Case Study · US Gaming Client (Confidential)

Gaming Community Platform — Real-Time Leaderboards & Stats API

200

Users Migrated

99.9%

Uptime (30 days)

45ms

API Response Time

<50ms

Leaderboard Latency

!The Challenge

A US-based gaming community needed a scalable backend: real-time leaderboards, user auth, game stats API, and a social layer for 200+ active players. Their existing PHP/MySQL monolith was crashing under peak load.

⚙The Strategy

Next.js + Supabase real-time backend replacing the legacy stack. PostgreSQL game stats schema with leaderboard materialized views. Supabase Realtime subscriptions for live leaderboard updates. REST API routes for game client integration. Discord OAuth for the gaming community. Admin moderation panel.

✓The Results

200 users migrated without downtime. Leaderboard updates in real-time under 50ms. API response time down from 800ms to 45ms. Zero crashes in the first 30 days. Client team manages the platform with no developer on-call.

The Challenge

Gaming communities are demanding: users expect real-time leaderboard updates, instant score refreshes, and zero downtime during peak play sessions. The client''s existing PHP/MySQL stack was hitting its limits — slow queries under concurrent load, no real-time capability, and fragile manual deployments.

Requirements: real-time leaderboards, Discord OAuth, game stats API for the game client to POST scores, admin moderation panel, and a clean migration path from legacy MySQL data.

The Solution

Database Design

PostgreSQL schema optimized for leaderboard queries:

-- Materialized view refreshed on every game_session insert
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW leaderboard AS
SELECT user_id, username,
  SUM(score) AS total_score,
  COUNT(*) AS games_played,
  MAX(score) AS best_score
FROM game_sessions
GROUP BY user_id, username
ORDER BY total_score DESC;

RLS policies ensure players can only insert their own sessions. Admins have elevated read access across all data.

Real-Time Leaderboard

Supabase Realtime subscription on the game_sessions table. Client subscribes on page load — any new INSERT triggers a Postgres NOTIFY, which propagates via websocket, and the leaderboard re-renders. Latency: consistently under 50ms from game client POST to visible leaderboard update.

Game Stats API

Next.js API route at /api/game/session accepting POST requests from the game client with JWT auth. Validates payload, inserts to game_sessions, triggers Realtime. P99 response time: 45ms.

Auth & Community

Supabase auth with Discord OAuth provider. Single-click login for the gaming community. Profiles linked to Discord user IDs for community moderation and ban enforcement.

Data Migration

Existing MySQL data exported as CSV, validated with custom scripts, and bulk-inserted into Supabase PostgreSQL. 200 users and 5,000+ game session records migrated in a 2-hour maintenance window. Zero data loss.

Results

Platform launched without incident. Real-time leaderboard was the feature players praised most — it created immediate competitive dynamics that increased session frequency and time-on-site.

API response time improved 94% (800ms → 45ms). The client team uses the moderation panel daily without developer involvement.