Project Antigravity

A 100% UI-based, high-fantasy space roguelike where the talent tree IS the game.

There is no combat to simulate — only a build to assemble and a brutal threshold check between you and the next round of drafting. PASS or FAIL. No HP. No partial victory. The brutality is the genre fit.

What it is

• Runtime varies with difficulty — higher difficulties demand more nodes, more decisions, and tighter resource management."
• 3 archetypes: Sporgk (Space Orc Pug, STR+STA), Space Pug Elf (AGI+LCK), Space Pug Vampire (INT+STA)
• Procedural constellation skill tree — each run generates a unique ring-based radial galaxy map from seed. Node count scales with difficulty from ~20 (Easy) to ~100+ (Nightmare).
• Structural depth nodes — conditionals, mutex pairs, anti-synergies, threshold gates, hybrid bridges (20-28% of tree depending on ring)
• Codex meta-progression — modifiers unlock across runs and feed back into future RNG pools
• Deterministic by seed — same seed + archetype + weights = byte-identical run. Share strings let others replay your run.

Galaxy Map

The constellation is a ring-based radial skill tree centered at the viewport. Key mechanics:

Feature	Detail
Ring structure	Rings 0-N spaced by RADIUS_STEP (130px). Ring radius scales with node density. Node count follows a bell curve peaking at middle rings.
Layout physics	5-pass repulsion (MIN_DIST=75px) + 2-pass spring forces (ideal edge length) + 1.25x global spread factor
Edge routing	Forward edges (1-3 per node to next ring; anchors always get max). Lateral edges (30% chance same-ring). All nodes guaranteed reachable via BFS reconnect.
Distance tiers	BFS from drafted nodes → 5 opacity tiers: purchased (1.0), 1-2 hops (0.85 amber), 3-4 hops (0.55), 5-7 hops (0.32), 8+ hops (0.18)
Edge tint	Close edges glow amber (var(--accent)), far edges stay cool grey — the player "illuminates" the web around them
Anchor halos	★ anchor nodes pulse with amber SVG halo (3.2s cycle) visible from across the map
Purchasable glow	Reachable unpurchased nodes + edges get subtle green glow; purchased nodes get bright accent glow with boxShadow
Breathing animation	Reachable unpurchased nodes (1-2 hops) pulse boxShadow + border-color at 3.6s cycle

Visual Identity

Feature	Detail
Archetype theming	Each archetype defines theme in its flavor (accent, accentSoft, accentGlow). useArchetypeTheme hook sets CSS vars on :root. All Tailwind token classes auto-reflect the current archetype.
Background layers	4-layer CSS background-image: vignette, amber nebula, fine dot-grid (24px), coarse dot-grid (96px)
CRT scanlines	::before pseudo-element: 2px repeating black lines at 70% opacity, multiply blend mode
Amber sweep	::after pseudo-element: slow amber band sliding top→bottom every 7s — the "radar dish" feel
HUD chrome	Corner bracket SVGs, 12 axis tick marks along top edge, 3 perimeter status readouts (GRID, NAV LOCK, SYS NOMINAL), blinking terminal caret
Drift particles	40 sparse amber dots drifting diagonally at varied speeds — "space is alive" without being distracting
Bungee font	Display text (titles, archetype names, phase buttons) uses Bungee from Google Fonts
Stat highlighting	Primary stat gets solid accent glow + ★ suffix; secondary gets muted glow + ☆ suffix. All colors from archetype theme.

Turn Structure

Simplified 3-beat flow per turn (PAYOUT was dead air — now merged):

BRIEFING (FORECAST)  →  gold auto-deposits, threat radar visible
  ↓  [Begin Drafting]
DRAFT                 →  purchase 1 node + items from store
  ↓  [Execute]
EXECUTE → STINGER     →  damage resolves against encounter, PASS/FAIL screen

Keyboard shortcuts: Enter or Space advances through phases. [Enter / Space] hints glow in the archetype accent color.

