CLI Dino Game 🦕

A terminal-based dinosaur runner game inspired by the Chrome T-Rex game, built in Go as a learning project for agent-based development.

Note: This project was developed through iterative collaboration with AI agents, demonstrating modern software development workflows using AI assistance for coding, debugging, and feature implementation.

Demo

dino_game.mov

Features

• Jump over obstacles with Space or ↑
• Progressive difficulty - speed and obstacles increase over time
• Multiple obstacle types - cacti and birds (birds appear after 15s)
• Beautiful graphics - Unicode characters with ASCII fallback
• Smooth animations - running, jumping, and background scrolling
• Continuous hill backgrounds - generated using sine waves
• Collision detection - precise AABB with configurable tolerance

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Go 1.16 or higher
• Terminal with Unicode support (recommended for best visuals)

# Build and run
go build
./cli-dino-game

# ASCII mode for compatibility
./cli-dino-game -ascii

Controls

• Start/Jump: Space or ↑
• Restart: R (after game over)
• Quit: Q or Ctrl+C

Agent-Based Development Journey

This project showcases how modern development can leverage AI agents for:

• Feature Implementation: Jump mechanics, collision detection, obstacle spawning
• Bug Fixing: Bird collision issues, difficulty balancing, collision tolerance
• Visual Improvements: Background rendering, animation systems, Unicode graphics
• Code Architecture: Clean separation of concerns across multiple packages
• Testing & Debugging: Systematic problem-solving and iterative improvements

Key Development Iterations

1. Core Game Loop - Basic dino, jumping, and obstacle mechanics
2. Collision System - Implemented AABB detection with tolerance tuning
3. Difficulty Balancing - Refined spawn rates and progression curves
4. Visual Polish - Added continuous hills, improved sprites, smooth animations
5. Bug Fixes - Resolved bird collision detection and timing issues

Project Structure

cli-dino-game/
├── main.go                 # Game loop and coordination
├── src/
│   ├── background/         # Hills and cloud generation
│   ├── engine/            # Game state and collision detection
│   ├── entities/          # Dinosaur and obstacles
│   ├── input/             # Keyboard handling
│   ├── render/            # Terminal graphics
│   ├── score/             # Scoring system
│   └── spawner/           # Obstacle generation
└── go.mod

Technical Highlights

• Real-time terminal rendering using termbox-go
• Physics simulation with gravity and velocity
• Procedural background generation using mathematical functions
• Configurable game parameters for fine-tuning
• Cross-platform compatibility (macOS, Linux, Windows)

Development Notes

Built entirely through agent-assisted development, this project demonstrates:

• Effective human-AI collaboration patterns
• Iterative problem-solving approaches
• Code quality through AI-guided refactoring
• Systematic debugging methodologies

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A fun game and a learning experience in AI-assisted development! 🎮🤖