Group Adventure

Gameplay Preview

Overview

Group Adventure is a 4-player cooperative dungeon crawler built from the ground up to explore real-time networking, scalable game architecture, and advanced 3D rendering. This project demonstrates my ability to design production-grade systems while still delivering an engaging player experience.

Goals

• Build a real-time multiplayer experience with server authority and client-side prediction
• Showcase mastery of the Entity-Component-System (ECS) pattern
• Implement advanced features such as delta compression, procedural generation, and skeletal animation blending
• Optimize for performance and scalability while deploying in a cloud-native environment

Tech Stack

Backend

• Node.js + Express – REST endpoints and server orchestration
• Socket.IO (v4.7.5) – real-time communication
• Custom ECS – server-side game logic, AI, and state management

Frontend

• Vanilla ES6+ – lightweight, framework-free client
• Three.js – 3D rendering, lighting, materials
• FBX/GLTF pipeline – character and environment assets
• Custom animation FSM – blending, layering, and combat sequences

Infrastructure

• Dockerized build – portable and reproducible
• Fly.io deployment – scalable hosting
• Ping & jitter simulator – network condition testing

Architecture

Dual ECS Design

• Server ECS – authoritative logic (combat, AI, health, loot, dungeon state)
• Client ECS – rendering, animation, player UI
• Shared schema – ensures both client and server "speak the same language"

This design achieves separation of concerns, prevents cheating, and supports scalability.

Key Features

🔹 Delta Compression

• Intelligent update system categorizes data (HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW frequency)
• Sends only changed components instead of full states
• Reduced bandwidth usage by up to 80%

🔹 Procedural Dungeon Generation

• Cellular automata for natural cave formations
• Flood-fill connectivity analysis ensures playable layouts
• Endless replayability through unique dungeon seeds

🔹 Advanced Animation System

• Custom finite state machine for idle, movement, and combat
• Blended animator for seamless transitions
• Layered animation control for equipment and abilities

🔹 Multiplayer Session Management

• Lobby system for 4-player coordination
• Real-time synchronization of combat, loot, and dungeon state
• Network simulation tools for testing lag and packet loss

Developer Experience

• Modular ECS – easy to add new systems (e.g., Ranged Attacks, Magic Projectiles)
• Network simulator – built-in debugging for latency, jitter, and loss
• Performance tools – FPS tracking and bandwidth profiling
• Clean codebase – readable, maintainable, and extensible

Results & Impact

• Demonstrated mastery of real-time multiplayer and network optimization
• Created a scalable architecture for future expansion
• Built a project that serves as both a game prototype and a technical showcase

What I Learned

• Balancing server authority with client smoothness is critical for multiplayer games
• ECS architecture provides unmatched scalability when building complex systems
• Debugging under simulated network stress is invaluable for real-world resilience

Conclusion

Group Adventure is more than a game — it's a proof of concept for how I approach large-scale, networked, real-time systems. By blending clean architecture with advanced graphics and networking, I created a project that demonstrates both engineering discipline and creative design.