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mariusz331 | 5 years ago

We're working on an app for social/board games with built in video chat: https://www.cyberspaces.app

Current we offer:

Boggle (just released yesterday, feedback is especially appreciated) https://www.cyberspaces.app/boggle

Codenames (we call it Cyberterms) https://www.cyberspaces.app/cyberterms

Liar's Dice https://www.cyberspaces.app/liarsdice

Kings https://www.cyberspaces.app/kings

discuss

mariusz331|5 years ago

Other things to point out: It's free and no signup is required by any of the game participants (just create a room, share link, and enter). If you have a good/bad experience, feel free to reach out: mariusz at cyberspaces dot app

JohnKacz|5 years ago

Looks good. I'd love to know what stack you're building with and what you're learning.

After seeing the readastorytome.com Show HN [0] was using Phoenix LiveView I was considering building a similar app to play spades or 42 as an excuse to learn some things I've been wanting to learn for awhile.

[0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22836940

mariusz331|5 years ago

Awesome! Building these sort of games is a lot of fun and I recommend it! We think there's a good opportunity right now for games over video chat: folks that are self-isolating need a way to connect with each other and if you provide a fun service for that I think it will be used.

We started off using what we knew best: Rails, React and the Twilio Video SDK. We'll introduce other technologies as they are needed to increase our velocity or enable us to build more rich game experiences.

Happy to chat more offline: mariusz at cyberspaces dot app

ianjsikes|5 years ago

I am working on a little clone of One Night Ultimate Werewolf using Phoenix LiveView. It has been working out great for me so far.

sickrumbear|5 years ago

this is really awesome, would love an option to play the games without requiring cam/mic access (if friends are already bought into another tool like zoom), which could also may also allow more players (e.g. bigger teams for codenames)!

mariusz331|5 years ago

Thank you - really appreciate the feedback! Bigger codenames games get CRAZY and we understand the appeal and we want to be able to provide that experience too. We've been thinking about this problem a lot since many of our users play as couples (they share a screen) and they can't easily participate separately. We also understand the privacy issues and we'll be building an option to enter a game room with your audio/video defaulted to off.

j2bax|5 years ago

Not sure which country you are in, or if you care at all but you might want to avoid using trademarked game titles like Boggle to avoid any legal disputes. Perhaps a subtle nod like Bogly or something would be enough to let people know the general game...

mariusz331|5 years ago

Thank you! We'll definitely look into changing the names to avoid legal issues.

polishdude20|5 years ago

How are you guys managing the video? Is it peer to peer or is it being routed and encoded in a server first? Codenames needs at least four players to start, if it's p2p, have you noticed any lag or bandwidth problems?

mariusz331|5 years ago

Hey nice to meet another Polish dude! We use Twilio's Video SDK and their P2P rooms. This works fine for most users on desktops and good internet. When I play with friends in CA (I'm in NY), I don't experience any serious issues. Sometimes there's feedback when a user has their speakers blasting. Many of our users experience problems on mobile when there are a lot of players in the room. We're thinking about switching video providers to one with an affordable server option to improve the larger game rooms experience though.

econti|5 years ago

I just gave it a shot to play codenames and it worked great for us. Are there restrictions on the max number of participants per game at this time? I'm thinking this could be fun for a work happy hour.

dpalumbo|5 years ago

I love social & competitive word games like Boggle and Codenames. Are you taking suggestions for which games you'll implement next?

mariusz331|5 years ago

We are! You can vote for the games you'd like to see on our poll: https://forms.gle/dg97LycciHNCfgpH7

chrisweekly|5 years ago

Awesome, thanks!! Codenames is one of our gamenight crew's favorites; will def try it out this wknd! :)

mariusz331|5 years ago

Of course! We love Codenames too. We are fielding ideas for next week's game so we'd love to hear about the other games your crew plays.

omega3|5 years ago

Doesn't work on Vivaldi: "Camera/Microphone Issue"

mariusz331|5 years ago

Hey. We're super sorry about that. We are using the Twilio Video SDK for video conferencing and one thing we check is that your browser is supported by the SDK before entering a game room. The messaging on the error screen you encountered isn't great and we'll work on improving it. The experience works best on desktop Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge. On mobile iOS it only works on Safari browser.