Pixel RPG Simulator

Pixel RPG Simulator

Walk The Mandalay Bay in a Pokémon-style pixel overworld built with Phaser 3. Inspired by Operation Epic Furious.

Play URL: https://exios66.github.io/degen-llms/rpg/

---

Vision

Transform the menu-driven terminal casino into an explorable resort:

• Top-down overworld navigation
• NPC dialogue trees with branching choices
• Casino activities as encounters (DOM overlays, not scene redirects)
• Unified chip economy and save library shared with CLI and web terminal
• Dense environmental storytelling, Easter eggs, and Mandalay Bay–themed zones

Core loop: walk → talk → play → earn chips → save position.

---

Access

Method	URL
Direct	https://exios66.github.io/degen-llms/rpg/
From terminal	Link in web hub menu

Saves use the same localStorage key (mandalay-bay-library) as the web terminal. RPG adds an rpg object to each save slot.

---

Your guest

The title screen's character creator picks an archetype and then the sprite you actually walk around as — skin tone, hair color, and outfit, with a live preview. The Trainer Card's wardrobe reopens the same creator mid-game.

Archetype	Flavor	Perk
weekend_warrior	Default tourist	+10% first slot spin payout
high_roller	Whale energy	High Limit access at 5,000 chips
convention_goer	Badge and lanyard	10% cashier buy-in bonus
local	Knows the shortcuts	Back-hall shortcut unlocked

---

Controls

Input	Action
Arrow keys / WASD	Move
Tap / click a tile	Walk there — the resort is playable on a phone
Shift	Run
E / Enter / Space	Talk / advance dialogue
Mouse	Dialogue choices, game buttons
T	Trainer Card (quests, reputation, wardrobe)
P	MGM Rewards phone

On a phone

The canvas fills the screen and a thumb pad mounts in the bottom corners: a d-pad on the left, B to run, A to talk, ☰ for the START menu. It hides itself whenever a conversation or a panel is up. The pad is optional — tap a tile to walk there (Pathfinder.js routes around the furniture), tap a person to walk over and talk, and tap anywhere to advance dialogue.

Gold walkways connect every door, dark trim borders each zone, and floating signs name the room you're in — follow the gold and you can't get lost.

---

The property

Thirty-two rooms across Strip, Arrival, Casino, Retail, Bars, Hotel, Pool, Attractions, and back-of-house wings, authored as declarative JSON in docs/rpg/js/data/maps/ and compiled into tile layers at boot by MapLoader. Each room has its own spawn point, and doors sit on the outer walkable ring so the warp fires as you step onto one.

Wing	Rooms
Arrival	Las Vegas Blvd, Valet & Parking, Registration Lobby
Casino	Casino Floor North, Casino Floor South, Race & Sports Book, High Limit Salon, Foundation Room
Retail	The Shoppes at Mandalay Place, Sky Bridge, Convention Center
Bars	Betty's Bar, Skyfall Lounge
Hotel	Tower Elevator Lobby, Guest Floor Corridor, Your Room, Delano Wing, Bathhouse Spa
Pool	Mandalay Beach, Cabanas & Hot Tubs, Moorea Beach Club, Moonlight Rave Stage
Attractions	Shark Reef Tunnel, Shark Reef Exhibit Hall, House of Blues, HOB Green Room, ULTRA Arena Concourse
Back of house	Back of House

Three doors are gated: the High Limit Salon checks chips and stake tier through docs/js/venues.js, the Foundation Room wants Noir standing, and your own room door stops working while the folio is unpaid.

---

Activity encounters

The RPG does not reimplement game screens. Hotel, pool, shops, bars, slots, sportsbook, prediction markets, craps, the lottery counter, racing, equestrian, cashier, bank, and every meta screen are written once in docs/js/ui/ as buildXRenderers(ctx) factories. The web terminal spreads those factories into its renderer table; the RPG's TerminalHostOverlay builds the same context and mounts the identical functions inside an encounter panel. A feature shipped to the terminal appears in the RPG with no RPG-side work.

