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React, Colyseus (TS)

Welcome to your fresh Robo.js project, empowered by Colyseus for seamless, real-time state management in your Discord activities!

Colyseus is a powerful Node.js multiplayer game server optimized for real-time data synchronization, making it perfect for interactive, multiplayer Discord Activities. Its scalable architecture allows efficient state management across multiple clients.

With Robo.js as your framework, you benefit from a file-based setup, an integrated database, TypeScript support, and flexible plugin-powered features, streamlining your development process.

Ready to embark on this adventure?

Getting Started​

Create a project with this template, replacing <project-name> with your desired name:

Terminal
npx create-robo <project-name> --template discord-activities/react-colyseus-ts

Then navigate into your project directory:

Terminal
cd <project-name>

Run development mode:

Terminal
npm run dev

Notes: A free Cloudflare tunnel is included for easy testing. You can copy and paste it into activity's URL mapping to test things out.

️ App Development​

You can find your client-side code in the /src/app folder. This is where you can build your web app using React, Vue, or any other front-end framework.

Things are powered by Vite under the hood, so you get the latest ES modules, hot module reloading, and more! ⚑

Try editing the main file to get started! (Activity.tsx if you're using React)

Authentication​

The React template makes it easy to authenticate your activity with Discord. The <DiscordProvider> components in App.tsx accepts authenticate and scope props.

<DiscordContextProvider authenticate scope={['identify', 'guilds']}>
<Activity />
</DiscordContextProvider>

You can then get the SDK and other goodies from the useDiscordSdk hook!

️ Backend Development​

Your server-side code is located in the /src/api folder. This is where you can build your API, webhooks, and other fancy server-side features.

This backend is powered by @robojs/server - a powerful Robo plugin that creates an manages a Node http server for you. If you install Fastify, the server will automatically switch to it for better performance!

Everything Robo is file-based, so you can create new routes by making new files in the /src/api directory. The file's name becomes the route's path. For example, let's try making a new route at /health by creating a new file named health.js:

export default () => {
return { status: 'ok' }
}

Easy, right?

Folder Structure​

While the api and app folders are reserved for your server and client-side code, you are free to create anything else in the /src directory!

Folders only become reserved when you install a plugin that uses them. For example, bot functionality uses the commands and events folders.

Why Colyseus?​

Colyseus simplifies the development of your Discord activity by managing and synchronizing state across clients in real time. This allows you to focus on creating engaging content rather than the complexities of network management.

Rendering users' avatars and showing a green circle those talking is cool and all, but you can take it further! Whether you're planning to stay in "react-land" or venture into Unity, Godot, Cocos, or other game engines, this basic example is a great starting point.

➞ βš” Colyseus: Official client integrations

Expanding Your Game Logic​

Want to add position (x, y) to each player and allow them to move? Piece of cake for Colyseus! Here's how you can do it:

  • Extend Player.ts' schema to include x and y as numbers
--- a/src/entities/Player.ts
+++ b/src/entities/Player.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
import {Schema, type} from '@colyseus/schema';

-export type TPlayerOptions = Pick<Player, 'sessionId' | 'userId' | 'name' | 'avatarUri' | 'talking'>
+export type TPlayerOptions = Pick<Player, 'sessionId' | 'userId' | 'name' | 'avatarUri' | 'talking' | 'x' | 'y'>

export class Player extends Schema {
@type('string')
@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@ export class Player extends Schema {
@type('boolean')
public talking: boolean = false;

+ @type('number')
+ public x: number;
+
+ @type('number')
+ public y: number;
+
constructor({name, userId, avatarUri, sessionId}: TPlayerOptions) {
super();
@@ -25,5 +31,7 @@ export class Player extends Schema {
this.avatarUri = avatarUri;
this.name = name;
this.sessionId = sessionId;
+ this.x = Math.round(Math.random() * 1_000);
+ this.y = Math.round(Math.random() * 1_000);
}
}
  • Make a keyboard event listener to send "move" commands to the server when arrow keys are pressed
--- a/src/app/Activity.tsx
+++ b/src/app/Activity.tsx
@@ -2,9 +2,41 @@
+import { useEffect } from 'react'
import { Player } from './Player'
-import { usePlayers } from '../hooks/usePlayers'
+import { useGameContext, usePlayers } from '../hooks/usePlayers'

export const Activity = () => {
const players = usePlayers()
+ const { room } = useGameContext()
+
+ useEffect(() => {
+ function handleKeyDown(ev: KeyboardEvent) {
+ switch (ev.key) {
+ case 'ArrowUp':
+ case 'KeyW':
+ room.send('move', { x: 0, y: 1 })
+ break
+ case 'ArrowDown':
+ case 'KeyS':
+ room.send('move', { x: 0, y: -1 })
+ break
+ case 'ArrowLeft':
+ case 'KeyA':
+ room.send('move', { x: -1, y: 0 })
+ break
+ case 'ArrowRight':
+ case 'KeyD':
+ room.send('move', { x: 1, y: 0 })
+ break
+ default:
+ break
+ }
+ }
+
+ document.addEventListener('keydown', handleKeyDown)
+ return () => {
+ document.removeEventListener('keydown', handleKeyDown)
+ }
+ }, [room])

return (
<div className="voice__channel__container">
  • Update StateHandlerRoom.ts to handle "move" events from clients
--- a/src/rooms/StateHandlerRoom.ts
+++ b/src/rooms/StateHandlerRoom.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ export class StateHandlerRoom extends Room<State> {
this.onMessage('stopTalking', (client, _data) => {
this.state.stopTalking(client.sessionId)
})
+
+ this.onMessage('move', (client, data) => {
+ this.state.movePlayer(client.sessionId, data)
+ })
}

onAuth(_client: any, _options: any, _req: any) {
  • Create a command to allow moving a player in State.ts
--- a/src/entities/State.ts
+++ b/src/entities/State.ts
@@ -56,4 +56,15 @@ export class State extends Schema {
player.talking = false
}
}
+
+ movePlayer(sessionId: string, movement: {x: number; y: number}) {
+ const player = this._getPlayer(sessionId)
+
+ if (player != null) {
+ if (movement.x) {
+ player.x += movement.x
+ } else if (movement.y) {
+ player.y += movement.y
+ }
+ }
+ }
}
  • Update the UI to consume the stateful updates to each player
--- a/src/components/Player.tsx
+++ b/src/components/Player.tsx
@@ -2,13 +2,15 @@ import type { TPlayerOptions } from '../entities/Player'

-export function Player({ avatarUri, name, talking }: TPlayerOptions) {
+export function Player({ avatarUri, name, talking, x, y }: TPlayerOptions) {
return (
<div className="player__container">
<div className={`player__avatar ${talking ? 'player__avatar__talking' : ''}`}>
<img className="player__avatar__img" src={avatarUri} width="100%" height="100%" />
</div>
- <div>{name}</div>
+ <div>
+ {x}, {y}, {name}
+ </div>
</div>
)
}

Robo Ecosystem​

By building with Robo.js, you gain access to a growing ecosystem of plugins, templates, and tools. Robo Plugins are special. They can add features with one command.

Terminal
npx robo add @robojs/ai @robojs/sync

Plugins integrate seamlessly thanks to the Robo File Structure. What's more, anyone can create a plugin.

Hosting​

Hosting your project keeps it running 24/7. No need to keep your computer on at all times, or worry about your Internet connection.

You can host on any platform that supports Node.js, or run robo deploy to host on RoboPlay - a hosting platform optimized for Robo.js.

Terminal
npm run deploy

Learn More​

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