Work: Case Studies & Open Source

Building a full 3D isometric action-RPG that runs smoothly in web browsers—including mobile devices—without native code or plugins.

Built with Three.js using a chunk-based streaming architecture—only loading and updating entities within the player's active 3x3 chunk grid. Optimized GLTF assets to 500-2k triangles per model. Implemented instanced rendering for repeated objects, frustum culling, and draw call batching to keep GPU overhead minimal.

Achieved consistent 60 FPS target on desktop and mobile browsers with smooth gameplay and responsive controls.

Initial multiplayer implementation sent complete world state to every connected player on each tick, causing bandwidth to scale linearly with player count and limiting concurrent sessions.

Rewrote the Go server to track per-player entity snapshots and transmit only changed fields. Added GZIP compression with pooled writers to eliminate allocation overhead. Prioritized updates by proximity—nearby entities update at 20Hz, distant entities at 5Hz.

Reduced per-player bandwidth by ~80%, increasing theoretical player capacity from ~50 to ~250 concurrent players on the same server hardware.

Naïve collision detection checked every entity against every other entity—O(n²) complexity that degraded rapidly as world population grew beyond 100 entities.

Implemented a spatial hash grid partitioning entities into 50-unit cells. Collision queries now only check entities in adjacent cells. Added separate tracking for movable vs static entities to skip unnecessary recalculations.

Collision detection dropped from O(n²) to O(n), supporting 500+ simultaneous entities with sub-millisecond query times.

Needed thousands of unique items without hand-crafting each one, while ensuring loot felt rewarding at every level and preventing stat inflation from breaking balance.

Built a composable item generator with base types, rarity tiers, and affix pools. Stats scale via formulas tied to item level and rarity multipliers. Rarity distribution uses weighted random selection (Common 50%, Rare 30%, Epic 15%, Legendary 5%).

System generates 10,000+ unique item combinations. Level 1 and level 50 items feel proportionally powerful without manual tuning per tier.

Party features (health bars, positions, shared XP) required frequent updates, but broadcasting to all connected players wasted bandwidth and leaked information.

Implemented party-scoped message channels. Party state changes broadcast only to party members via ID lookup. Added leader transfer on disconnect and automatic disband when empty.

Party updates use <1% of total bandwidth. Supports unlimited concurrent parties with zero cross-party data leakage.