The bespoke pixel "battle screens" that read better in-world are blackjack, hold'em, roulette, the House of Blues rhythm minigame, and Valet Vic's Strip Drive arcade cabinet. Table games still take bet limits from the shared stake-tier picker; Strip Drive is a timed tip-chase with no wager.

Encounter	Where it lives	Reached from
blackjack, holdem, roulette	Bespoke pixel overlays	Casino floor pits
rhythm	Bespoke pixel overlay	House of Blues stage
vegas_strip_drive	Bespoke canvas arcade overlay	Valet Vic / keys-desk cabinet
craps, lottery	Hosted from docs/js/ui/	Stickman Stan's rail, Lottery Lena's counter
slots, sportsbook, predictions	Hosted	Slot aisle, Bookie Blake's board
horse_racing, dressage, jumper, horse_stables	Hosted	Racing pavilion
hotel*, pool*, shops, bar	Hosted	Tower, pool deck, the Shoppes
cashier, bank, stats, staff_manifest	Hosted	Cage, back of house, START menu

Encounter flow

OverworldScene._tryInteract()
  → DialogueManager.start(dialogueId)
  → choice with "encounter": "craps"
  → EncounterBridge.start("craps")
  → TerminalHostOverlay mounts the shared renderer  [DOM]
  → session.wallet updated by the shared logic
  → SaveAdapter.persist()
  → OverworldScene resumes

---

Pokémon-style systems

System	Detail
START menu	Esc or X — Trainer Card, Quests, Dex, Bag, Secrets, Phone, Bank, Stats, Staff, Guest Book, Completion, Options, Save
Challengers	NPCs with a sight cone spot you, walk over, and open with their encounter — once each
Quests	Ten in js/data/quests.json, progress derived from shared session state so it can never disagree
Dex	Shark Reef species, slot machines played, staff met
Bag	Quest items, mall purchases, minibar tabs
Secrets	Twelve easter eggs, cosmetic only — an egg never pays chips
Schedules	NPCs move between positions as the world clock turns

---

Architecture

Hybrid Phaser + DOM

• Phaser renders the overworld (tiles, sprites, camera, day/night wash)
• DOM overlays carry dialogue and every game screen, which is what lets the RPG mount the terminal's own renderers rather than redrawing them in Phaser

File layout

docs/rpg/
├── index.html               # RPG entry point
├── css/rpg.css              # Pixel skin, including for mounted terminal screens
├── GDD.md                   # Full design document
└── js/
    ├── main.js              # Bootstrap: title → Phaser → overlays
    ├── data/                # The world as data
    │   ├── maps/*.json      # 28 room records + index.json
    │   ├── npcs.json        # Rosters, sight cones, schedules
    │   ├── dialogues.json   # 255 dialogue nodes
    │   ├── quests.json      # Quest board
    │   ├── easter_eggs.json # Secrets registry
    │   └── triggers.json    # Zone messages and warps
    ├── scenes/
    │   ├── GameScenes.js    # OverworldScene (Phaser)
    │   └── TitleScreen.js   # DOM save picker + HUD
    └── systems/
        ├── MapTiles.js      # Tile vocabulary
        ├── MapLoader.js     # JSON → tile layers
        ├── MapData.js       # Accessors + procedural fallback
        ├── TextureFactory.js
        ├── DialogueManager.js
        ├── SaveAdapter.js
        ├── EncounterBridge.js / HostedEncounters.js
        ├── TerminalHostOverlay.js   # Mounts docs/js/ui/ screens
        ├── MenuOverlay.js           # START menu
        ├── QuestManager.js / Dex.js / Inventory.js / EasterEggs.js
        └── overlays/                # Bespoke battle screens only
            ├── HoldemOverlay.js
            ├── RouletteOverlay.js
            └── RhythmOverlay.js

Shared game logic and screens live in docs/js/.

---

NPC roster

Sixty-one NPCs live in js/data/npcs.json, keyed by map id. Twelve of them have a sight cone and challenge you on sight; nine move between positions as the resort clock turns.

