7 ms·

Show HN: Set with Friends – A Real-Time multiplayer online card game

95 points by ekzhang 7y ago

ekzhang 7y ago
Imagine having great memories playing card games with friends but then not being able to see them (due to being 3000 mi away). This is my attempt to bridge that gap, and I hope other people who like Set can also enjoy it :) Also, I heard cool things about Firebase, and I was curious to see what it was like to build an app with it. It's been a great experience for me so far!
sirsuki 7y ago
It is very hard to play on mobile.
- ekzhang 7y ago
  I'm working on that! Have you tried rotating your phone to landscape mode? This is how it appears for me; I think it's quite playable. https://i.imgur.com/cNUxl2U.png https://i.imgur.com/cNUxl2U.png It's on my todo list to give portrait-mode mobile users a prompt to rotate their phones :)
- agstudio 7y ago
  Might want to check out GroupIt!, a set-like game I recently released for Android, which works on both phones/tablets and supports portrait/landscape modes along with several other features. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hercules.groups&hl=en_us https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hercules.g...
ctrager 7y ago
In a real game, if players can't find a set in the 12 cards, then dealer deals another row of 3. How does that work in your game?
- ekzhang 7y ago
  The computer takes care of that automatically, and deals the extra 3 cards. It's covered in the help page. :)
- rebel 7y ago
  After playing I've found it will automatically deal the next row of 3 without you having to do anything. That way there is always a possible set on the screen. Definitely a bit uncomfortable wondering if you are looking for a set that is not possible.
  - nielsole 7y ago
    Sometimes no player finds a set. In that case in real life it often helps to rearrange the cards. Maybe this would be a good feature
rebel 7y ago
Very well done! I was not familiar with this game before, and I somehow missed the "help" link, but within a few minutes I was able to understand the game and actually managed to finish a game shortly after. I'm a big fan of these casual games that have very simple interfaces.
- ekzhang 7y ago
  Thanks! I'm glad I could share the fun of a new card game with you - and also that my help link was understandable :)
ramshorns 7y ago
Let's play. https://setwithfriends.com/room/volatile-reaction https://setwithfriends.com/room/volatile-reaction
godot 7y ago
Works great! I've never been a fan of the game Set myself, but enjoy seeing these projects that bring classic games online. I remember enjoying an online version of Puerto Rico, many years ago, that was something like a Java Applet app. Wish that still existed. Side note, "With Friends" is a trademark owned by Zynga; I have no idea if they aggressively go after even personal projects, but just an FYI in case you didn't know.
- Symbiote 7y ago
  Probably more important, "SET" is a registered trademark, and the game is copyrighted. See here for a previous demand: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~treuille/resc/set/ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~treuille/resc/set/
  - dilap 7y ago
    Can you copyright the game mechanics? I don’t see how eg words with friends could have ever existed if so.
    - lazerwalker 7y ago
      You can't copyright a game mechanic, but you can copyright content. This is why Words With Friends has a different board layout, tile distribution, and tile point values from Scrabble. In that Set C&D, the infringing implementation is using art assets from the copyrighted Set game. Presumably, a version with different colors/shapes/etc (and a different name, so as to also avoid trademark infringement) would be totally fine.
- sogen 7y ago
  This one? http://www.compoundeye.net/jsanjuan/ http://www.compoundeye.net/jsanjuan/
  - godot 7y ago
    Nope but that one looks great. The one I played is http://www.phial.com/puerto-rico/ http://www.phial.com/puerto-rico/ (which apparently still exists). Apparently, it's a Curl web applet.
songzme 7y ago
Game log is beautifully done, its an improvement from the real game itself. Good job!
zuhayeer 7y ago
Love Set, the best thing about set is that you can even play alone just to get faster, but now even when I'm alone I can play with others online to keep that competitive rush going. Dope stuff
nihakue 7y ago
Thanks for this, very handy. Could you add some visual differentiation between focused cards and selected cards? It's hard to tell when I've deselected a single card without tapping away to lose focus.
juanuys 7y ago
This is great. For spectate, perhaps room creators can tick "public" up front so casual spectators can just tap on a room from a list. I'd love to be able to quickly see the game in action when first discovering it. Also, I've made a couple of Firebase apps myself, but my clients didn't want to make dashboards public. I'd like to know how much it costs you w.r.t. traffic. There have been some scare articles recently of Firebase costs being a bit more than you expected it to be.
- ekzhang 7y ago
  Thanks for the suggestion! I've added it to my list of features for the next version. I haven't paid anything for hosting or database costs yet, though I might hit a hosting downloads limit in a few days. Hopefully it's possible to migrate to a free third-party static web hosting provider, but otherwise, $25/month doesn't sound too bad for the fixed-pricing plan.
mothepro 7y ago
I made this same game a while ago with React too. https://sets.parkshade.com https://sets.parkshade.com. :) What was the biggest challenge you faced doing this project? Open sourced the game ui and engine on GitHub as well. http://GitHub.com/mothepro/sets-game http://GitHub.com/mothepro/sets-game
etrautmann 7y ago
This is wonderful! On iOS the card clicking occasionally takes several attempts. If this were a native app I’d certainly play with friends and family.
byte1918 7y ago
I have never played Set before but this looks like a dead state to me? https://i.imgur.com/saLCZKH.png https://i.imgur.com/saLCZKH.png
- vertex-four 7y ago
  Top right, top centre, bottom right, I think.
  - byte1918 7y ago
    You are right. I need to read the rules again I guess I checked the rules on wikipedia. Edit: From wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(card_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(card_game) > Three cards from a Set deck. These cards each have a unique number, symbol, shading, and color, and are thus a "set".
- evan_ 7y ago
  One clear purple squiggle, two solid purple squiggles, three shard purple squiggles
robertcorey 7y ago
I'm making a trivia game using angular/ firebase, thanks for sharing your code, it will be great to look at!
TheSpiciestDev 7y ago
> [2020-01-05T15:10:39.909Z] @firebase/database: FIREBASE WARNING: The Firebase database 'setwithfriends' has reached its peak connections limit. If you are the Firebase owner, consider upgrading. (https://setwithfriends.firebaseio.com https://setwithfriends.firebaseio.com) I'll have to come back later and give this a try - sounds neat from what I've read and seen here!
- ekzhang 7y ago
  Thanks for letting me know! It should work now; I just upgraded from the free plan, which should increase the maximum simultaneous connections from 100 to 200k.
  - TheSpiciestDev 7y ago
    Got it, thanks - my wife and I have enjoyed going head to head!
  - TheSpiciestDev 7y ago
    Great work - I got my visiting family to play this all together (about a total of 6 people, including myself) with the living room TV as a spectator for others not playing and we all had a lot of fun! One suggestion, or option, what would you think about the Game Log being reversed?.. where the older logs are at the bottom and newer ones up-top, closer to the score? Could maybe be just a toggle/button? Nonetheless, a lot of fun, great work again!
ryarke 7y ago
This is an awesome implementation and so much fun to play. Congrats an that. But I had a few times were two players picked the same set at the same time and both got that added to their points. Is that intended behaviour?
baking 7y ago
Either I'm an idiot or this is a bug: https://imgur.com/KjGvAlz https://imgur.com/KjGvAlz
- baking 7y ago
  Sure enough, as soon as I post it I find it.
simplify 7y ago
Could you make the log a bit clearer? It's hard to tell solid fill vs partial fill. Great game, great work!

