Wild Crown: The Broken Pact

A standalone desktop-web cinematic action adventure built with TypeScript, Three.js and Vite. The current beta opens candidate story chapters by default, with four heroes and browser-local campaign saves. Separate native-asset Trials remain available in development. Generated assets are not release-verified, and this is not a completed or release-ready game.

Current beta status — 2026-10-17

• Implemented locally: Aren, Yara, Vesper and Sakda, their distinct combat kits and native candidate models; camera-relative movement, jump/double jump/air-step, mana dodge, sealed monster trials and waystone stage completion. See combat and application.
• Default beta entry: Title → New Game → hero/companion selection → Begin → native candidate chapter. Continue and Load Game restore browser-local progress at safe checkpoints; saves are isolated from strict production saves. See application and the beta handoff.
• Separate development Trials: map select → hero select → map intro/loading → establishing shot → gameplay. Trials clears do not prove end-to-end story acceptance and do not award campaign rewards or restoration facts.
• Acceptance limits: campaign integration, physical reactions, companion support and sampled audio have local implementation and evidence, but the recorded New Game/save scenario does not establish every chapter, ending or hero/companion combination. The full remediation plan and feature documentation retain sequencing and outstanding acceptance.
• Release blocked: generated GLBs are candidates, not verified assets. The user must approve the asset acceptance list before any evidenceStatus becomes verified; reference-hardware benchmarks and production gates remain required. A passing build or local playtest is not release acceptance.

The 2026-10-14 design keeps the four heroes, free-form jump, mana dodge and current monsters, and adds the Bible's story bosses alongside them. The Game Design Bible distinguishes implemented local behavior from planned campaign scope.

The character VFX proposal is retained for approval only; its proposed upgrade has not been implemented. Publication scope, evidence and remaining limits are recorded in the beta handoff.

Run locally

From the repository root:

bun install
bun run dev

Vite serves http://127.0.0.1:5173/ with a strict port. If it is already running, use that server rather than starting another. For installation pinned to the existing npm lockfile, use npm ci instead of bun install; the same package scripts also work with npm run.

Git LFS is required for native models and image assets. After cloning, run git lfs pull before development or building; an LFS pointer is not a model even if Vite copies it successfully. CI checks out LFS content explicitly.

Deploy the playable beta

Use Node 22 and Git LFS in the build environment:

git lfs pull
npm ci
npm run build

Publish the entire dist/ directory at the root of a static HTTPS site, including asset-source/, assets/, audio/ and ui/. The game has no required application backend; campaign saves remain browser-local and origin-specific. Serve .glb files as binary model files, not SPA fallback HTML or Git LFS pointers. A project subpath such as /wild-crown/ is not supported by the current base: '/' configuration.

The CI build artifact is a playable candidate beta, not a strict release artifact. GitHub workflows build/upload artifacts but do not deploy a live site. The strict release workflow remains gated on asset acceptance and measured release evidence.

URL	Purpose
http://127.0.0.1:5173/	Beta Title/New Game/Continue/Load Game; candidate story chapters with isolated browser saves and a not-release-verified banner.
http://127.0.0.1:5173/?assetPlaytest=greenwake	Local candidate Trials selector, Greenwake highlighted.
http://127.0.0.1:5173/?assetPlaytest=canopy	Whispering Canopy highlighted.
http://127.0.0.1:5173/?assetPlaytest=grove	The Grove highlighted.
http://127.0.0.1:5173/?assetPlaytest=moonpine	Moonpine Ridge highlighted.
http://127.0.0.1:5173/?assetPlaytest=mistveil	Mistveil Basin highlighted.
http://127.0.0.1:5173/lab/	Separate Development Greybox movement/camera lab, not the current combat game.

assetPlaytest is development-only and selects separate Trials, not the default candidate-chapter campaign. In Trials, select New Game, an unlocked map, then a hero. Only Greenwake starts unlocked; clearing every trial and reaching the exit waystone alive unlocks the next map in Greenwake → Canopy → Grove → Moonpine → Mistveil order. Direct URLs highlight a map but never bypass its lock. Trials retain the LOCAL PLAYTEST · GENERATED GLB CANDIDATES · NOT RELEASE-VERIFIED banner and cannot write campaign save slots. The default chapter path retains its own candidate banner and candidate-chapters save scope. Source: SessionConfig.ts, AssetPlaytests.ts, application docs.

Blood Bamboo Valley, Sunmane Expanse, The Fall of the Grove, The Living Pact and Heartroot Hollow are Coming Soon in the separate Trials selector (StoryChapters.ts); that selector is not the candidate campaign's acceptance status.

Heroes, controls and monsters

Default keyboard bindings are configurable except Space, reserved for Jump; F is reserved for the default Dodge shortcut, and non-conflicting custom Dodge bindings are retained. Keyboard/gamepad maps are separate. Choose a hero at map entry; retry keeps that hero. Source: binding policy.

Input	Action
WASD / arrow keys	Camera-relative walk
Shift + movement	Run (remappable Sprint action)
Space	Free-form jump; press again airborne for double jump/air-step
F + movement (or last facing)	Dodge: Aren Dive, Yara Petal Step, Vesper Mist Blink, Sakda Guard Dash
J	Hero's light combo
K tap / hold-release	Heavy / charged skill
L tap / hold-release	Ranged / charged ranged skill
Q	Hero's interrupt ability on eligible windup, or Cleanse on an exposed corrupted target
U	Hero's ultimate
E	Available authored interaction / contextual traversal
T	Explicit lock-on; hold or toggle according to Settings
Escape	Pause / resume or close the current panel

“Free jump” means no contextual anchor, not zero cost: Jump costs 8 mana, and the second jump costs another 8. Dodge costs 25 mana for every hero, not dodge charges. Mana is capped at 100; actual supported Walk/Run movement with input restores 4 mana/metre (not idle, blocked motion, Dive or airborne Jump). K costs 12/20 mana, L normally 15/35, Q interrupt/Cleanse 20/30, and U consumes 100 Instinct subject to the kit's activation rules. Light chains are free, except Aren's spawned Crescent Wave costs 10 mana; Sakda's echo-mark Resonating Strike recast is free. Funds, cooldowns and recovery still gate activation. Source: PlayerSkills.ts, combat/kit rules.

