Reference Rush

Cinevva's analyzer read this game's design doc and its source, then wrote the brief below. "Make your own" hands it to the game creator as your opening message, so you start from a real spec rather than a one-line idea.

Create a browser-based 2D endless runner called “Reference Rush,” rendered full-screen on an HTML canvas with a dark studio-test aesthetic. The camera is fixed in a front-facing, slightly top-down lane view: the player remains near the lower center while the lane markings and incoming objects move downward toward the bottom of the screen, creating the feeling of running forward. Use a dark blue-gray vertical gradient background, a darker gray floor occupying the bottom portion, three subtle vertical lane dividers, and faint horizontal floor streaks that scroll continuously. Keep the HUD above the canvas: at the top-left show a dark translucent rounded pill labeled “REFERENCE RUSH” in uppercase gold lettering; at the top-right show a matching pill with “0 m · 0 best” (update the values during play). Store the best distance locally and preserve it between runs.

Before a run, show a centered dark slate modal card with rounded corners, thin translucent border, and shadow over a dimmed background. At the top of the card display the supplied asset `assets/Character_reference_sheet_for.jpg` in a rounded rectangular crop showing the reference character sheet (three views of a stocky bearded character in an olive-green hoodie; use the front-view third as the playable character). Below it display the large cream title “Reference Rush,” followed by the text: “Run the character through a studio test lane. Dodge the crates, collect gold swatches, and keep the reference alive.” Include a gold rounded “Start run” button and small gray instructions: “Desktop: A/D or ←/→ to move · Space to jump” and “Phone: use the buttons below.”

On starting, hide the modal and show touch controls at the bottom: two dark translucent rounded buttons on the lower-left labeled with left and right arrow symbols, and one on the lower-right labeled with an upward jump symbol. Support both these pointer/touch buttons and keyboard controls: A/Left Arrow shifts left, D/Right Arrow shifts right, and Space jumps. The player has three lanes (left, center, right), begins in the center, and lane movement should be smooth rather than teleporting. Holding left/right continuously moves the target lane gradually but clamps it to the three-lane range. The character automatically runs forward; there is no stop or attack action. The player uses the front-facing third of the reference-sheet image, drawn near the bottom of the screen at roughly 92 pixels wide by 152 pixels tall, with a soft oval shadow beneath. If the asset is unavailable, use a simple fallback resembling a person with a peach face, dark hair, olive hoodie, and dark legs.

Give the character vertical jumping physics: jump only while grounded, launch upward with a strong impulse, apply gravity, and land back on the floor. Obstacles spawn above the visible play area in a random one of the three lanes and move downward toward the player. Spawn a mixture of brown wooden crates and gray studio lights/blocks; crates should have rounded corners, a light outline, and diagonal wooden X-braces, while lights should be rounded gray rectangular obstacles. Obstacles vary modestly in width and height. Collision with an obstacle ends the run immediately, with a brief screen shake and a low collision beep. The player can avoid obstacles by changing lanes or jumping over them.

Also spawn collectible gold reference swatches in random lanes above the screen. Render each as a rotating gold square/diamond with a pale vertical highlight. When the player is close enough to one, collect it, remove it, play a short high-pitched beep, and add 18 metres to the distance. Missed swatches simply leave the screen. Obstacles and swatches should move faster as the run progresses. Start at approximately 360 movement speed and gradually increase it over time; obstacle spawn intervals should become shorter with distance but never drop below about 0.48 seconds, with a little random variation. Swatches should appear around every 1.1–1.9 seconds.

Track distance continuously and display its floored integer as metres in the top-right HUD; distance increases based on forward speed and collected swatches. On collision, stop gameplay, hide touch controls, update the persistent best distance, and show the modal again with headline “Studio test failed,” copy text in the form “You covered [distance] metres. The reference sheet is still intact — try a cleaner run.” and a button labeled “Run it again.” Pressing the button resets distance, speed, objects, player lane, and jump state and begins a new run. Also allow Enter to start/restart when the run is not active. Add small synthesized triangle-wave feedback beeps for jumping, collecting, and collision if audio is available, but keep them subtle. Make the layout responsive to desktop and mobile viewport sizes, prevent page scrolling, respect safe-area insets, and retain the restrained palette of charcoal/navy (#11161e/#27313a), cream, muted gray, olive green, brown, and gold (#d6b56a).