Secluded Games

Playing it on the TV

Inspiration

While on a video chat with friends, we ran out of things to talk about. We wanted something to do! So I decided to build games to play with friends. The two games that I have so far included an online Trivia game including much needed facts about COVID-19 and a family party game, telestrations. Everyone can play from wherever they are, though it is recommended that you play with video chat to stay social while distancing!

What it does

So far, I've created two online games that can be played while remote. It helps promote being social while being physically distant. It specifically helps those in need of something to do while talking. Hopefully, it provides you with ways to stay connected and even make new friends while we're all stuck in lockdown.

How I built it

I used Firestore and Google Cloud Run to power the UI and underlying services respectively. The site is built using React and published to Firebase.

Challenges I ran into

I'm not much of a front end developer, so I had to learn a suite of front end tools including Spectre.css, React, and PixiJS. Learning how Canvas works with different devices and inputs was quite a challenge.

I also ran into an issue finding a lot of facts about Coronavirus. Most of the facts I received was from the cdc.gov website, but I found that lacking as well. There was a significant amount of time spent building out the Coronavirus trivia database of questions.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I was able to build something that I could easily share with friends and it made me enjoy being in their company again. It also made me want to hack again.

What I learned

A lot of coronavirus facts. Cloud Run is the cheapest way to run a service on Google Cloud. React is an awesome way to provide structure to UI and frontend. It made building multiple games very easy with reusable components.

Graphics and UI is hard, especially with many input devices.