The latest articles on DEV Community by Saifullah Khan (@saifkp517). https://dev.to/saifkp517 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F1381901%2Fdf6e7dcc-6b71-4df7-8659-882ef5ad775b.png https://dev.to/saifkp517 en Saifullah Khan Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:41:02 +0000 https://dev.to/saifkp517/i-didnt-have-a-startup-idea-so-i-built-a-game-5hfg https://dev.to/saifkp517/i-didnt-have-a-startup-idea-so-i-built-a-game-5hfg <p>Every “build a side project to get hired” guide tells you the same thing: Solve a real problem. Find a pain point. Ship something useful.</p> <p>The trouble was, I didn’t have a problem to solve. I didn’t have a SaaS idea unique enough to matter, I wasn’t in a position to go market some half-baked product.</p> <p>But I wanted to build, I had plenty of time and curiosity, and one honest goal: build something that gets a recruiter’s attention.</p> <p>Games!, these are the lowest-friction way to get users, nobody signs up for a “CRUD app” for ‘fun’, but they’ll click PLAY.</p> <h2> <a href="https://zentra-io.vercel.app/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Introducing Zentra(Click to Play)</a> </h2> <p>Go shoot someone, I’ll Wait.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F673x5wwb5bjr2wm0zcxa.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F673x5wwb5bjr2wm0zcxa.png" alt="Game Overview" width="800" height="366"></a></p> <p>Back? Cool. Here’s what you just played, and how it’s held together.</p> <h3> What It Is </h3> <p>You’re a sphere. Not a character or a soldier - a sphere, rolling around a noisy, uneven terrain, while pixelated rain comes down. You have a gun. So does everyone else. Highest Score Wins.</p> <p>Wanna hide? Jump on Canopies and ambush anyone running across. Enemy radar gives away your position in space, but that wouldn’t be a problem if you’re quick.</p> <p>Canopies serve as cover during intense fire fights, and if that’s not enough, you also have an option to activate temporary invincibility mid fights.</p> <h3> <strong>Under the Hood</strong> </h3> <p>Zentra runs on Websockets for real-time play, with Redis and Postgres behind it and a NestJs backend tying it together. Each peice is doing a specific job, and each one has a story worth it’s own post - So rather than cram it all here, </p> <p>The above was just the overview. In the posts to come, I’ll go deeper on: </p> <ul> <li> <strong>The Netcode</strong> - Real-time position sync, shooting and keeping engagement.</li> <li> <strong>Tricks on Keeping the FPS High -</strong> The tricks that stopped it turning into a slideshow</li> <li> <strong>Filling empty lobbies -</strong> Bots architecture, how they navigate terrain, aim, and feel humanish</li> </ul> <p>More coming as i write them.</p> webdev programming typescript performance