Wing	Room	Who you'll meet
Arrival	Las Vegas Blvd	Doorman Dante, Cab Line Carl
Arrival	Valet & Parking	Valet Vic, Keys Desk Cabinet, Row F Coupe
Arrival	Registration Lobby	Chip Chandler, Golden Statue, Tourist Tina, Bell Desk Bruno
Casino	Casino Floor North	Blackjack Pit, Hold'em Pit, Roulette Pit, Stickman Stan, Spinster Sal, Cashier Carmen, Security Sam, High Limit Host, Shop Clerk
Casino	Casino Floor South	Pavilion Paula, Arena Alex, Slot Tech Tessa, Cocktail Cora
Casino	Race & Sports Book	Bookie Blake, Stable Hand Stu
Casino	High Limit Salon	Salon Pit Boss, Salon Dealer, Salon Cage
Casino	Foundation Room	Whale Whitney, Whale Warren, Host Alexandra
Retail	The Shoppes at Mandalay Place	Boutique Bianca, Bag Check Bev, Lottery Lena
Retail	Sky Bridge	Busker Bo
Retail	Convention Center	Badge Barry, Vendor Val
Bars	Betty's Bar	Barkeep Betty, Regular Reggie
Bars	Skyfall Lounge	Sommelier Sy
Hotel	Tower Elevator Lobby	Clerk Carmen, Concierge Cleo
Hotel	Guest Floor Corridor	Housekeeper Hana, Room 24-118
Hotel	Your Room	Room Console, Minibar
Hotel	Delano Wing	Delano Dana
Hotel	Bathhouse Spa	Attendant Ash
Pool	Mandalay Beach	Lifeguard Lou, Reef Guide
Pool	Cabanas & Hot Tubs	Cabana Curtis, Hot Tub Hal
Pool	Moorea Beach Club	Beach DJ
Pool	Moonlight Rave Stage	Moonlight DJ
Attractions	Shark Reef Tunnel	Photo Kiosk
Attractions	Shark Reef Exhibit Hall	Reef Docent, Reef DJ
Attractions	House of Blues	Stage Manager, HOB Bouncer
Attractions	HOB Green Room	The Headliner
Attractions	ULTRA Arena Concourse	Arena Usher, Merch Marge
Back of house	Back of House	Janitor Joe, Count Room Cal

Not every NPC is a person: room consoles, the minibar, the lobby statue, and the photo kiosk are interactables wearing the same record shape, which is how a dialogueId can lead straight into a terminal screen.

The seven blackjack, hold'em, and roulette dealers you actually sit down with rotate through docs/js/dealers.js (a mirror of mandalay_bay/dealers.py), so the pit NPCs above are doors into that roster rather than fixed characters — meeting them fills the staff page of the Dex.

---

Dialogue system

Dialogue trees live in js/data/dialogues.json.

Node schema

{
  "node_id": {
    "speaker": "NPC Name",
    "text": "Line of dialogue.",
    "next": "optional_next_node_id",
    "setFlag": "optional_flag_to_set",
    "encounter": "optional_encounter_id",
    "choices": [
      {
        "label": "Player choice text",
        "next": "node_id",
        "encounter": "blackjack",
        "setFlag": "flag",
        "requiresFlag": "only_if_set",
        "unlessFlag": "hide_if_set"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Authoring workflow

1. Add nodes to dialogues.json
2. Reference by dialogueId on NPC in MapData.js
3. Use flags for return visits: requiresFlag, unlessFlag, setFlag

---

Quest system

Quests live in js/data/quests.json and are tracked in rpg.quests:

{
  "shark_photos": { "stage": 2, "target": 5 },
  "dana_lucky_hand": { "stage": "complete" }
}

Progress is derived, not incremented. QuestManager.syncDerived() reads reef photos, bar orders, dex counts, purchases, unlocked vignettes, egg count, and resort completion from shared session state, so a quest can never disagree with the system that produced it — and work done before you accept a quest is banked and applied the moment you take the job.

The Trainer Card (press T) shows quests, faction reputation, play time, and the resort clock; the START menu's quest page also lists the jobs you have not accepted, with the name of whoever hands each one out.

