Project Update: Settlers of Reddit is Live!
We are incredibly excited to present the launch of Settlers of Reddit, a fully playable multiplayer board game running directly inside your Reddit feed! Here is a log of how the project evolved from a simple concept to a polished, fully integrated Devvit application.
Phase 1: Procedural Grid Generation & Board Layout
We started by designing a hexagonal coordinate system to represent resource tiles. By importing the board generation algorithms directly into the client, we achieved:
- Random resource tile layouts (Lumber, Brick, Wool, Grain, Ore, and Desert) with corresponding dice numbers.
- Dynamic port connectivity coordinates to calculate trading ratios (like 2:1 for specific resources, or 3:1 generic).
- A 3D board scene powered by Phaser and Enable3D with procedurally placed models representing settlements, roads, and cities.
Phase 2: AI Moderators & Turn Loop
To make the game fun for solo play, we implemented smart AI opponents styled as AI Subreddit Moderators (like ModBot_Alpha and ModBot_Beta).
- AI Decision Tree: The bots place initial settlements, evaluate resource trades, purchase development cards, and target you with the AutoMod robber.
- tRPC State Management: We synchronized the serverless Redis state with the client using tRPC v11, ensuring turn-based locks work reliably on Reddit.
Phase 3: Organic Lofi Folk Soundtrack
Instead of copying generic sound files, we built a dedicated browser-based synthesizer using the OfflineAudioContext Web API. We mimicked the actual arpeggiated lute strums and wooden flute timbres of classical Catan soundtracks, generating a beautiful BGM track (bgm.mp3) that plays in the background of the game.
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