounge, I can enjoy simple but fun social games with friends, even on limited time.
The core of this application is real-time communication and event-driven architecture. The Node.js server maintains and validates the game state, communicating to clients with WebSockets.
- When a player makes a move, the browser emits an event to the server.
- The server validates the move, updates the game state, and broadcasts it to all clients in-game.
- Components in the React front-end re-render based on this state, ensuring a synchronized game state between players that is reflected in the UI.
To handle network errors or refreshes, I implemented a session token system. When a user first joins a lobby, they’re assigned a unique token saved in localStorage. If they disconnect, they’re re-authenticated into the active game with their state intact.
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React + Next.js on the frontend for smooth UI updates
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Node.js + Express.js on the backend for managing game logic and lobbies
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NGINX as a reverse proxy to manage incoming requests
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Docker + Docker Compose to run the frontend, backend, and NGINX in containers
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Terraform to define the infrastructure for hosting the app on AWS EC2
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Socket.io for real-time communication and game state updates
Follow these steps to run the project locally:
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/NDB-7/PlayLounge.git
cd PlayLounge
- Set up environment variable: Create a .env file in the root directory.
WEBHOOK_URL=<webhook_url_here> # This is the webhook to which feedback is sent
- Start Docker containers: Ensure Docker is installed, then run this command.
docker compose --env-file .env up -d --build
The application will run on port 80.