95 points by ekzhang 7y ago

Imagine having great memories playing card games with friends but then not being able to see them (due to being 3000 mi away). This is my attempt to bridge that gap, and I hope other people who like Set can also enjoy it :) Also, I heard cool things about Firebase, and I was curious to see what it was like to build an app with it. It's been a great experience for me so far!

sirsuki 7y ago

It is very hard to play on mobile.

ekzhang 7y ago
I'm working on that! Have you tried rotating your phone to landscape mode? This is how it appears for me; I think it's quite playable. https://i.imgur.com/cNUxl2U.png https://i.imgur.com/cNUxl2U.png It's on my todo list to give portrait-mode mobile users a prompt to rotate their phones :)
agstudio 7y ago
Might want to check out GroupIt!, a set-like game I recently released for Android, which works on both phones/tablets and supports portrait/landscape modes along with several other features. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hercules.groups&hl=en_us https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hercules.g...

ctrager 7y ago

In a real game, if players can't find a set in the 12 cards, then dealer deals another row of 3. How does that work in your game?

ekzhang 7y ago
The computer takes care of that automatically, and deals the extra 3 cards. It's covered in the help page. :)
rebel 7y ago
After playing I've found it will automatically deal the next row of 3 without you having to do anything. That way there is always a possible set on the screen. Definitely a bit uncomfortable wondering if you are looking for a set that is not possible.
- nielsole 7y ago
  Sometimes no player finds a set. In that case in real life it often helps to rearrange the cards. Maybe this would be a good feature

rebel 7y ago

Very well done! I was not familiar with this game before, and I somehow missed the "help" link, but within a few minutes I was able to understand the game and actually managed to finish a game shortly after. I'm a big fan of these casual games that have very simple interfaces.

ekzhang 7y ago
Thanks! I'm glad I could share the fun of a new card game with you - and also that my help link was understandable :)

ramshorns 7y ago

Let's play. https://setwithfriends.com/room/volatile-reaction https://setwithfriends.com/room/volatile-reaction

godot 7y ago

Works great! I've never been a fan of the game Set myself, but enjoy seeing these projects that bring classic games online. I remember enjoying an online version of Puerto Rico, many years ago, that was something like a Java Applet app. Wish that still existed. Side note, "With Friends" is a trademark owned by Zynga; I have no idea if they aggressively go after even personal projects, but just an FYI in case you didn't know.

