Project Verdant

A 3D low-poly wave survival shooter where you fight off endless enemies directly from the Reddit feed!

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Inspiration

We envisioned pushing the capabilities of Reddit's Devvit platform even further. Building upon the technical foundation of our previous game (Planet Outpost), we wanted to see if we could create a fully-fledged 3D tactical shooter—complete with loadouts, multiple biomes, day/night cycles, vehicles, and a deep co-op multiplayer system—all executing smoothly within a single Reddit post. We drew heavy inspiration from classic tactical shooters and survival games to bring a rich, expansive world directly to the Reddit community.

What it does

Project Verdant drops players into a series of massive, procedurally varied battlefields spanning multiple biomes like plains, highlands, mountains, and deserts.

The game is built for Reddit communities looking for a high-fidelity gaming experience straight from their feed. Players engage in intense wave-based survival, scavenge for weapons and attachments, pilot vehicles, and coordinate with other Redditors in real-time. Whether you're exploring the serene but deadly mountains, sneaking through night operations, or viewing the action via the tactical map, Verdant delivers a complete gaming experience natively without ever leaving Reddit.

How we built it

Verdant builds on a lightweight Three.js engine, optimized heavily for the browser. The frontend is powered by vanilla JavaScript to maximize performance, bundled seamlessly with Vite.

For the backend, we utilized Devvit's Realtime API alongside a custom Hono relay server to handle all multiplayer state. We seamlessly replaced traditional WebSockets with Devvit's native infrastructure, routing player positions, game events, and global chat securely across the platform, using Redis to manage active sessions.

Challenges we ran into

  • Sandboxed Controls: Implementing FPS-style mouse look inside an iframe was incredibly challenging due to browser restrictions on the Pointer Lock API. We successfully engineered a fallback control scheme that intelligently reads raw mouse movement to allow players to look around even when the browser denies pointer locking.
  • State Synchronization: Broadcasting fast-paced 3D positional data through Devvit's Realtime API required optimizing payload sizes and efficiently managing player lifecycles via Redis.
  • Performance: Rendering dynamic shadows, large terrain chunks, and dozens of AI enemies simultaneously in a WebView required aggressive object pooling and custom culling logic.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are incredibly proud to have squeezed a fully playable, visually stunning 3D tactical game into the Devvit ecosystem. The multiplayer integration specifically feels robust; players can hop into a Reddit post and immediately see their friends fighting alongside them in a beautiful environment. Transitioning complex game logic to Devvit's Realtime events and having it run synchronously across multiple clients feels like a major victory.

What we learned

We significantly expanded our knowledge of the Devvit framework, particularly mastering the Realtime API and Hono for high-frequency game relays. We also learned advanced techniques for bypassing iframe sandbox restrictions to provide a smooth user experience, and improved our skills in compressing JavaScript/WebGL assets for rapid load times inside a WebView.

What's next for Project Verdant

  • Persistent World Events: Subreddit-wide campaigns where the community works together to conquer map nodes over days or weeks.
  • Expanded PvP Arena: Dedicated competitive modes beyond co-op survival.
  • Deeper Customization: More vehicles, attachments, and unlockable cosmetics driven by Devvit's Database API.
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