Inspiration
We just wanted to create something funny, and something that is "based on true events."
What it does
One player is the Cop. Everyone else is a Phone Snatcher hiding in a crowd of NPC civilians on the streets of London. Snatchers steal phones and blend back into the crowd. The Cop has to figure out who's who before time runs out. Guess wrong three times and the Snatchers win. No app install, just share a link and go.
How we built it
- Frontend: React + Three.js via
@react-three/fiber - Multiplayer: Socket.io + Node.js backend
- Map: Fully procedural London (Big Ben, London Bridge, London Eye, the Thames).
- Role secrecy: server never broadcasts role data in world state ticks, only to the individual player on game start
Challenges we ran into
Making Snatchers actually hard to spot. If players look even slightly different from NPCs the whole mechanic collapses. Also convincing our server that no, we do not want to broadcast everyone's role to everyone. It took a few tries.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Big Ben is actually recognisable
- The game is genuinely tense when you're down to one Snatcher and two wrong guesses left
- Making a game in just 4 hours
What we learned
Real-time multiplayer state is mostly just deciding what each player is allowed to know. Also that building all of London in one day is ambitious.
What's next for Catch Before They Snatch
- Proximity voice chat so you can gaslight your friends in real time
- More London districts: Shoreditch, Camden, Canary Wharf
- Snatcher abilities: disguises, decoys, sprint cooldowns
- Mobile compatibility
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