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Wolfmans55

89 karma · joined February 18, 2021

Creator of multiplayer interactive experiences
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Wolfmans55··on Show HN: Free game to destroy any web page
This is awesome. I know I downloaded something like this back in the early 2000s that would destroy your desktop. Ants, hammers, bombs, etc.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: An e-ink frame that hears birds and draws them as 1800s illustrations
I love these super creative software + hardware project ideas you don’t see too much of anymore!
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: Making a GBA game with GPT-6 Astra
TIL "Game Boy Micro" is a thing.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
Wow, thanks for the heads up! Was not expecting this...
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
Oh, I see. No, not yet.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
Yes. If a team buzzes in and the host marks their response as incorrect, they can’t buzz in again.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
Yes, you just hit “Create new board” on the play.buzzinga.io page which will prompt you to sign up or log in.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
Nope. Everyone should be able to see the clue, but not the answer or correct response to the clue.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
There’s only two public boards: “Animals”, which I clobbered together awhile ago just as a demo for folks to test Buzzinga with.

I later added the “Millennials” game, which I created myself and played with friends on a game night.

Neither have clues from the Jeopardy! show itself AFAIK.

Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
Excellent!
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
I’d like to make an offline mode so you can connect physical buttons/buzzers and not have to worry about connectivity/latency, etc.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
This is a great idea.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
When I was thinking of a name I thought, well, what do you do when you’re playing? Buzz in. So I just thought “Buzzinga.” That’s the origin story.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
So overall, the site including the buzzer page uses websockets for (close to) real-time client-server communication.

Obviously latency can be an issue, so my non-perfect B+ solution is to essentially calculate the round trip of the buzz, divide it by 2, and subtract it from the server time.

client ------------ pingTime ------------> server

client <----------- serverTime ----------- server

roundTrip = pingTime + pongTime

buzzTime = serverTime - (roundTrip / 2);

The server time is always the source of truth since client times can vary. Not using NTP which could possibly be more accurate.

Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
You'll only see it if you're logged in. I'll fix the menu button!
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
Thank you!
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
Yeah, the wording is a good point. I'll think about the color scheme.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
It's possible, but there are other jeopardy game maker sites out there that charge money and have existed for 5-10+ years that do similar things but with "Jeopardy" actually in their name (e.g. jeopardylabs)

Worst case, they do, and then I know I made a good product.

Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
In the menu you'll see there is a "Show answer" button. The host can log in on a different tab or device to see the answer to the currently flipped clue.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
Ha, never heard of this event. Watching the one from DEFCON 31 now. Did you play in that one?
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
No plans at the moment, but I’m not fully against the idea.
Wolfmans55··on Show HN: I built a Jeopardy game maker with buzzer support
Yeah, I made a category for a game night with friends called “Who wrote this Facebook status in ‘09?”, which was very popular.

Repurposing the logic for different game shows is definitely interesting. Although I’ve matured Buzzinga in the last seven months, there’s definitely still room to improve, but eventually I can see this transition!