Astrolabe
Game tools for the players and staff of Arelith
As part of my work for the Arelith Persistent World server of Neverwinter Nights, where I volunteer my time, I have been creating a software application for our players and staff. This application now hosts a wide range of tools for players to engage with the server and learn more about the game while also consisting of tools for staff to manage and moderate our players.
Development
This dual-use architecture has led to the development of a wide range of functionality from case management to crafting resources for the game. It is built with Next.JS using various open-source libraries to allow rapid development, such as Chakra UI, Axios, and zustand. The data is backed by our game servers MySQL database and we connect to that using a query builder. All queries are built to be reused throughout the application with permissions checks to exclude sensitive data from player views.
Deployment
For the project, we have a strict budget which we try to stick to so that whether our player base grows or shrinks over the years we still have room to grow and adapt. This means that deployment needs to be managed carefully, utilizing existing resources where possible.
In particular, we use existing servers running our custom Docker images wherever possible, such as for this application. In addition, rather than using sometimes costly mounted storage on our servers and to increase redundancy we utilize S3 storage to support player uploads of report-specific images.
Meanwhile, the project utilizes the existing game servers database layer to ensure that we colocate our web-server data with our game data to allow the application to use both sources of data seamlessly and to support the use of web content in-game.
This application has been a focus of mine in my free time for several years and has evolved greatly. From online player statistics on the Player Portal, a Crafting Compendium, Account Profiles with game data, and Case Management tools the application is a passion of mine. I continue to expand the use of the application whenever possible. Feel free to explore it at the link below though a player or staff account is required for many features.
Skills: Next.JS, React, Axios, MySQL, RBAC, Docker, Redis