Symbiote 7y ago
Probably more important, "SET" is a registered trademark, and the game is copyrighted. See here for a previous demand: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~treuille/resc/set/ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~treuille/resc/set/
- dilap 7y ago
  Can you copyright the game mechanics? I don’t see how eg words with friends could have ever existed if so.
  - lazerwalker 7y ago
    You can't copyright a game mechanic, but you can copyright content. This is why Words With Friends has a different board layout, tile distribution, and tile point values from Scrabble. In that Set C&D, the infringing implementation is using art assets from the copyrighted Set game. Presumably, a version with different colors/shapes/etc (and a different name, so as to also avoid trademark infringement) would be totally fine.
sogen 7y ago
This one? http://www.compoundeye.net/jsanjuan/ http://www.compoundeye.net/jsanjuan/
- godot 7y ago
  Nope but that one looks great. The one I played is http://www.phial.com/puerto-rico/ http://www.phial.com/puerto-rico/ (which apparently still exists). Apparently, it's a Curl web applet.

songzme 7y ago

Game log is beautifully done, its an improvement from the real game itself. Good job!

zuhayeer 7y ago

Love Set, the best thing about set is that you can even play alone just to get faster, but now even when I'm alone I can play with others online to keep that competitive rush going. Dope stuff

nihakue 7y ago

Thanks for this, very handy. Could you add some visual differentiation between focused cards and selected cards? It's hard to tell when I've deselected a single card without tapping away to lose focus.

juanuys 7y ago

This is great. For spectate, perhaps room creators can tick "public" up front so casual spectators can just tap on a room from a list. I'd love to be able to quickly see the game in action when first discovering it. Also, I've made a couple of Firebase apps myself, but my clients didn't want to make dashboards public. I'd like to know how much it costs you w.r.t. traffic. There have been some scare articles recently of Firebase costs being a bit more than you expected it to be.

ekzhang 7y ago
Thanks for the suggestion! I've added it to my list of features for the next version. I haven't paid anything for hosting or database costs yet, though I might hit a hosting downloads limit in a few days. Hopefully it's possible to migrate to a free third-party static web hosting provider, but otherwise, $25/month doesn't sound too bad for the fixed-pricing plan.

mothepro 7y ago

I made this same game a while ago with React too. https://sets.parkshade.com https://sets.parkshade.com. :) What was the biggest challenge you faced doing this project? Open sourced the game ui and engine on GitHub as well. http://GitHub.com/mothepro/sets-game http://GitHub.com/mothepro/sets-game

etrautmann 7y ago

This is wonderful! On iOS the card clicking occasionally takes several attempts. If this were a native app I’d certainly play with friends and family.

byte1918 7y ago

I have never played Set before but this looks like a dead state to me? https://i.imgur.com/saLCZKH.png https://i.imgur.com/saLCZKH.png

vertex-four 7y ago
Top right, top centre, bottom right, I think.
- byte1918 7y ago
  You are right. I need to read the rules again I guess I checked the rules on wikipedia. Edit: From wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(card_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(card_game) > Three cards from a Set deck. These cards each have a unique number, symbol, shading, and color, and are thus a "set".
evan_ 7y ago
One clear purple squiggle, two solid purple squiggles, three shard purple squiggles

robertcorey 7y ago

I'm making a trivia game using angular/ firebase, thanks for sharing your code, it will be great to look at!

TheSpiciestDev 7y ago

> [2020-01-05T15:10:39.909Z] @firebase/database: FIREBASE WARNING: The Firebase database 'setwithfriends' has reached its peak connections limit. If you are the Firebase owner, consider upgrading. (https://setwithfriends.firebaseio.com https://setwithfriends.firebaseio.com) I'll have to come back later and give this a try - sounds neat from what I've read and seen here!

ekzhang 7y ago
Thanks for letting me know! It should work now; I just upgraded from the free plan, which should increase the maximum simultaneous connections from 100 to 200k.
- TheSpiciestDev 7y ago
  Got it, thanks - my wife and I have enjoyed going head to head!
- TheSpiciestDev 7y ago
  Great work - I got my visiting family to play this all together (about a total of 6 people, including myself) with the living room TV as a spectator for others not playing and we all had a lot of fun! One suggestion, or option, what would you think about the Game Log being reversed?.. where the older logs are at the bottom and newer ones up-top, closer to the score? Could maybe be just a toggle/button? Nonetheless, a lot of fun, great work again!

ryarke 7y ago

This is an awesome implementation and so much fun to play. Congrats an that. But I had a few times were two players picked the same set at the same time and both got that added to their points. Is that intended behaviour?

baking 7y ago

Either I'm an idiot or this is a bug: https://imgur.com/KjGvAlz https://imgur.com/KjGvAlz

baking 7y ago
Sure enough, as soon as I post it I find it.

simplify 7y ago

Could you make the log a bit clearer? It's hard to tell solid fill vs partial fill. Great game, great work!