DashBot: 1v1 Space Robot Sprint Battle

This is a submission for the Alibaba Cloud Challenge: Build a Web Game. What I Built I built DashBot, a 1v1 space robot sprint battle game where players can't walk, only dash forward by jetting out "waste code" to move and attack. just for fun haha^ ^ Basic rule: charge, dash, knock out, or get knocked out. Watch out for shrinking space and bouncing walls — they can save you or throw you off. Demo Play here: Online demo Source Code: https://github.com/jianongHe/DashBot Alibaba Cloud Services Implementation Elastic Compute Service (ECS) Used for hosting the WebSocket server that handles real-time matchmaking, player sync, and battle logic. ECS gave me full control over networking, which was essential for low-latency gameplay. Object Storage Service (OSS) All static assets like images, sounds, and frontend code are hosted here. Uploading was fast, and it served global users reliably. Content Delivery Network (CDN) Accelerated asset delivery from OSS, especially helpful for players outside China. Made loading times much faster. Alibaba Cloud Container Registry (ACR) Used to store Docker images for my backend services. It helped me manage builds more efficiently. Game Development Highlights Dashed by trashy code snippets, just for fun. Real-Time Multiplayer: WebSocket-powered 1v1 matches. Built in 1 Week: Fast dev with strong support from Alibaba Cloud. Physics Collisions: Charge strength affects damage and knockback. Inspired by BattleBots: Focused on chaotic clashes with simple charge-and-dash controls. Theme Colors: Based on Evangelion Unit-01—purple and green for a sci-fi vibe. Problems I Ran Into: Ghost Collision Issue: Sometimes two players would overlap due to server delay, making collisions feel "soft" or unresponsive. Fixed by tweaking the sync rate and improving client-side prediction. High Refresh Rate Drift: On Windows with high refresh monitors, physics started breaking. Solved by forcing frame sync. Lag and Desync: Classic network game problems—adjusted tick rates, interpolation, and still had weird bugs. Collision Bugs: After dashing into each other, sometimes unexpected stuff happened. Honestly, I just skipped a frame to patch it (￣▽￣) AI Help: I used ChatGPT/Gemini/Grok/v0.dev during development. It helped a lot by generating usable code quickly, though many parts still needed manual fine-tuning. P.S. This was my first time making a real-time multiplayer game, and it was tough but fun. I learned a lot about networking, sync issues, and how chaotic robot battles can be. I discovered this challenge only one week before the deadline. It was tough to pull off, but I already had the idea in mind and managed to bring it to life. There’s still room for improvement, and I tried to polish it as much as I could within the limited time. Thanks for checking out DashBot!

Apr 27, 2025 - 13:39

This is a submission for the Alibaba Cloud Challenge: Build a Web Game.

What I Built

I built DashBot, a 1v1 space robot sprint battle game where players can't walk, only dash forward by jetting out "waste code" to move and attack. just for fun haha^ ^

Basic rule: charge, dash, knock out, or get knocked out. Watch out for shrinking space and bouncing walls — they can save you or throw you off.

Demo

Play here: Online demo

Source Code: https://github.com/jianongHe/DashBot

Alibaba Cloud Services Implementation

Elastic Compute Service (ECS)

Used for hosting the WebSocket server that handles real-time matchmaking, player sync, and battle logic. ECS gave me full control over networking, which was essential for low-latency gameplay.
Object Storage Service (OSS)

All static assets like images, sounds, and frontend code are hosted here. Uploading was fast, and it served global users reliably.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Accelerated asset delivery from OSS, especially helpful for players outside China. Made loading times much faster.
Alibaba Cloud Container Registry (ACR)

Used to store Docker images for my backend services. It helped me manage builds more efficiently.

Game Development Highlights

Dashed by trashy code snippets, just for fun.
Real-Time Multiplayer: WebSocket-powered 1v1 matches.
Built in 1 Week: Fast dev with strong support from Alibaba Cloud.
Physics Collisions: Charge strength affects damage and knockback.
Inspired by BattleBots: Focused on chaotic clashes with simple charge-and-dash controls.
Theme Colors: Based on Evangelion Unit-01—purple and green for a sci-fi vibe.

Problems I Ran Into:

Ghost Collision Issue: Sometimes two players would overlap due to server delay, making collisions feel "soft" or unresponsive. Fixed by tweaking the sync rate and improving client-side prediction.
High Refresh Rate Drift: On Windows with high refresh monitors, physics started breaking. Solved by forcing frame sync.
Lag and Desync: Classic network game problems—adjusted tick rates, interpolation, and still had weird bugs.
Collision Bugs: After dashing into each other, sometimes unexpected stuff happened. Honestly, I just skipped a frame to patch it (￣▽￣)

AI Help:

I used ChatGPT/Gemini/Grok/v0.dev during development. It helped a lot by generating usable code quickly, though many parts still needed manual fine-tuning.

P.S.

This was my first time making a real-time multiplayer game, and it was tough but fun. I learned a lot about networking, sync issues, and how chaotic robot battles can be.

I discovered this challenge only one week before the deadline. It was tough to pull off, but I already had the idea in mind and managed to bring it to life. There’s still room for improvement, and I tried to polish it as much as I could within the limited time.

Thanks for checking out DashBot!