Given that Claude is gonna take my job, I used it to help build a fun game to play before the apocalypse.

▶ Play Now — chaos-pong.onrender.com

Features

• 1:1 Quickplay — Get matched with a random opponent instantly
• Private Rooms — Create a room with a code and play 1:1 with friends
• 4-Player Tournaments — Single-elimination bracket for the ultimate winner
• Spectator Mode — Invite friends to watch epic battles live
• Taunts — Tilt your opponent with emoji taunts mid-rally
• Power-ups — Big paddle, freeze, cannon, ghost ball, shield, multi-ball, and more chaos
• Mobile Support — Touch controls, on-screen taunts, works on phones and tablets

Built with Go (WebSocket game server) and Phaser 3 (TypeScript frontend).

Local Development

Prerequisites

• Go 1.25+ (install)
• Node.js 22+ and npm (install)

Setup

# Install frontend dependencies
cd client && npm install && cd ..

# Terminal 1 — start the backend
cd backend && go run main.go

# Terminal 2 — start the frontend dev server
cd client && npx vite

Open two browser tabs to http://localhost:5173, enter a name in each, and click Join Queue.

The Vite dev server proxies /ws and /api requests to the Go backend on :8080.

Controls

Desktop: W/S or ↑/↓ to move, 1–6 to taunt, ESC to pause.

Mobile: Touch and drag to move your paddle. On-screen emoji bar for taunts, ⏸ button to pause.

Game Modes

Mode	How it works
Quickplay	Join the queue, get paired instantly. First to 11 (win by 2 at deuce).
Private Room	Create a room, share the 4-letter code with a friend.
Tournament	4 players, single-elimination bracket. Semi-finals → Final.
Spectate	Watch any active match live. Send reactions from the sideline.

Docker

# Build
docker build -t chaos-pong .

# Run
docker run -p 8080:8080 chaos-pong

# Visit http://localhost:8080

Deployment

The app is deployed on Render as a Docker web service. Render auto-deploys on every push to main.

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	8080	Server listen port (set automatically by most hosts)
ENV	development	development or production
ALLOWED_ORIGINS	*	Comma-separated WebSocket origin allowlist
STATIC_DIR	auto-detect	Path to built frontend assets

For production, set ALLOWED_ORIGINS to your domain (e.g. https://chaos-pong.onrender.com).

Project Structure

chaos-pong/
  backend/                  # Go game server
    main.go                 # Entry point, graceful shutdown
    internal/
      config/               # Environment-based configuration
      game/                 # Game loop, physics, scoring (60 tick/s)
      matchmaking/          # FIFO matchmaking queue
      session/              # Session manager, message routing
      tournament/           # Tournament state machine, bracket logic
      server/               # HTTP routes, static file serving
      ws/                   # WebSocket hub, client connections, rate limiting
  client/                   # Phaser 3 frontend (TypeScript + Vite)
    src/
      scenes/               # GameScene, GameOverScene
      audio/                # Procedural Web Audio API sounds
      network/              # WebSocket client (SocketManager)
      types/                # Message type definitions
  Dockerfile                # Multi-stage production build
  Makefile                  # Dev shortcuts

Architecture

• Server-authoritative — the Go backend owns all game state. Clients only send paddle direction (-1, 0, 1).
• 60 tick/s game loop — server runs physics, collision detection, and scoring at 60 FPS, broadcasting state via WebSocket.
• WebSocket protocol — JSON envelope {type, payload} for all messages.
• Token-bucket rate limiting — WebSocket messages are rate-limited (120 burst, 100/s sustained).
• Graceful shutdown — SIGINT/SIGTERM triggers a 10-second drain before exit.

Visual Effects

• Neon color palette (cyan vs magenta paddles, purple accents)
• Ball speed-based color shift and glow trail
• Hit stop + pitch ramping on paddle impacts
• Screen shake, camera zoom, and goal slow-mo
• Ball squash & stretch at high speed
• Paddle squash on impact
• Lightning sparks between ball and nearby paddle
• Streak flames on consecutive scores
• Rally counter with escalating visuals
• Match point / deuce / advantage alerts
• Commentary pop-ups and speed tier announcements
• Near-miss edge sparks
• Background intensity shifts with game momentum

Make Commands

make client-install   # npm install in client/
make run              # start the backend
make client-dev       # start Vite dev server
make client-build     # production build of frontend
make build            # compile Go binary to bin/
make clean            # remove bin/ and client/dist/