$ cd ~/work/steamblast-arena
SteamBlast Arena
A multiplayer web game for children aged 5 to 12. Players move through a maze and spray water to turn each other into steam, and a steamed player answers a maths or literacy question to get back in.
00//the walkthrough
3 screens · tapclick to enlarge
01//the problem
Revision drills feel like homework, and most learning games are single-player quizzes with a game skin. The client wanted a multiplayer game children want to play, where answering questions is the way back into the action, with premium extras for families and class tools for schools in Hong Kong.
02//the approach
The game runs in Phaser 3 inside a React 18 shell and installs as a PWA. Each match runs on a Node.js server over Socket.IO, ten times a second, so every screen sees the same game and the browser only sends inputs. Sequelize keeps accounts, classes, questions and results, and an admin panel manages the question banks.
03//what I built
Real-time matches
2–8 players per match, run on the server so every screen agrees.
The Chamber
A steamed player answers a question at their level to respawn, with a shield, a speed bonus for quick answers and streaks.
Bots
Bots fill the match when nobody else is online: they dodge water, chase power-ups and line up their shots.
Question banks
Maths and literacy for ages 5–7, 7–9 and 9–12, managed in the admin panel.
Teachers and parents
Classes with join codes and per-student accuracy, and a parent portal with recent games and a daily time limit the server enforces.
Premium
Extra water, a custom avatar and a weekly cosmetics shop paid for with coins earned in play.
// the impact
SteamBlast Arena is a client project. The live demo runs a separate copy where anyone can press Play and battle bots straight away, with payments and email switched off. The 2½-minute video above shows a round, the Chamber, the shop, the parent portal, the teacher dashboard and the admin panel.
// let's build yours
Have a product like this in mind?