Amoeba — Deployable Multiplayer Web Game

Real-time party game where players submit prompts, one prompt is chosen, everyone answers anonymously, and players take turns guessing who wrote which answer. Correct guesses capture the author into the guesser's team; wrong guesses pass the turn to the accused.

Monorepo Layout

amoeba-deployable/
  server/    # Node + Express + Socket.IO (Dockerfile included)
  client/    # Vite + React (configurable server URL via env)

Quick Start (Local Dev)

Terminal A — Server:

cd server
npm install
npm run dev
# -> http://localhost:4000

Terminal B — Client:

cd client
npm install
npm run dev
# -> http://localhost:5173 (auto-connects to ws://localhost:4000)

Open the client URL on multiple devices/browsers and share the same room code.

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Deploy

Option A — Server on Render (free) + Client on Vercel (free)

Server (Render):

1. Create a new Web Service from this server/ folder (Node).
2. Environment:
   • Build Command: npm ci
   • Start Command: node index.js
   • PORT: Render sets it automatically.
3. Add a custom domain later if you wish (optional).

Client (Vercel):

1. Import the repo, select the client/ folder as the project root.
2. Add Environment Variable:
   • VITE_SERVER_URL=https://<your-render-app>.onrender.com
3. Deploy. The client will connect to your server over WebSocket.

Option B — Server with Docker anywhere (Fly.io/Render/VPS)

Build & run the server container:

cd server
docker build -t amoeba-server .
docker run -p 4000:4000 -e PORT=4000 amoeba-server

Then build and host the client (any static host):

cd client
# set server URL for the build
echo "VITE_SERVER_URL=https://YOUR_SERVER_URL" > .env.production
npm install
npm run build
# deploy ./dist to Netlify/Vercel/Static S3/etc.

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Game Flow

• Lobby: players join with a username; the first joiner is host.
• Prompt Submit: everyone submits one prompt; server picks one randomly.
• Answer Submit: everyone submits one answer to the chosen prompt.
• Reveal/Guessing:
  • Answers shown anonymously.
  • One player randomly chosen to start.
  • On your turn: select an answer → choose a username → submit guess.
  • Correct: author joins your team; you go again.
  • Wrong: turn passes to the accused.
• Round End: when one team has everyone.

Notes

• This in-memory server is great for small rooms. For persistence or scaling, use Redis/Postgres and a Socket.IO adapter.
• Make sure your server’s CORS allows your client origin (already permissive by default here).