---

The resort clock

docs/js/world-cycle.js is the single clock for all three surfaces: two real hours make one resort day, split into four phases. In the overworld that clock washes the screen per phase, walks NPCs to their scheduled positions, announces the day's rotating reservation requirement, posts daily resort charges to your wallet, and evicts you from your room if the folio goes unpaid. rpg.worldTime is still written so older readers keep working.

---

Save schema (RPG fields)

SAVE_VERSION is 8.

{
  "version": 8,
  "playerName": "Guest",
  "wallet": { "balance": 1000, "transactions": [] },
  "rpg": {
    "mapId": "strip_sidewalk",
    "x": 15,
    "y": 26,
    "archetype": "weekend_warrior",
    "playerSprite": "weekend_warrior",
    "flags": { "tutorial_complete": true },
    "quests": {},
    "inventory": [],
    "dex": { "reef": [], "slots": [], "staff": [] },
    "eggs": {},
    "mapVisits": {},
    "options": { "muted": false, "textSpeed": "normal", "footsteps": true },
    "reputation": { "whales": 0, "staff": 0, "tourists": 0 },
    "worldTime": 720
  }
}

A v7 save migrates forward without a key rename and keeps the map it was saved on. On the Python side, mandalay_bay/saves.py carries the web-only keys through a CLI load/save round trip untouched, so playing in the terminal never erases pixel progress.

Rules for save changes:

1. Bump SAVE_VERSION in docs/js/core.js
2. Migrate in PlayerSession.fromJSON() — never break older saves
3. Document new fields here and in Save-Slots

---

Audio & polish

Feature	Detail
BGM	Zone-specific tracks via Web Audio (lobby, casino floor, encounters)
SFX	Footsteps by tile type, blackjack natural 21 shake, slot reel stops
Cabinet bezel	CSS arcade frame around #game-shell
Konami code	Secret room Easter egg
Procedural tiles	Ground, decor, fringe, and water FX baked by TextureFactory.js
Procedural characters	32×44 tuxedo sprites from TextureFactory.js + wardrobe palettes in CharacterAppearance.js
Staff sheets (kept)	Jephed dealer/staff PNGs under assets/characters/staff/ with metadata in CharacterSprites.js

Art pipeline

There is no vendored tile sheet on the live boot path — TextureFactory.js draws ground, decor, fringe, and characters at boot on a 16-pixel grid and blits tiles at 2×, so a tile is 32 screen pixels and one art pixel is always exactly two. Tiles light from the top left without exception, and the wide floors register three faintly scuffed variants that groundTileKey() spreads across the map so a ballroom stops reading as wallpaper.

Characters are authored pixel grids: arrays of strings, one character per pixel, resolved through a palette legend. The head and torso are a separate block from the legs, which is how a three-frame walk cycle swaps only the legs and drops the body a pixel. Right-facing is the left grid mirrored. Editing a sprite means editing the strings; the smoke test rejects a row that uses a letter outside the legend.

Layouts are already data (js/data/maps/*.json). Staff sheets under assets/characters/staff/ remain available for sheet-based tooling via CharacterSprites.js; FX icons (glows, interact marker) stay as small procedural textures in TextureFactory.js.

---

Developer notes

To add to the RPG:

To add…	Do this
A room	Add a record to scripts/_author_maps.py, regenerate, wire doors both ways
An NPC	Add to the NPCS table plus a *_greet node in dialogues.json
A quest	Add to quests.json and derive its progress in QuestManager.syncDerived()
An easter egg	Add to easter_eggs.json and set its flag from a dialogue choice or zone trigger — cosmetic only
A casino screen	Build it in docs/js/ui/ as buildXRenderers(ctx), route it from HostedEncounters.js, and give an NPC a line that opens it. Never write it twice

Then run the checks:

node scripts/smoke-test-rpg.mjs     # world-data referential integrity
python3 scripts/smoke-test-web.py   # browser walk + end-to-end journey
python3 -m pytest                   # Python rules

See Developer-Guide and the full GDD at docs/rpg/GDD.md in the repository.