Case Study: Hypegamer

Building a Scalable eSport Platform with Node.js, TypeScript, Postgres, and Google Cloud Platform

As a startup in the eSports industry, and with the goal of building a platform that could host large-scale tournaments and leagues for multiple games. We wanted a solution that could handle high amounts of traffic, scale quickly, and be easy to maintain.

After conducting a technical assessment, we chose a stack that leveraged Node.js, TypeScript, Postgres, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). In this case study, we’ll outline the challenges we faced, the approaches we took, and the results we achieved while working on this project.

Challenges:
One of the main challenges we faced was the need to support real-time interactions between players and tournament organizers. This required the use of WebSockets for communication, which can be difficult to implement in a scalable way.
Another challenge was the need to handle a high volume of traffic and scale the platform quickly to meet demand. We needed to ensure that the platform could handle thousands of concurrent users without suffering from performance issues or downtime.
Approach:
To address the real-time communication challenge, we decided to use Socket.io, a popular WebSocket library for Node.js. We also implemented a publish-subscribe pattern using Redis to decouple the communication between the client and server and improve scalability.
For scalability and performance, we leveraged the power of GCP. We used Kubernetes to deploy and manage the platform, which allowed us to easily scale up and down based on traffic demands. We also used GCP’s managed Postgres service, Cloud SQL, to ensure that the database could handle the high volume of reads and writes required by the platform.
We utilized TypeScript, a typed superset of JavaScript, to improve the maintainability and readability of the codebase. This allowed us to catch errors earlier in the development process and make it easier for new team members to understand the code.
Results:
Thanks to the use of Node.js, TypeScript, Postgres, and GCP, we were able to build a platform that met the client’s needs and exceeded their expectations. The platform has been able to handle thousands of concurrent users without any performance issues or downtime.
The use of WebSockets and the publish-subscribe pattern has allowed for seamless real-time communication between players and tournament organizers. The platform has also been able to scale quickly and efficiently to meet demand.
Overall, we were extremely satisfied with the end result and have since continued additional development work on the platform.