A web-based survival game set in an Ice Age world where you've been separated from your tribe during the mountain crossing. Survive until midsummer when the pass clears.
An exploration-driven survival experience in a harsh Ice Age world. Cold is the constant enemy — warmth from fire, shelter, and clothing determines how far you can push. Discover locations, hunt megafauna for better gear, and prepare for the mountain crossing when the pass clears.
Inspirations: The Long Dark, Don't Starve, RimWorld, A Dark Room
Cold shapes every decision. Warmth management is survival. Fire is one tool among many — shelter, clothing, body fat, activity level all contribute. The question isn't "will my fire last" but "can I stay warm long enough."
Exploration reveals the world. The grid holds discoveries: locations, animal herds, megafauna territories, and resources. Pushing outward is both necessary (depletion) and rewarding (better hunting, rare finds).
Gear is progression. Better equipment enables harder challenges. A mammoth-hide coat means you can reach the glacier. Bear-fur boots mean you can survive the exposed ridgeline. Megafauna hunts are the skill checks that gate progression.
Intersecting pressures create decisions. Single problems have solutions. Multiple overlapping problems force tradeoffs. A wolf isn't dangerous because it's a wolf — it's dangerous because you're cold, hungry, and far from shelter.
Expeditions — You have a camp. Everything else is an expedition. Leave camp, travel between locations, work (forage, hunt, explore), and return before the cold catches up.
Survival Simulation — Rate-based calculation per minute: energy, hydration, calories, temperature. Thresholds trigger effects. Temperature drops below 95°F, you start shivering. The simulation creates pressure, not busywork.
Fire — Physics-based fuel consumption, fire phases (igniting → building → roaring → steady → dying → embers), heat contribution to location temperature. One of several warmth tools alongside shelter and clothing.
Body — Regional body parts contributing to capacities (moving, manipulation, breathing, consciousness). Injuries attach to parts with severity. Body composition (fat, muscle) affects temperature resistance and speed.
Hunting & Herds — Persistent animal populations that migrate and behave. Stalking, ranged attacks, and multi-session megafauna hunts. Carcasses decay over time, creating pressure to butcher before spoilage.
Events & Tensions — Contextual events based on player state, weather, location, and active tensions. Tensions are unresolved narrative threads that escalate until confrontation or resolution.
Crafting — Need-based system. Express what you need, see what's craftable from available materials. Tools, equipment, treatments, and camp improvements.
Depletion — Areas run out. The nearby grove is plentiful on day one, sparse by day three, picked over by day five. The game pushes you outward — range further or move camp.
dotnet build
dotnet run # Starts web server on port 5000
dotnet run --port=8080 # Custom portThen open http://localhost:5000 in a browser. Requires .NET 9.0.
text_survival/
├── Actions/ # Runners, handlers, events, expeditions, tensions
├── Actors/ # Player, Camp, Animals, Herds
├── Bodies/ # Body parts, damage, capacities
├── Combat/ # Combat manager and narration
├── Config/ # Activity configuration
├── Crafting/ # Need-based crafting system
├── Effects/ # Effect registry, conditions
├── Environments/ # Grid, locations, features, weather
├── Items/ # Gear (tools, equipment), inventory, rewards
├── Persistence/ # Save/load, game initialization
├── Survival/ # Stateless survival calculations
├── Web/ # WebSocket server, DTOs, web UI backend
└── wwwroot/ # Browser frontend (HTML, JS, CSS)
Core systems functional: fire-tethered expeditions, grid-based world with location discovery, hunting with stalking and megafauna hunts, herd system with persistent animal populations, foraging with depletion and environmental clues, carcass butchering with decay timing, body/damage with regional injuries, contextual events with tensions, need-based crafting, equipment wear and waterproofing. Current focus: balance tuning and content expansion.