Coffee & Code - Building Games with Nakama Backend

Coffee & Code - Building Games with Nakama Backend

Explore Nakama, the open-source framework for building scalable multiplayer gaming backends with Docker and Flutter.


Sample Image
Columbia Peach Coffee from Pettibone Coffee in Dayton, OH.

Have you ever wanted to build a game in your favorite development framework? Maybe a 2D side scroller like Donkey Kong Country? Or an RPG type game similar to Pokemon?

Sample Image
Nakama-docker-compose.yml, the configuration file for building the container.

Building these games on the front end might not pose much of a challenge with frameworks like Flame and Bonfire available, but what about the backend? How would you manage the data for building and scaling your game?

# Command for building container.
docker-compose -f nakama docker-compose.yml up

This is where Nakama comes in. This robust platform paves the way for game developers to build engaging online multiplayer games across a wide range of game development engines.

Sample Image
The Gift-Grab container.

Notably, Nakama supports a diverse array of engines including, but not limited to, Godot, Unity, Unreal Engine, MonoGame, LibGDX, Defold, Cocos2d, Phaser, and Macroquad.

Sample Image
Gift-Grab game running on iPad.

I figured this could be useful when creating my own games in the near future.

/// Create client.
final client = getNakamaClient( 
  host: '127.0.0.1',
  ssl: false,
  serverKey: 'defaultkey',
);

/// Sign in via email/password.
final session = await client.authenticateEmail(
  email: 'trey.a.hope@gmail.com',
  password: '123password',
)

debug Print (session.userId);
// flutter: 5e1f571d-e604-46cb-beb2-9076c21c4fbb

For now, the Gift-Grab game is going to be the test dummy for this new application, so I'll be seeing if I can setup some online capabilities for it.

Sample Image
New user ready for online gaming.

To install Nakama, I'm using Docker to build the container where the project will live.