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

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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.

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Demo

Play here: Online demo

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

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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.

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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.

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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 (￣▽￣)

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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.

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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.

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Thanks for checking out DashBot!