Combat

See docs/game-mechanics.md for the full combat reference. Quick summary:

• Damage: STR × weaponMult + flatBonuses per attack. Attacks per turn = 1 + AGI/5.
• INT bypass: Vampire's INT bypasses armor, evasion, and INT resist entirely.
• Stamina abilities: Unlocked via constellation nodes. Consume STA to fire. maxStamina = 10 + STA/2.
• Crits: LCK × 2% chance, max 50%.
• Thresholds: Curve-based (linear/breakpoint/quadratic). Boss multiplier every 5 turns, final boss on turn 20.
• Stinger: PASS/FAIL/BARELY variants with per-archetype flavor text.

Difficulty

Four built-in presets plus a Custom panel that exposes every weight knob:

Preset	Rings	Density	Curve	Vibe
Easy	6	0.6	linear	Gentle ramp, generous economy
Normal	7	1.0	breakpoint	The designed experience
Hard	8	1.4	breakpoint	Tighter curve, scarce economy
Nightmare	9	1.8	breakpoint	Precision-only, dense galaxy

Custom difficulty exposes 14 sliders including nodeDensity (0.2–5.0), ringCount (4–10), constellation layout (radial/left-to-right), and all economy/combat multipliers.

Stack

• TypeScript (strict mode)
• React 18 + Vite
• Tailwind CSS v4 (CSS variable-driven theming)
• Zustand (state) + Zod (schema validation)
• seedrandom for deterministic RNG
• Howler.js for audio
• Bungee + JetBrains Mono + Orbitron + Inter (Google Fonts)
• Vitest (280 tests)

Getting started

npm install
npm run dev          # local dev server with HMR
npm run build        # production build
npm test             # run the full Vitest suite (280 tests)
npm run test:watch   # tests in watch mode
npm run typecheck    # tsc --noEmit
npm run lint         # eslint

Project structure

/src
  /types              Types, enums, schemas
  /game               Pure game logic (no React, no Math.random())
    /balance           Threshold curve + weights application
    /constellation     Procedural node generation, structural types, radial layout
      /layout          Radial + left-to-right layout engines
    /resolve           Damage calc, encounters, abilities
    /economy           Store, costs, payouts, threshold
    /save              Share string encoding, codex, persistence
    /rng               Seeded RNG factory (seedrandom wrapper)
  /data               Static content (nodes, items, modifiers, presets, archetypes)
    /archetypes        Per-archetype JSON (stats, flavor, rings, theme, structural templates)
  /components         React components
  /hooks              Custom hooks (useArchetypeTheme, usePhase, useKeyboardNav, etc.)
  /styles             Design tokens (tokens.css)
  /sound              Audio manifest + Howler wrapper
  store.ts            Zustand store
  App.tsx
  main.tsx
/tests                Vitest specs mirroring /src/game (280 tests)
/docs                 Modder and design references
  game-mechanics.md    Full combat, constellation, economy, balance reference
  balance-guidelines.md PP system, slot identity, anti-patterns
AI.md                 Short-form rules for AI agents working on the codebase

Adding content

Read docs/balance-guidelines.md for the PP framework and design rules.

To add a new archetype:

1. Create src/data/archetypes/{id}.json with stats, flavor word lists, rings, structural templates, and theme colors
2. Add a loadArchetypeFlavor() entry in src/data/nodes/index.ts
3. The archetype automatically gets: procedural node generation, themed constellation visuals, and CSS var theming — no CSS file changes needed

Determinism contract

Same seed + same archetype + same balance weights + same draft sequence = byte-identical run. All RNG flows through createRNG(seed) — no Math.random(). Every phase gets a distinct seed slice (_t{turn}_f for forecast, _t{turn}_s for store, _t{turn}_ex for execute). If a change breaks determinism, it's a bug.

Status

Phase 2B complete — procedural constellation, radial layout with physics, distance-tiered map, campy sci-fi HUD chrome, archetype theming. Heading toward launch infrastructure (Steam page, trailer, demo deploy).

License

Copyright © 2026. All Rights Reserved.