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Deploying a Game in Production

This guide will show you the steps to deploy the backend and frontend of your game, so players can connect from the internet and play and interact.

Deploying a Game in a production environment requirements will depend on the amount of players, interactions, number of backups, and many other factors. This guide is a starting point to run your services. We will not go in depth of each command/setup and some configurations will depend on your providers and exact software versions.

We recommend using a cloud provider to create a virtual machine, as they will provide a server with a public IP.

Requirements​

Backend​

Before starting we recommend you create a user, and do not use the root account. We will be using a user called paima for all examples.

Software Verification​

ssh​

Let's verify you can connect to your machine via ssh.
From your terminal you must be able to connect your server.

For these examples, we will use the follow naming:

  • paima@10.0.0.1 as the server public IP. You must use your own IP.
  • user-name as the username. Must be updated with the machine's user-name
  • my-game as the game's name.
  • local $> for commands that are ran in your local machine
  • server $> for commands that are run in the remote server
local $> ssh paima@10.0.0.1

You should see something as:

Welcome to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (GNU/Linux 6.8.0-31-generic x86_64)
...
paima@server-name:~$

ubuntu​

Let's check you have Ubuntu installed

server $> lsb_release -a

Shows the Linux Distribution and the Version Description: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

nginx​

To verify your nginx setup run: (This might change depending on your nginx setup)

local $> curl http://10.0.0.1

The response will be a webpage that contains:

<h1>Welcome to nginx!</h1>
<p>If you see this page, the nginx web server is successfully installed and
working. Further configuration is required.</p>

docker​

To verify your docker setup run

server $> docker run hello-world

You should see some message that contains Hello from Docker!

Great, now you have all the tools.

Installation​

Before continuing, make sure you compiled your project first.

We will first need to create a folder

server $> cd $HOME
server $> mkdir my-game

Now let's copy the main files we will need

# Copy DB Files
local $> rsync db/migrations/init/init.sql paima@10.0.0.1:/home/paima/my-game
local $> rsync db/docker/docker-compose.yml paima@10.0.0.1:/home/paima/my-game

# Copy .env, config & extension files
local $> rsync .env.production paima@10.0.0.1:/home/paima/my-game
local $> rsync config.prod.yml paima@10.0.0.1:/home/paima/my-game
local $> rsync extensions.yml paima@10.0.0.1:/home/paima/my-game

# If your extensions.yml has ABI extensions, copy them as well
# For example:
local $> rsync contracts/evm/abi/@paima/evm-contracts/contracts/token/IInverseAppProjected1155.sol/IInverseAppProjected1155.json paima@10.0.0.1:/home/paima/my-game

# Copy Paima Engine
local $> rsync paima-engine-linux paima@10.0.0.1:/home/paima/my-game

# Finally copy your Game Files
local $> rsync -r packaged paima@10.0.0.1:/home/paima/my-game

Run Database​

We will be running the database in a docker container.

First we will edit the docker-compose.yml

# Use your favorite editor (We are using vi)
server $> cd $HOME/my-game
server $> vi docker-compose.yml

and modify the service-postgres-volumes entry:

    volumes:
        - my-game-db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
        - ./init.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/init.sql

and root volumes entry:

volumes:
  my-game-db:

We recommend to update the password as well:

environment:
    POSTGRES_USER: postgres
    POSTGRES_PASSWORD: some-password

Start the database

server $> cd $HOME/my-game
server $> docker compose up -d

To view the database activity:

server $> cd $HOME/my-game
server $> docker compose logs -f

If the setup went well you should see logs that contain

...
LOG:  listening on IPv4 address "0.0.0.0", port 5432
LOG:  listening on Unix socket "/var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.5432"
LOG:  database system is ready to accept connections

Deploy Contracts​

For EVM, you can find the deployment steps here.

Copy the addresses from the deploy steps, as we will be using them later.

Deployed Addresses

...
internal_contracts#InverseAppProjected1155 - 0xe7f1725E7734CE288F8367e1Bb143E90bb3F0512
internal_contracts#PaimaL2Contract - 0x5FC8d32690cc91D4c39d9d3abcBD16989F875707

Run Game Backend with Paima Engine​

Setup Files​

First edit your .env.production file:

  • Check the RPC and settings

Update with the value for the deployed PaimaL2Contract

  • CONTRACT_ADDRESS=0x5FC8d32690cc91D4c39d9d3abcBD16989F875707

Update with the current blockheight in your target blockchain

  • START_BLOCKHEIGHT=120000

Update the DB password

  • DB_PW="some-password"

NOTE Setup your DNS name with HTTPS. This setup is outside the scope of this tutorial, and depend on your DNS provider, Domain Name Provider and Certificate Authority.

