Essencion Card Game

Essencion

Overview

Essencion is a peer-to-peer collectible card game (CCG) that runs on the web using WebSocket technology.

Technologies Used

  • JavaScript React: frontend
  • Java Spring Boot: websocket technology for peer-to-peer gameplay
  • Redis: in-memory caching of game state for player sessions
  • Python Flask: public APIs for cards and deck-building
  • NodeJS: authentication service using JWTs
  • AWS S3 Buckets: storage for card images
  • Solana: SPL token generation
  • Postgres: primary data store
  • Golang: matchmaking API service

Architecture

Essencion Architecture

Description

Essencion is a digital CCG, akin to Hearthstone, but it differs significantly in its game mechanics. The game is designed specifically to run in the browser, allowing it to be platform-agnostic and highly available. This is achieved through the use of WebSocket technology and the pub/sub model. Additionally, many microservices are used to coordinate and provide the main functionality required for the application.

Key Features

  • Card viewer and deck builder UIs
  • Player matchmaking queue
  • Peer-to-peer gameplay
  • Interactive gameplay UI (in-browser)
  • Solana SPL token rewards per game
  • Public API for the card viewer
  • User-based API for deck-building

Game Rules

  1. Each player has a deck of 25 cards
  2. Players draw 5 cards each to start
  3. Player going first is chosen at random
  4. Each player can have up to 9 mana, starting at 2 max and gaining 1 max each turn
  5. During each player’s turn:
    • Player starts with max mana
    • Summon a minion
    • Play a support card
    • Pass turn

  6. Minion cards - may have abilities and can attack opposing minions

    Minion Card Example

  7. Support cards - immediately perform specified ability

    Support Card Example

  8. Essence is assigned to each minion; when the minion is defeated, the opponent collects essence

  9. The first player to get to 50 essence “ascends” and wins the game

What I Learned

This project covered many different areas. This was my first time working with the Solana blockchain. I learned about minting NFTs on-chain, as well as minting tokens for use on the platform. I also used Golang for the matchmaking engine, which was my first experience with the language.

Other notable technologies I used for the first time while building this application include Amazon S3, JSON Web Tokens, and Redis (used for caching live game state in memory).

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