🚀 Play the game online now: Dream Builders Online Demo
No installation required—just open the link and start playing in your browser!
A strategic digital card game where players take on the roles of entrepreneurs, building their startup to achieve a revenue goal.
Two rules for this project:
- Nothing is written by hand, everything is vibe coded.
- Blindly Accept all suggestions from Cursor, no reviewing of code.
Dream Builders is a card game for 1 player (currently) where you choose a hero with a unique playstyle and deck, then attempt to build your business to reach $500,000 in revenue.
- Node.js (v16 or higher)
- npm (or yarn/pnpm)
- Clone the repository:
git clone <your-repository-url> cd cardgame
- Install dependencies:
npm install
- Start the development server:
npm run dev
- Open your browser and navigate to the localhost URL provided (usually
http://localhost:5173or the next available port).
Reach $500,000 in revenue.
- Hero Selection: Choose one of the 5 available heroes at the start of the game.
- Turn Structure:
- Start of Turn:
- Automatic sales from Products with inventory occur.
- Overhead costs for active Products are paid.
- Capital is gained (base amount increases with game turn, max 10).
- Passive effects from cards in play trigger.
- Draw 1 card (or as modified by effects).
- Hero ability is refreshed if used previously.
- Main Phase: Play cards from your hand, use your hero power (once per turn).
- End of Turn: Temporary effects expire.
- Start of Turn:
- Winning/Losing:
- Win by reaching $500,000 revenue.
- Lose if you cannot make any valid plays (no cards in deck, no playable cards in hand, and no products with inventory to sell).
- 🟢 Products: Generate revenue. Have inventory that depletes with sales. Some have overhead costs.
- 🔵 Actions: One-time effects; discarded after play.
- 🟣 Tools: Provide ongoing passive or triggered benefits while in play.
- 🟠 Employees: Similar to Tools, provide ongoing benefits or abilities.
-
The Solo Hustler
- Playstyle: Fast and scrappy, card draw, and cost reduction.
- Hero Power (Grind - Cost 1): Draw 1 card. If it's a Product, its cost is reduced by 1 this turn.
- Key Cards: Hustle Hard, Bootstrap Capital, DIY Assembly, Fast Pivot, Shoestring Budget.
-
The Brand Builder
- Playstyle: Synergy-focused, building brand presence (Audience mechanic largely unimplemented).
- Hero Power (Engage - Cost 2): Give a Product +1 Appeal this turn (currently boosts global appeal due to choice UI not implemented).
- Key Cards: Brand Vision, Influencer Collab, Content Calendar, Personal Branding.
-
The Automation Architect
- Playstyle: Builds an engine of passive income and efficiency over time.
- Hero Power (Deploy Script - Cost 2): Gain 1 recurring Capital next turn.
- Key Cards: Auto Fulfill, Email Automation, Zap Everything, Technical Cofounder.
-
The Community Leader
- Playstyle: High variance, explosive combo turns (Audience mechanic largely unimplemented).
- Hero Power (Go Viral - Cost 1): If you played 2+ cards this turn, add +1 inventory to a random Product.
- Key Cards: Town Hall, Mutual Aid, Fanbase, Merch Drop.
-
The Serial Founder
- Playstyle: Balanced and flexible with powerful mid-game options.
- Hero Power (Double Down - Cost 2): Choose one: draw a card OR refresh 1 used Product (currently auto-chooses based on board state).
- Key Cards: Legacy Playbook, Advisory Board, High-Profile Exit, Incubator Resources.
- Core Game Loop: Turn progression, capital gain, card draw.
- Card Play: Playing Actions, Tools, Employees, and Products.
- Resource Management: Capital for playing cards, Revenue as the win condition.
- Product System: Products have inventory, generate revenue via automatic sales and card effects. Overhead costs are processed.
- Cost Discounts: Various cards and hero powers provide temporary or specific cost reductions (e.g., Shoestring Budget, Resourceful Solutions, Solo Hustler's hero power).
- Delayed Effects: Some effects trigger over subsequent turns (e.g., Fulfillment App Integration, Automation Architect's hero power).
- Basic Passive Effects: Some Tools and Employees provide simple recurring benefits (e.g., gain capital).
- Player Choices: Basic choice system for effects like discarding cards (Midnight Oil), destroying products (Fast Pivot), or choosing a product for an effect (most Inventory Support cards).
- UI Bonus Indicators: Visual cues on cards for active discounts, revenue bonuses, and delayed effect counters.
- Frontend: React with TypeScript, Vite
- Game Engine: boardgame.io
- Styling: Inline styles (opportunity for Tailwind CSS or CSS Modules)
- Project Structure:
src/ ├── client/ # React UI components & hooks ├── game/ # Core game logic, card data, type definitions │ ├── data/ # Hero/card definitions (heroes in subfolder) │ ├── logic/ # Game rules, effects, turn phases (utils & effects in subfolders) │ └── ... # state.ts, types.ts, constants.ts, game.ts └── ... # main.tsx, App.tsx, etc.
This project is a work in progress. Contributions are welcome, especially in areas like:
- Implementing missing card effects and the Audience mechanic.
- Enhancing UI/UX, especially for player choices.
- Game balancing and adding more diverse card interactions.
The project is configured to deploy to GitHub Pages. To deploy:
- Ensure your repository is pushed to GitHub
- Run the deployment command:
npm run deploy
- The game will be available at:
https://[your-username].github.io/dream_builders/
The deployment process:
- Builds the project (
npm run build) - Deploys the
distfolder to thegh-pagesbranch - GitHub Pages will automatically serve from this branch
If you prefer to deploy manually:
- Build the project:
npm run build - The production files will be in the
distfolder - Deploy this folder to your preferred hosting service
Note: The base URL is configured as /dream_builders/ in vite.config.ts. If deploying to a different path, update this configuration.
MIT License.