Plink
Making multiplayer party games accessible through devices people already own.
- Platform
- iOS + TV (AirPlay or browser)
- Stack
- TypeScript · React Native · Expo · React · PixiJS · Node.js · Socket.IO
- My role
- Product engineering, real-time architecture, multiplayer synchronization, frontend development, game interactions, and cross-device experience design.
Overview
Plink is an iOS-first party game app. One player hosts a room, friends scan a QR code on the TV to join, and every phone becomes a controller.
The shared arena runs on the big screen through AirPlay or any web browser, so there's no console and no extra hardware.
The problem
Traditional local multiplayer games can depend on dedicated controllers or complicated setup. Plink explores a simpler approach using a TV and players' phones.
The approach
Create a shared gameplay experience where a TV becomes the main screen and connected phones serve as individual controllers.
Private controls in every hand, one shared stage that everyone reacts to together. Joining takes a QR scan and no account.
Engineering
The platform uses real-time communication and synchronized game state to connect players across devices and support different mini-game interactions.
E.01
One protocol, three clients
A pnpm monorepo shares typed socket events and game logic between the Expo controller app, the TV renderer built with React and PixiJS, and the Node.js room server running Socket.IO.
E.02
Rooms that survive real life
After the first join, a phone stays paired with its host for up to 12 hours. Reconnects resume automatically, and when the host starts another game, paired phones follow into the new lobby.
E.03
The phone as a pointer
In Aim Blast, the phone's camera turns it into a pointer aimed at the TV. Rounds wait until every player's camera is ready, and nobody can fire during the countdown.
E.04
Games on a shared platform
Every game plugs into the same room, lobby and scoring flow, so a new game can focus on its own mechanics instead of rebuilding the basics.
E.05
More than one language
The interface ships in English, Turkish and Romanian. Room content, like country names in Guess the Flag, is resolved on the server by the room's language.
My role
I worked on frontend and product engineering, real-time interactions, cross-device communication, and the broader gaming experience.
Outcome
A released multiplayer party game for iOS, with six games in its catalog: Aim Blast, Guess the Flag, Color Glitch, Emoji Decode, Quiz Clash and Plink Football.
See the product