Server?

iTap Development

@Murtaza and @Jack8680 thanks for all the information!

iTap Development

@Murtaza with firebase, is a realtime database like socket.io?
Also, you said I didn't have to code with firebase, but I can't find how to connect to an api.

iTap Development

@Murtaza with firebase, is a realtime database like socket.io?
Also, you said I didn't have to code with firebase, but I can't find how to connect to an api.

Hamed

@iTap-Development you wouldn't really be able to use the realtime functionality of firebase since its a different protocol to Socket.io. That being said, you can still make HTTP requests to the firebase api. Take a look at their REST Api guide here: https://firebase.google.com/docs/database/rest/start where they're using CURL to make requests you would simply use the HTTP request behaviour.

iTap Development

@Hamed so I would be able to use firebase for a realtime game? Id need a different server?

Hamed

For a realtime solution, it would probably be best to use socket.io. Otherwise you would have to be constantly be sending requests to your firebase server through http requests... this is slow and you would have syncing issues.

iTap Development

@Hamed can you actually get a server from socket.io? I can't find that anywhere.

Hamed

Here is an example on how to get Socket.io running on Heroku: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/node-websockets

iTap Development

@Hamed thank you! One last question, can you get socket.io working on firebase too? Sorry about all the questions😬

Murtaza

@iTap-Development I don't think firebase is configureable enough to run socket.io. It's more designed to be a simplified solution for database and user type things.

Check out Heroku, it's sort of like Amazon, but there is less set up required to get your server running.
You can install socket.io on a Heroku server, see here: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/node-websockets#option-2-socket-io

Heroku has a free tier that should be enough to get up and running, then when you need more they have paid options as well. It costs more then Amazon, but you can get up and running quicker with less effort.

iTap Development

@Murtaza ok! Thanks for all the help!