N° 05 / 08 — Game · Multiplayer
Pepoo Arena
The party game that starts in one click: push your friends into the water before the island disappears.
- Role
- Design and development
- Year
- 2026
- Status
- LivePersonal
- Stack
- Next.js · TypeScript · Canvas 2D · WebSocket · Node.js · PWA
- Links
- Play ↗



01 / 07
The problem
I wanted a party game that starts in one click: no install, no account, on computer and phone alike, ready to play with friends right away.
02 / 07
What I did
Four modes: free-for-all against three AIs, 2 vs 2, training, and online in a private room where you invite up to 3 friends by code or link.
Six arenas (from the classic island to a volcano and a giant turtle) and eleven items so that every round goes off the rails, with keyboard and mouse or touch.
03 / 07
How it's built
The engine strictly separates simulation from rendering: the simulation draws nothing, which makes it testable without a browser and ready to run on a server.
Rendering uses Canvas 2D, and multiplayer goes over WebSocket, with rooms and snapshots of the game state.
- Headless simulation
- WebSocket rooms
- State snapshots
- Canvas 2D rendering
04 / 07
Challenges
- 01
A simulation with no screen
Physics and rules draw nothing: arenas and items are checked by tests, without opening the game, and the same code can run on the server.
- 02
Multiplayer with no account
A Node.js WebSocket server handles private rooms, joined by code or link, and sends each player snapshots of the game state.
- 03
One link and you're in
Nothing to install: the game opens in the browser, with keyboard or touch, installs like an app (PWA) and takes care of its SEO. It is deployed as a Docker container by GitLab CI.
05 / 07
Results
The game is live, free and with no sign-up, on computer and phone.
06 / 07
What I learned
Separating simulation from rendering on day one costs almost nothing and changes everything later: you can add arenas and items and check them without opening the game.
07 / 07
Tech stack
- Front end
- Next.jsTypeScriptPWATailwind CSS
- 3D, motion and real time
- Canvas 2DWebSocket
- Back end and APIs
- Node.js
- DevOps, cloud and testing
- DockerGitLab CI/CDGit
- Product, SEO and methods
- SEO
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