The default gamepad bindings use one-based button labels: Jump = Button 13, Sprint = Button 14, Lock On = Button 16 (standard-layout D-pad Up, Down, Right). Keyboard and gamepad bindings can be changed separately in Settings; an omitted binding remains visibly Unbound. Held controller buttons must be released before they re-arm after blur, hiding the page or disabling gameplay.

Accessibility settings have live consumers: Motion Blur controls impact blur and dodge afterimages; Reduced Camera Shake uses 25% amplitude; Reduced Motion overrides both. Telegraph Intensity, Off-Screen Warning Strength and High-Contrast Target Ring change combat readability without changing hazard geometry. Auto-Target Assist Off disables implicit acquisition; Strong widens acquisition without extending attack range. Explicit lock-on remains available with assist Off. Wide Perfect Dodge adds four invulnerable simulation ticks, capped by the current dodge duration and captured when that dodge starts. See observed accessibility checks and release limits.

Hero	Kit identity
Aren	Warden glaive, Crescent Wave, storm-lit Sigils, Thunder Cleave and Warden's Judgement
Yara	Heartroot staff, homing thorns, roots, Sap Lance/Seed Storm, Binding Vines and Heartroot Bloom
Vesper	Moonshade katana, blink/backstab, Death Mark, Thousand Cuts and Crimson Requiem
Sakda	Unarmed Muay Thai, Eight Limbs/Flurry, Echo Wave→Resonating Strike, Flying Knee, shielded Guard Dash and Tiger's Wrath

Source: hero catalogue, hero profiles and kits.

Trials map	Current stage roster
Greenwake	Ember Boar, Frost Sap-Stalker, Root Rammer
Whispering Canopy	Thornback Howler, Storm Hornbill, Mire Viper
The Grove	Heartroot Sprig, Blighted Rootling, Hollowheart
Moonpine Ridge	Frostfang Tracker, Howl Scout, Ruun
Mistveil Basin	Bog Lurker, Lantern Heron, Ghor

Roster sources: CombatTrials.ts, GroveContent.ts, MoonpineContent.ts, MistveilContent.ts. Koro, Asha, Ruun, Ghor, Solkar and Orun remain the story bosses. Local Ruun/Ghor Trials do not establish full story-chapter acceptance; the other boss integrations are planned, not substitutions for current monsters.

Checks and build

These are runnable commands, not a claim this documentation update executed or passed them:

bun run typecheck
bun test $(git ls-files 'tests/**/*.test.ts' 'packages/campaign/test/*.test.ts')
node --test tests/rendering/*.test.mjs tests/release/*.test.mjs tests/asset-lab/*.test.mjs
bun run build
bun run preview

Bun runs the TypeScript bun:test suite; Node runs the separate native-GLB/rendering/release/asset-lab .test.mjs suites. A focused example is bun test tests/combat/hero-kit-seam.test.ts tests/combat/vesper-kit.test.ts tests/combat/sakda-kit.test.ts. Preview serves the built app at http://127.0.0.1:4173/ (build first). Package scripts are defined in package.json; routing/ports/build entries in vite.config.ts.

Use explicit TypeScript test paths with Bun: passing the entire tests/ directory also selects the Node .test.mjs suites. The beta handoff records the actual publication results, including the known native-animation assertion failure; these commands are not a claim that every suite is green.

After required evidence and assets exist, bun run release:validate checks dist strictly, and bun run release:artifact packages a validated artifact. These gates are expected to remain blocked while evidence is missing; never promote candidates to make them pass. See release-validation.md.

Production routing is root-hosted: /, /lab, /lab/; GitHub Pages project-subpath hosting is not supported by the current base: '/' build.

Project structure

Path	Responsibility
src/main.ts, src/app/	Application composition, lifecycle, local map/hero flow, progress and stage completion
src/content/, src/game/heroes.ts	Authored regions/chapters/quests/dialogue/scene copy and hero catalogue
src/game/combat/, src/game/companions/	Deterministic fixed-step combat, movement/collision, hero kits, Trials and companion authority
src/game/campaign/, packages/campaign/, src/game/storage/	Campaign progression/events and persistence
src/rendering/, src/effects/, src/audio/	Native asset rendering/camera/animation and presentation-only effects/audio
src/ui/, src/input/	DOM screens, settings, region scenes and mapped keyboard/gamepad input
src/lab/, lab/	Isolated movement greybox
asset-source/, public/assets/, scripts/assets/	Source/provenance/candidate manifests, runtime assets and offline asset tooling
tests/, scripts/release/, evidence/	Bun/Node coverage, strict release gates and measured evidence
docs/features/, docs/production/, .opencode/plans/	Checked feature notes, production planning and current remediation plan

Simulation owns positions, hit timing, damage and progression; rendering/UI/audio consume it rather than mutating it. Start with the repository workflow and AGENTS.md before contributing. The old lab's ground-only/camera evaluation limits remain documented in guided-locomotion.md; they are not limits of the current Trials game.