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UVplace, a real-time pixel canvas

A multiplayer collaborative canvas inspired by Reddit's r/place. Every pixel a user paints shows up instantly for all connected players over WebSockets.

Source code ↗
UVplace logo

Problem

Build a shared, persistent drawing board where many users paint at the same time and everyone sees changes as they happen, without refreshing the page.

Approach

  • Flask backend using the application factory and blueprints (auth, game).
  • Flask-SocketIO for real-time updates: each pixel change is saved and then broadcast to every client as a map-update event.
  • The 100×100 board is stored in SQLite and loaded when a player connects.
  • User accounts with hashed passwords and session-based authentication.
  • A vanilla JavaScript frontend that renders the canvas and applies incoming updates.

Result

A working multiplayer app built at Universidad del Valle. Team project of 2: I built the backend, the real-time layer and most of the frontend.