For this example we are using the domain backend.my-game.com

  • Update the BACKEND_URI=https://backend.my-game.com

Edit config.production.yml file, make sure your chain setup is correct and update the contract address:

    paimaL2ContractAddress : '0x5FC8d32690cc91D4c39d9d3abcBD16989F875707'

Edit extensions.yml file, update the abiPath(s) to match your rsync'd files and the contractAddress(es) to match the deployed contracts, and set the current startBlockheight(s) as the current block of the target blockchain(s)

    contractAddress: "0xe7f1725E7734CE288F8367e1Bb143E90bb3F0512"
    abiPath: "./IInverseAppProjected1155.json"
    startBlockHeight: 120000

Backend Reverse Proxy​

First setup your DNS to make backend.my-game.com traffic reach this machine's IP.

Let's setup nginx tu reverse proxy the traffic. First lets create a setup file for nginx:

server $> sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/backend.my-game.com

And copy the contents setup a reverse proxy:

server {
	listen 80;
	server_name backend.my-game.com;
	location / {
		proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
	        proxy_set_header Host $host;
	        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3333;
	        proxy_http_version 1.1;
	        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
	        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
	}
}

Lets activate this setup and restart nginx

server $> cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled 
server $> sudo ln -s ../sites-available/backend.my-game.com
server $> sudo systemctl reload nginx

Backups (OPTIONAL)​

Install pg_dump for automatic DB Backups.

Install add the APT Repository (https://www.postgresql.org/download/) and install postgress client tools.

server $> sudo apt install -y postgresql-common
server $> sudo /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg/apt.postgresql.org.sh
server $> sudo apt-get install postgresql-client-16

Now pg_dump should be available in your system.

Game Service​

Now lets create a service named my-game.service Edit user-name and my-game to match your settings.

[Unit]
Description=My Game Backend
After=syslog.target network.target
DefaultDependencies=no
StartLimitIntervalSec=0

[Service]
Type=simple
User=paima
Group=paima
Environment=HOME=/home/paima
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
Environment=NETWORK=testnet
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10s
SuccessExitStatus=143
KillMode=process
KillSignal=SIGINT
TimeoutStopSec=90
WorkingDirectory=/home/paima/my-game
ExecStart=/home/paima/my-game/paima-engine-linux run

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Let's copy the service to the service folder

server $> cd /etc/systemd/system/
server $> sudo ln -s /home/paima/my-game/my-game.service

Now to start the service

server $> sudo systemctl start my-game.service

And to view the logs

server $> journalctl -u my-game.service -f

You should see a message similar to this:

[paima-runtime] Presync for evm finished at 0
-------------------------------------
Beginning Syncing & Processing Blocks
-------------------------------------
[paima-runtime::snapshots] Saving Snapshot: paima-snapshot-57342548.sql
[paima-runtime::snapshots] Next snapshot scheduled at height 57364148
Block funnel 421614: #57342549-57342648

Now your backend is running!

Frontend​

First setup your DNS to make my-game.com traffic reach this machine's IP.

Create .env.production file locally with the same values in your remote server.

Start by compiling your middleware with:

local $> npm run build
local $> npm run pack:middleware

This will create your middleware with the correct backend URL.

Build your backend, this might be different depending on the technology stack you are using.

local $> cd frontend
local $> npm run build

Let's create a folder in your remote machine

server $> cd /var/www/html/
server $> sudo mkdir my-game-frontend
server $> sudo chown user-name my-game-frontend
server $> sudo chgrp user-name my-game-frontend

And now let's upload your build to this folder

local $> rsync -r build/* paima@10.0.0.1:/var/www/html/my-game-frontend

Next setup nginx file server. Start by creating a setup file for nginx:

server $> sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/my-game.com

And copy the contents setup a reverse proxy
NOTE: This might need some changes for your specific frontend technology stack

server {
	listen 80;
	root /var/www/html/my-game-frontend;

	index index.html index.htm;

	server_name my-game.com;

	location / {
		try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
        # e.g., for React:
        # try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
	}
}

Activate this setup and restart nginx

server $> cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled 
server $> sudo ln -s ../sites-available/my-game.com
server $> sudo systemctl reload nginx

Congratulations!
Now you have your game running in a production environment.

Updating, Maintenance & Logs​

Logs​

To view backend logs:

server $> journalctl -u my-game.service -f

To view database logs:

server $> cd $HOME/my-game && docker compose logs -f

Update Game Code​

Start by rebuilding the packaged files with npm run pack, then you can repeat the uploading the /packaged files and restart the service.

server $> sudo systemctl stop my-game.service

## OPTIONAL do a database backup, in case you need to recover the previous state.

## Apply any database migrations your updated code might require.

local $> rsync -r packaged paima@10.0.0.1:/home/paima/my-game
server $> sudo systemctl start my-game.service

Update Frontend Code​

To update the frontend code, rebuild your middleware npm run pack:middleware, then rebuild your frontend and upload:

local $> rsync -r build/* paima@10.0.0.1:/var/www/html/my-game-frontend

The server will generate backups, we recommend you keep them in a safe place, outside this same server to recover your state at any time.

Reset the database​

If you need to wipe the database to reset from scratch, you can use the following

docker compose --env-file=.env.testnet down
docker volume rm my-game-db
docker compose --env-file=.env.testnet up -d