I achieved multiplayer mode in my game using just database listeners

I’ve been working on a coding puzzle game where you guess what a code snippet prints. I recently added a basic multiplayer mode, and surprisingly, I got it working using just Supabase database listeners (on ‘postgres_changes’), no sockets, no WebRTC, just real-time database events.

The experience was a mix of “this is magic” and “why did nothing update just now?”

One issue was that sometimes a listener wouldn’t fire, so the room state wouldn’t update. To work around it, I added a few safeguards:

•Resetting local state when a player reconnects.

•Forcing an update every few seconds

•Re-subscribing if something breaks

I know this isn’t a scalable solution. I’ve used socket servers before on the player side, but I’m not too confident with setting up a solid backend for multiplayer yet.

Still, it was cool to get it working this way, and I’d love to hear how others approach real-time multiplayer at scale.

Here’s the game if you want to try it:
https://whatitprints.com

You can play solo in Endless Mode, or try out the new Multiplayer Mode and race friends to guess what the code prints.