Roombattle Online: How We Survived, Somehow – Devblog #5

28 de mayo de 2025
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9 Intense Months

Back in October 2024, we made a big (and possibly reckless) decision: Scrap everything and start over — while also launching a local demo on Steam. Post-mortem coming eventually, but spoiler: maybe not our smartest moment.

Why Start Over?

Because we realized fixing a game never designed for online was going to be more painful than just doing it right from the beginning.

🧠 A Few Gems from Our Existential Crisis Log:

  • What tech stack are we using???
  • Let’s check the UI — wait. Nothing works.
  • Can there be local + online players in the same match? → Yeah, in theory… but how?
  • How do we handle ping + latency so everyone has fun? → Good question. Next question.
  • What if someone disconnects mid-match? What if the host drops?
  • What if the whole country had a blackout but our artist still goes to the studio and only realizes there’s no electricity after plugging in their PC? → Don’t laugh. This happened.
Family playing Roombattle

🎮 Guadalindie: The Trial by Fire

While the devs were deep in code chaos, part of the team headed to Málaga for Guadalindie. This was the event — the moment of truth.

Let’s Time-Travel Through the Week:

  • Monday: No build.
  • Tuesday: Build exists — but the game loop is broken.
  • Wednesday: Build works — but no theme.
  • Thursday: Build is here — and it’s completely broken.
  • Friday: Players are playing. The demo works. Somehow.

Was it magic? Not really. Because we rebuilt it from scratch, we could trace bugs fast, fix them faster, and keep things under control.

👉 Watch our chaotic but hilarious recap video here

🪩 Roombadvices: Arnau Edition

Here’s where it gets truly wild. While Arnau was building online multiplayer from scratch, he was also:

  • 🎌 Learning Japanese
  • 🎭 Rehearsing every week
  • 🎤 For a musical

Yup. He was literally dancing in a show — Notre-Dame de Paris, no less.

I know, it sounds fake. But I promise: Arnau is the final boss of video game devs. A multitasking machine who codes all day and dances all night.

So I asked Arnau to share a few words about the experience. Today we will have only his experience. (Also, I don’t wanna talk about why I have been listening to Sabrina Carpenter on loop all month.)

💬 Arnau, the Programmer

«But at night, I become a Dancer»

You know, I think it’s okay to say it: Programming can be tough sometimes. Fighting bugs alone with no interaction other than yourself… Fortunately, some years ago I found a way to escape from this virtual insanity: Dancing! I enjoy doing some Locking and Hip-Hop in my free time.

W-what do you mean NullPointerException? It’s time for Michael Jackson and Trueno 🤸

Right now I’m participating in a musical called Notre-Dame de Paris. There are a lot of similarities with game development… But I want to highlight the importance of the team. Whatever you do, treat your teammates with respect. I assure you, there’s always something to learn from every single person you meet — like finding out how they laugh 🤗

Have fun and happy dances!