Building a real-time multiplayer hub on Nakama in 4 weeks: socket events to Zustand, what I'd do differently

Quick context I'm a solo dev building SQL Protocol, a browser game where you play a covert operative and every mission is a real SQL query against a real Postgres database. Three modes: 15-chapter story, timed interview drills, and 1v1 Arena PvP. It shipped, people played it, and the consistent feedback was: "the world feels empty." Even with PvP, between missions it played like a single-player tutorial. This article is the four-week story of turning that into a real shared world without rewriti