
Show HN: Set with Friends – A Real-Time multiplayer online card game - ekzhang
https://setwithfriends.com/
======
juanuys
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
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.

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mothepro
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)

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ekzhang
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!

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TheSpiciestDev
> [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
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
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!

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godot
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
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
Can you copyright the game mechanics? I don’t see how eg words with friends
could have ever existed if so.

~~~
lazerwalker
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.

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

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ryarke
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?

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

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nihakue
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.

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byte1918
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
Top right, top centre, bottom right, I think.

~~~
byte1918
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".

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zuhayeer
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

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ramshorns
Let's play.

[https://setwithfriends.com/room/volatile-
reaction](https://setwithfriends.com/room/volatile-reaction)

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baking
Either I'm an idiot or this is a bug:
[https://imgur.com/KjGvAlz](https://imgur.com/KjGvAlz)

~~~
baking
Sure enough, as soon as I post it I find it.

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etrautmann
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.

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ctrager
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?

~~~
rebel
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
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

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

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

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sirsuki
It is very hard to play on mobile.

~~~
agstudio
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.g...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hercules.groups&hl=en_us)

