SWARM
A realtime browser strategy game with local play, custom insects and configurable game sets.
The project
SWARM began as a browser implementation inspired by the spatial strategy of Hive and grew into its own playground for experimenting with pieces, setups and multiplayer game design.
Two players can create a room and join from their own phones using a short code, with legal moves and game state kept in sync in realtime. A local mode also supports two people playing on a single device.
Alongside the familiar insect-style movement system, SWARM includes original pieces such as the Flea and Firefly. Game creation can be customised by choosing which bugs are available and how many of each are in the set, with presets for quickly starting a known configuration.
Features
- Two-player realtime browser multiplayer
- Short room-code matchmaking
- Local pass-and-play mode
- Legal move validation
- Mobile-first board interaction
- Custom Flea and Firefly pieces
- Configurable piece quantities
- Preset game configurations
- Local save/resume for pass-and-play
- Railway deployment
Technology
- TypeScript
- React
- Realtime web sockets / Socket.IO
- Railway
- Docker
Engineering focus
A rules-heavy project combining realtime multiplayer, spatial board-state validation and extensible game design. It is also a useful test bed for adding new mechanics without coupling the rules too tightly to the UI.