Habbo

Prerequisites

• Node.jsfree

  Required for running the development server and backend services.

• GitHubfree

  Version control and repository hosting.

AI coding tools

• Claude Code

  Best-in-class coding agent for scaffolding complex full-stack multi-file applications from the terminal.

• Cursor

  Excellent AI-native code editor for reviewing visual UI components and tweaking canvas rendering code.

Build guide

1. 01Project Scaffolding and Database Schema

   Initialize the web application and define database tables for users, rooms, furniture items, and inventory.

   Create a new full-stack application using Next.js with TypeScript and Tailwind CSS. Set up a Supabase client configuration for authentication and relational data. Create database migration files for users (id, username, avatar_config), rooms (id, owner_id, name, model_data), furniture_catalog (id, name, sprite_url, type), and user_inventory (id, user_id, furniture_id). Ensure all foreign key relations and indexes are correctly specified and implement basic email/password authentication flows.

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2. 02Isometric Room Grid Engine

   Implement a 2.5D isometric tile rendering engine on HTML5 Canvas to handle room layouts and floor coordinates.

   Build an isometric rendering engine component using HTML5 Canvas or Pixi.js inside the React application. The engine should render a customizable rectangular grid of floor tiles (e.g., 8x8 or 10x10) with coordinate tracking. Implement mouse interaction to detect hovered tiles, click-to-walk pathfinding (A* algorithm on a grid), and proper depth sorting for objects placed on tiles.

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3. 03Real-Time Multiplayer Socket Server

   Establish a real-time WebSocket synchronization layer using Socket.io to broadcast avatar movements and room states.

   Set up a Node.js WebSocket server using Socket.io that integrates with the Express backend. Implement room join/leave events, player position broadcasting, and movement interpolation so that when user A walks to coordinate (x,y), all other clients in the same room receive the update in real time and animate their avatar accordingly. Handle disconnect cleanup gracefully.

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4. 04Avatar Customization and Sprite Rendering

   Create an avatar editor interface and render layered pixel-art avatar sprites based on user configuration strings.

   Implement an avatar customization UI panel where users can select clothing, hair styles, and colors, saving the configuration string to the users table. Build a rendering utility that overlays multiple pixel-art sprite layers (body, head, clothing, hair) facing different isometric directions (North, South, East, West) and animate walking cycles inside the isometric room canvas.

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5. 05Room Building and Furniture Placement

   Add mechanics for picking up, rotating, and placing furniture items onto the isometric floor grid.

   Develop a room editing mode that allows owners to open their inventory, select furniture items ('furni'), and place them onto valid isometric floor tiles. Implement collision detection, stack height rules, item rotation, and persistence of room layouts to the database via WebSocket or REST API calls.

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6. 06Chat Bubble System and UI Chrome

   Implement public chat bubbles, whisper commands, and user interface overlays mimicking classic virtual worlds.

   Build a chat input bar and message handling system. When a user types a message, broadcast it to all clients in the room via Socket.io and render a floating speech bubble above the speaking avatar's head that fades out after a few seconds. Add user list sidebars, friend lists, and basic profile inspection popups.

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Cost vs paying for Habbo