🇳🇴 Norwegian Game Stats

A simple website that tracks player counts for Norwegian video games on Steam, inspired by SteamDB.

How it works

1. Data Collection: The backend uses the Steam Web API (ISteamUserStats/GetNumberOfCurrentPlayers) to fetch real-time player counts for a predefined list of Norwegian games.
2. Storage: Historical data is stored in a local SQLite database.
3. Visualization: A frontend built with Chart.js displays current player counts and historical trends.

Setup

1. Install dependencies:

   npm install

2. Start the server and collector:

   npm start

   The server will start at http://localhost:3000. It will also automatically start a background job that collects data every 10 minutes.

Configuration

You can add or remove games in src/config.js.

module.exports = {
  games: [
    { id: 440900, name: "Conan Exiles", developer: "Funcom" },
    // Add more here
  ],
  databasePath: "./src/data/stats.db",
  collectionInterval: "*/10 * * * *" // Cron format
};

Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express
• Database: SQLite
• Frontend: HTML/CSS/JS, Chart.js
• Scheduler: node-cron
• API Client: Axios

Deployment

The recommended way to deploy this with automatic updates is using Railway. It connects directly to your GitHub repository and handles persistent storage (volumes) which is required for the SQLite database.

Railway Setup (Recommended)

1. Push your code to a GitHub repository.
2. Login to Railway.app.
3. Click New Project > Deploy from GitHub repo.
4. Select your repository.
5. Railway will automatically detect the Dockerfile and start building.
6. Crucial for SQLite Persistence:
   • Go to your service settings in Railway.
   • Click on the Volumes tab.
   • Click Add Volume.
   • Set the Mount Path to /app/src/data.
7. Your app will be live at a .up.railway.app domain.

Other Options

Render

1. Connect your GitHub repository to Render.
2. Select Docker as the Runtime.
3. Add a Disk with mount path /app/src/data (requires a paid plan).

Heroku (Not Recommended)

Heroku uses an ephemeral filesystem, meaning your SQLite database will be wiped every time the app restarts. To use Heroku, you would need to switch to a managed database like Heroku Postgres.

Automated Deployment with GitHub Actions

This repository includes a GitHub Action in .github/workflows/deploy.yml that ensures your code builds correctly on every push. You can also configure it to trigger a deployment to Railway.

Setting up Railway Deployment

1. Install the Railway CLI locally.
2. Run railway login.
3. Run railway link in your project folder to link it to your Railway project.
4. Get your Railway API Token:
   • Go to your Railway Account Settings > Tokens.
   • Create a new token.
5. In your GitHub Repository, go to Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions.
6. Add a new secret named RAILWAY_TOKEN and paste your token.

Now, every time you push to the main branch, the GitHub Action will verify the build and trigger a deployment to Railway.

Environmental Variables

If you want to change the port, set the PORT environment variable in your deployment platform's dashboard.

Why not Netlify or Vercel?

While Netlify and Vercel are excellent for static sites, this project requires a persistent server to:

1. Run the background collection job (cron).
2. Store data in a database.

Render, Railway, and Heroku are all good options for this architecture.