Mistwood

In the era before smartphones, when the Internet was still making its mark in Poland, we communicated through Gadu-Gadu, and online gaming hadn't reached its current popularity, one project stood out, still bringing a nostalgic smile to many Polish gamers today. This project is "Smoki Nightwood," a browser game that debuted on the Polish Internet around 2004 and was actively developed until 2016. By then, it had amassed about a million players who collectively "adopted" nearly three and a half million dragons. The creator announced a temporary shutdown of the servers to focus on modernizing the game. Shortly after, he launched a Patronite account, enabling fans to donate monthly towards the game's development. Unfortunately, Przemysław Krowiński, the game's creator, known as "Gilfuin," passed away on September 25, 2020, at age 34 in Krakow, dimming the hopes for the game's new version. This loss, however, motivated the Mistwood team to create a revamped version of the game.

mistwood.pl

My dragons in Mistwood

Initial release

Mistwood was released on January 24, 2023, with advertisements posted in two Nightwood-focused Facebook groups. The game's popularity exceeded our expectations, attracting hundreds of players within the first week, with the player base continuing to grow.

Unique challenges

Developing a browser game, even in 2024, presents unique challenges. Despite announcing that (almost) all game progress would be reset after the beta period, we encountered numerous players bending the rules. Ensuring security in browser games, essentially web applications, can be daunting. Challenges include preventing automation and distinguishing real players from bots. As a hobby project, these issues are compounded by limited time, other priorities, and budget constraints. Nevertheless, after countless hours developing custom bot-detection algorithms, we managed to mitigate most bot-related issues.

My role in the project

As one of the two co-founders and developers, I'm involved in all aspects of the project. My primary focus includes backend programming, database model design, team & community engagement.

Technology

Initially, we used vanilla React for the frontend and Nest.js for the backend. However, prior to the game's release, we transitioned to Theo Browne's T3 Stack, which has enabled us to move faster and break nothing less before.