[▲ Vercel Community](/) · [Categories](/categories) · [Latest](/latest) · [Top](/top) · [Live](/live) [v0](/c/v0/59) # How to build and optimize interactive games on Vercel with Next.js 7 views · 1 like · 2 posts Williamfarah65 8126 (@williamfarah65-8126) · 2026-04-03 Hi everyone, I’ve been exploring `Vercel` for deploying small interactive projects lately, especially browser-based games and lightweight apps, and overall the developer experience has been pretty smooth. Recently, I started working on a word-based puzzle concept (inspired by games like letter-box style challenges), and I’m curious how others are handling similar builds on `Vercel`. ## Key Challenges * Managing state efficiently on serverless functions * Handling real-time interactions (without overcomplicating things) * Optimizing performance for repeat users I noticed this community is quite active in areas like Help, Showcase, and Discussions where people share projects and troubleshoot issues, so I thought this would be the perfect place to ask. ## Questions for the Community For those who have built or deployed interactive or game-like apps: * Did you stick fully with `Vercel` (`API routes`, `edge functions`, etc.), or combine it with other services? * Any tips for keeping things fast and scalable without increasing costs too much? * Would you recommend any specific stack with `Next.js` for this type of project? Would love to hear your experiences or even see what you’ve built  Jacob Paris (@jacobparis) · 2026-04-03 · ♥ 1 I tend to add Upstash to most of my projects, basically everything benefits from a redis cache but they also have a nice realtime API which I'd recommend for live games