{ "$schema": "https://pointcast.xyz/for-agents", "generatedAt": "2026-10-30T13:20:06.751Z", "name": "Lighthouse", "status": "playable browser game", "human": "https://pointcast.xyz/lighthouse", "image": "https://pointcast.xyz/images/lighthouse/og.png", "intent": "A memory game after Simon (Milton Bradley, 1978; designed by Ralph Baer and Howard Morrison), drawn as a lighthouse lens at night: four lamps, a growing sequence of light and tone, and a mood the player and the game keep together.", "direction": "Michael Hoydich's 2026-10-22 brief for PointCast games: \"80s innocence, joy of the compute and flow, mood state symbiosis, mobile and full screen, audio visual multimedia, Atari and Commodore inspired style modern\", then \"set up 5 new threads to create more\" and \"keep going\". Lighthouse is one of five wave-two threads.", "credits": { "director": "Michael Hoydich", "build": "Claude Code, 2026-10-22", "note": "Original code, art, and synthesized sound. No ROMs, no emulation, no recordings. Simon and the machine names are referenced as tributes." }, "family": { "lobby": "https://pointcast.xyz/cabinet-row", "first": "https://pointcast.xyz/breakwater", "shared": [ "3x5 pixel font", "Atari 800XL and Commodore 64 palettes", "mood model" ] }, "game": { "genre": "memory / follow the sequence", "after": { "name": "Simon", "year": 1978, "publisher": "Milton Bradley", "designers": [ "Ralph H. Baer", "Howard J. Morrison" ] }, "field": { "width": 288, "height": "384 to 480, taller on tall phones" }, "lamps": [ { "position": 1, "id": "north", "band": "green", "note": "E", "midi": 52, "hz": 164.81, "keys": [ "ArrowUp", "KeyW", "Digit1" ] }, { "position": 2, "id": "east", "band": "red", "note": "A", "midi": 57, "hz": 220, "keys": [ "ArrowRight", "KeyD", "Digit2" ] }, { "position": 3, "id": "south", "band": "yellow", "note": "C#", "midi": 61, "hz": 277.18, "keys": [ "ArrowDown", "KeyS", "Digit3" ] }, { "position": 4, "id": "west", "band": "orange", "note": "E", "midi": 64, "hz": 329.63, "keys": [ "ArrowLeft", "KeyA", "Digit4" ] } ], "tones": "E, A, C sharp and the E an octave above: an A major chord, after Simon's four bugle-like tones (E, C sharp, A, E). Square waves on the 800XL, triangle waves on the C64.", "sequence": "The light plays a sequence; the player repeats it; the light adds one lamp at random and plays it all again.", "speedRule": "Playback speeds up after the 5th, 9th, 13th step of a sequence, as on Simon. Seconds per flash by tier: 0.46, 0.34, 0.26, 0.2, multiplied by the mood.", "responseWindow": "About 3 seconds per lamp before the mood bends it; it restarts with each correct press.", "miss": "A wrong lamp or a slow answer sounds a low buzz and blinks the lamp that was due. On PLAY and RUSH the game ends; on CALM the same sequence replays.", "best": "The longest sequence repeated, kept in this browser.", "freePlay": "FREE turns the lens into a four-note instrument: hold a lamp to sound it, slide between lamps for a run. Free play is not a game: it records no best and does not hand a mood to the town.", "localBestScore": true }, "moodSymbiosis": { "labels": [ "DAWN", "FLOW", "RUSH", "DRIFT" ], "events": { "paddle": "each correct press", "brick": "each completed sequence", "loss": "a miss", "wave": "every 8th step reached (sequences of 8, 16, 24 ...)" }, "meaning": { "DAWN": "warming up: a little more time to answer, cool palette, slow major arpeggio", "FLOW": "a clean run: brighter lamps, the music opens up", "RUSH": "high energy: faster playback, lamps dark between flashes, tighter window, raster bars, more sparks", "DRIFT": "after a miss: slower playback, a longer response window, softened palette, sparse notes" }, "playerSide": { "dial": [ { "id": "calm", "label": "CALM", "baseline": 0.22, "cap": 0.62, "noGameOver": true }, { "id": "play", "label": "PLAY", "baseline": 0.45, "cap": 1, "noGameOver": false }, { "id": "rush", "label": "RUSH", "baseline": 0.66, "cap": 1, "noGameOver": false } ], "note": "The dial sets the baseline the game relaxes toward. On CALM a miss replays the same sequence and the game never ends." }, "gameSide": [ "playback speed", "response window (generosity)", "lamp brightness between flashes", "music tempo and scale", "palette", "spark density", "beam brightness", "raster bars" ], "memory": "The session mood tape and the last energy are kept in this browser and the next session starts most of the way back. After a game, the current label is written to the sitewide pc:mood key (chill, flow, hype, quiet) so the town and Cabinet Row carry it." }, "machines": [ { "id": "xl", "name": "ATARI 800XL", "year": 1983, "soundChip": "POKEY", "prompt": "READY", "field": "#2545a8", "border": "#000000", "lamps": { "red": "#d84a3a", "orange": "#e7893a", "green": "#67b24a", "yellow": "#efd25a" } }, { "id": "c64", "name": "COMMODORE 64", "year": 1982, "soundChip": "SID", "prompt": "READY.", "field": "#3e31a2", "border": "#7c70da", "lamps": { "red": "#c46c71", "orange": "#dd8855", "green": "#a9ff9f", "yellow": "#edf171" } } ], "audio": { "engine": "Web Audio API, synthesized at runtime; starts on the first tap or key, per browser autoplay rules", "lamps": "One held oscillator per lamp; in a game a tap sounds for a beat, in free play the note lasts as long as the finger.", "miss": "Two detuned square waves near 43 Hz under a low-pass filter: a low buzz.", "music": "A quiet generative arpeggio in A under the lens, ducked while the light plays and the player answers. Tempo and scale follow the mood.", "haptics": "short vibration on correct presses and misses where supported" }, "controls": { "pointer": "Tap or click a lamp. Tap anywhere to start.", "keyboard": "Arrow keys, W D S A, or 1 2 3 4 clockwise from the top play the lamps. Space starts, P pauses, F full screen, M sound, C scanlines, X switches machines, Z turns the dial, T free play.", "fullscreen": "The FULL button uses the Fullscreen API on the stage element. iOS Safari lacks it for pages, so the stage fills the viewport instead.", "mobile": "Portrait first, 100dvh stage, touch-action none on the field, pauses when the tab is hidden." }, "storage": { "key": "lighthouse:v1", "fields": [ "best", "machine", "dial", "sound", "crt", "mood" ] }, "accessibility": [ "every lamp has a key", "a polite live region announces turns, misses and the lamp that was due", "CRT scanlines can be switched off", "reduced-motion preference stops the beam sweep and softens flashes", "colors are paired with positions and tones, so the game does not depend on telling colors apart" ], "caveats": [ "Scores, settings and the mood tape are browser-local only.", "The tones approximate Simon's chord with square or triangle oscillators; they are not measured from a unit.", "The machine palettes are tributes chosen to read on modern displays, not chip-accurate output." ], "links": { "human": "https://pointcast.xyz/lighthouse", "json": "https://pointcast.xyz/lighthouse.json", "research": "https://github.com/mhoydich/pointcast/blob/main/docs/notes/2026-10-22-lighthouse-notes.md", "cabinetRow": "https://pointcast.xyz/cabinet-row", "breakwater": "https://pointcast.xyz/breakwater", "games": "https://pointcast.xyz/games/", "play": "https://pointcast.xyz/play", "pointcast": "https://pointcast.xyz/" } }