Hi @worn jetty. I'm kapa.ai, your friendly support bot. I will try to answer your question by searching through the knowledge base. :wave:
#does make sense to make a game convex + phaser
main kettleBOT
Using Convex with Phaser.js for a game is a reasonable combination, but there are important considerations depending on the type of game you're building.
What Convex Handles Well for Games
Convex excels at turn-based or low-frequency update games — managing shared state, syncing it across clients in real time, handling authentication, storing achievements/scores, and running scheduled functions. Its reactive queries automatically push updates to all connected clients when data changes. [real-time databases compared]
Where It Gets Tricky
Convex is not well-suited for high-frequency, latency-sensitive games like first-person shooters or real-time strategy games. As noted from experience building AI Town:
"Something where it's like oh there's going to be a collision between these two people... even if it's not like UDP packet 18 milliseconds FPS type latencies but it's still like 100 milliseconds or 150 — you can do it but like having a database in the middle sometimes is that really quite the right abstraction."
For turn-based games, Convex works really well. For real-time RPG-style games with player movement/coordinates, it has also been used successfully (e.g., a Minecraft-like RPG storing player coordinates and syncing positions across devices). [RPG game with Convex]
Recommended Approach
The knowledge sources don't explicitly mention Phaser.js as a recommended frontend pairing with Convex. However, based on the general guidance:
- Convex's recommended frontend ecosystem is React/Next.js, Vue, or Svelte, as it provides dedicated client libraries (
convex/react, etc.) with built-in state management and reactivity. [real-time databases compared] - Phaser.js is a canvas/WebGL game framework that doesn't natively integrate with React's component model, so you'd need to manually wire Convex's state updates into Phaser's game loop.
- You can hit Convex's API endpoints from any environment (including plain JavaScript), so it's technically feasible. [full-stack framework]
In summary: If you're building a turn-based or low-to-medium frequency multiplayer game with Phaser, Convex + Phaser is a viable combination — Convex handles persistence, sync, and auth while Phaser handles rendering. For fast-paced, collision-heavy real-time games, you may want a dedicated game server (like Hathora) for the real-time loop, and use Convex only for persistent data like scores and auth. [Databased ft. Web Dev Cody]
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worn jetty
@main kettle what about a game like
@main kettle <@&1228088700710293556> what about a
main kettleBOT
Let me check the knowledge base for you again. One moment! :books:
A game like Bingo Bash (a turn-based, social multiplayer game with rooms, scores, and game state progression) is actually a great fit for Convex. Here's why:
Why Convex Works Well for Bingo-Style Games
- Turn-based mechanics are explicitly called out as a strong use case for Convex. [What is Convex]
- Shared game state (whose turn it is, which numbers have been called, player scores) maps naturally to Convex's reactive database — all clients automatically receive updates when state changes, with no manual sync logic needed. [Realtime docs]
- Rooms/lobbies, scoring, and user presence are all patterns Convex handles well, as seen in multiplayer game examples built on the platform. [Building a Multiplayer Game]
- Scheduled functions could handle things like auto-calling numbers on a timer. [full-stack framework]
Frontend Recommendation
The knowledge sources don't specifically mention Phaser.js for a Bingo-style game. Since Bingo Bash is more of a UI-driven game (cards, number displays, chat) rather than a canvas-heavy physics game, you'd likely be better served by:
- React + Next.js — Convex has first-class support here with
useQueryanduseMutationhooks, giving you reactive UI out of the box.
This avoids the manual wiring overhead of bridging Convex state into a Phaser canvas loop, which would be unnecessary for a card/board game UI.