"This game is based on a true story. The names have been changed. The suffering has not."

A narrative-driven web game that simulates the chaos of a corporate internship — from walking into the office on Day 1, to drowning in Jira tickets, Slack pings, and meetings that could've been emails. Built for the Randomize Hackathon.

Problem Statement: Students lack real-world exposure before entering jobs. Our Approach: Instead of a dry simulation, we built a game. A darkly funny, increasingly frantic game.

You play as [INTERN] — no name, just a title — on your first day at Nexus Corp. The game unfolds in two phases:

A narrative-driven first-person walkthrough inspired by The Stanley Parable, rendered in a retro pixelated aesthetic:

1. The Street — You arrive at the glass tower of Nexus Corp
2. The Lobby — The aggressively beige reception area
3. The Interview — Two interviewers who stopped feeling things around Q2 2019
4. The Office Floor — Open-plan despair with sticky notes and cold coffee
5. The Desk — The monitor begins to glow. You sit down. The real work begins.

The game transitions into a fully interactive Windows 98-style desktop simulation where you must survive a workday by juggling:

• ShadowJira — Solve programming puzzles disguised as tickets (6 visual puzzle types + quick-fire text challenges)
• QuickOutlook — Read and triage incoming emails before they expire
• NexusNet — The company intranet browser
• Slack Popups — Random interruptions from coworkers
• Meetings — Mandatory time sinks that slow everything down
• Terminal — A working command-line with 12 commands

All while managing your burnout meter, maintaining combo streaks, leveling up through XP, unlocking achievements, and surviving Boss Alerts (close all non-work apps in 5 seconds or face consequences).

Zero backend. Zero external assets. Pure JavaScript.

dev/frontend/
├── public/
│   ├── favicon.svg
│   └── icons.svg
├── src/
│   ├── App.jsx                          # Root — routes game states to scenes
│   ├── store/
│   │   ├── useGameStore.js              # Persisted game state (high scores, settings, playthroughs)
│   │   ├── useWorkStore.js              # Core 2D game engine (tick loop, tasks, combos, XP, achievements)
│   │   └── puzzleEngine.js              # Puzzle generation (6 types + text), templates, events
│   └── components/
│       ├── overlays/
│       │   ├── Landing3D.jsx            # 3D title screen
│       │   ├── LandingPage.jsx          # Landing page UI
│       │   ├── MainMenu.jsx             # Main menu
│       │   ├── MainMenu3D.jsx           # 3D main menu scene
│       │   ├── CRTShaderMaterial.jsx     # Retro CRT screen shader
│       │   ├── Monitor.jsx              # In-game monitor model
│       │   ├── OfficeEnvironment.jsx     # 3D office scene
│       │   └── RecursiveScreen.jsx       # Recursive screen effect
│       └── workstation/
│           ├── Workstation2D.jsx         # Full NexusOS 98 desktop (~800 lines)
│           └── Workstation2D.css         # Win98 styling, animations, effects
├── package.json
├── vite.config.js
├── tailwind.config.js
└── postcss.config.js

• Base points per task completion
• Combo multiplier — complete tasks within 30s of each other (up to 5x)
• XP & Levels — earn XP, level up, unlock harder challenges
• Achievements — 10 milestones (First Task, Speed Demon, Combo Master, etc.)

• Burnout meter — rises from overwork, screen effects intensify (glitch, shake)
• Boss Alert — random event: close all non-work apps within 5 seconds
• Meeting drain — mandatory meetings steal your time and slow task completion
• Email expiry — unread emails expire and hurt your performance

• Node.js 18+
• npm or yarn

cd dev/frontend
npm install

npm run dev

Opens at http://localhost:5173

npm run build
npm run preview

Create dev/frontend/.env for optional AI features:

VITE_GEMINI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

• Tick loop throttles expensive operations (email/task expiry, array pruning) to 1/sec while keeping lightweight updates (clock, burnout, timers) at 60fps
• Audio uses a single shared AudioContext with procedural generation — no audio files to load
• State arrays are bounded and pruned (max 50 notifications, 20 completed tasks, etc.)
• 3D scenes use optimized geometries and shared materials
• Total repo size: ~286 MB (under 500 MB budget)

This repository is pre-configured for automated deployment to Vercel and Render using root-level configurations that point to the production/ directory.

• Vercel: Connect this repository to Vercel. It will automatically use the root vercel.json to build the production/ folder and server from production/dist.
• Render: Connect the repository to Render. Use npm run build as the build command.
• Manual Build: Run npm run build at the root to build the production site.
• itch.io: Run npm run zip-itch to generate a ZIP file in production/ for manual upload.

# Production Commands (from Root)
npm install         # Installs root helper
npm run install-prod # Installs production dependencies
npm run build        # Builds the project
npm run zip-itch     # Packages for itch.io

#hackathon #randomize #simulation #web-game #react #threejs #zustand #retro #windows98 #itchio

• Problem Statement & Concept Design
• 3D Phase — 5 narrative scenes (Street → Lobby → Interview → Office → Desk)
• 2D Phase — NexusOS 98 desktop simulation
• Puzzle Engine — 7 puzzle types with procedural generation
• Game Mechanics — Combo system, XP/levels, achievements, boss alert
• Audio — Procedural Web Audio (no files)
• Performance — Optimized tick loop, bounded state, shared resources
• Persistence — localStorage save/load via Zustand persist
• Final Polish & Deployment to itch.io

Built with sleep deprivation and too much coffee at the Randomize Hackathon.