Liar’s Dice: A cross-platform multiplayer game

One of my favorite recent projects is a fully functional, pirate-themed Liar’s Dice web game. But the real treasure here isn’t just the gameplay—it’s the architecture behind it. Instead of relying on a centralized server to handle game state and matchmaking, I built this entire experience to run completely peer-to-peer directly in the browser!

Here’s a deep dive into the tech stack and the challenges solved during development.

The Tech Stack

  • Framework: React / TypeScript
  • Build Tool: Vite
  • Networking: WebRTC via PeerJS
  • Styling: Custom CSS for that authentic pirate aesthetic

Links: Play Web Version | Open Source Repo (Apache 2.0) | Google Play App Link | ios (coming soon)

Peer-to-Peer Networking with WebRTC

The standout technical feature of this project is its serverless multiplayer architecture.

Using PeerJS (a wrapper around WebRTC), players can host a lobby directly from their browser. When a host creates a game, they generate a unique connection code. Other players enter this code to establish a direct, real-time data connection.

This means:

  1. Zero Server Costs: Game state is managed entirely by the host’s browser.
  2. Low Latency: Data travels directly between players, bypassing intermediaries.
  3. High Privacy: No game data or user information is stored in a database.
Liar's Dice a cross-platform multiplayer bluffing game

Complex Game State Management

Liar’s Dice is a game of hidden information. Every player starts with 5 dice, which are kept secret. Managing this state securely while ensuring everyone stays synchronized was a fun challenge.

  • The Bidding System: Players must continuously raise the bid (e.g., “three 4s” -> “four 4s” or “three 5s”). The UI dynamically prevents invalid bids by validating user input against the current game state before broadcasting the action to the network.
  • Wild 1s: The logic accounts for “1s” acting as wildcards across all players’ hands, complicating the validation math when a player finally calls “Liar!”.

Responsive & Mobile-Friendly

A party game needs to be playable at a party! The entire UI was built from the ground up to be completely mobile-friendly. Players can keep their phones hidden like a real dice cup, making their bids with intuitive touch controls.

Downloadable Game Logs

A game of guessing and chance leads to the occasional squabble among my friends when playing, as such the app tracks every bid, challenge, and dice loss. At the end of a match, players can download the full game logs in both plain text and JSON formats to settle any lingering disputes over who actually bluffed the best.

Cross-Platform Monetization

Because Liar’s Dice is deployed as both a web application and a native mobile app (using Capacitor), the architecture supports a dual-monetization strategy:

  • Web Version: Utilizes Buy Me a Coffee (I call it Buy Me an Ale in this case) with Stripe for the final payment integration.
  • Mobile App (iOS/Android): Integrates native AdMob for serving ads via the @capacitor-community/admob plugin, while also utilizing RevenueCat (@revenuecat/purchases-capacitor) to make it so you can remove the ad banner for $5.

Still Reading?

I have another article on some of the graphic design and marketing I’ve been doing for this game that might catch your fancy.