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,500 and increases max stock by 60. Research costs Arcade › Video Vault
Video Vault
How to play
Click the game above and it runs right here in your browser. No download, no installer, no account needed. Jacob built it with Cinevva, so it works on a phone or a tablet too.
Discussion
Nobody has said anything about Video Vault yet. Play it, then tell Jacob what you would add next.
Make your own game
Video Vault was built by Jacob with the Cinevva game creator: describe the game you want in chat, watch it get built, and play it in your browser minutes later.
Remix Video Vault opens the real game in the creator and forks its actual files, chat and design doc, so you start from the code rather than from a description.
Read the build brief for Video Vault
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.
Rebuild a browser-based management/strategy game called "Video Vault". It is a single-screen pixel-art video rental store simulation spanning 1980 through 2025. Use a fixed 720x420 crisp, non-smoothed pixel-art canvas as the background, stretched responsively to the viewport, with a dark teal checker-tiled store floor, tan back and side walls, wooden video shelves, a checkout counter with cash register and blue-uniform staff member, a returns bin, snack shelf, cyan-screen arcade cabinet, wall posters labeled JAWS, GHOST, and ALIEN, a yellow VIDEO VAULT sign, and a small era label. Populate the store with seven tiny animated pixel customers in different bright clothing colors who wander, bounce off boundaries, occasionally change direction, and sometimes move toward shelves. Draw shelves for VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray sections (with repeated category sections such as NEW RELEASES, ACTION, HORROR, COMEDY, DRAMA, FAMILY); only draw shelves whose format is unlocked, and show colored tape/case rectangles based on stock quantity. Overlay the canvas with a dark brown/black translucent pixel-style HUD using cream borders and cream monospace/Press Start 2P typography. The UI should be arranged vertically near the top-left: a header panel showing VIDEO VAULT, current year, cash, REP/reputation, STAFF count, current era (VHS ERA, DVD ERA, BLU-RAY ERA, or STREAMING ERA), and week. Provide three bordered time buttons: +1 WEEK, +1 MONTH, and +1 YEAR. Time advances the simulation and must stop at 2025. Below, show an INVENTORY panel listing VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital. Unlocked rows show units and rental price, while locked rows say "(locked)"; clicking an unlocked format buys exactly 10 units if affordable and if total inventory is below capacity. Display the hint "Click format to buy 10 units". Beside/below it, show a MANAGEMENT panel with buttons Hire Staff ($800), Expand Store (
.4, DVD
.6, Blu-ray $3.9, Digital $0.9. Hiring subtracts $800 and adds one staff member. Expanding subtracts ,800 and unlocks the next format whose historical unlock year has arrived: DVD in 1997, Blu-ray in 2006, Digital in 2015; researching also adds 12 reputation. Research should unlock only one next format at a time.
When advancing time, calculate weekly customers as floor(15 + reputation*0.75 + staff*11). For each unlocked format, sell up to available stock according to era demand, with demand shares: before 1997 VHS .65; 1997-2005 VHS .25 and DVD .55; 2006-2014 VHS .08, DVD .35, Blu-ray .45; 2015 onward VHS .03, DVD .15, Blu-ray .25, Digital .45. Revenue is units served times rental price times 0.72. Subtract wages of staff*42 per week for the number of weeks advanced. Adjust reputation using stock fullness relative to 60% of capacity plus an era-match bonus: VHS before 1997 +3, DVD during 1997-2005 +5, Blu-ray during 2006-2014 +4, Digital from 2015 +6; clamp reputation between 10 and 100. Advance weeks and roll over after week 52 into the next year, clamp negative money to zero, refresh all HUD values, and occasionally trigger a random event with about 55% probability per four-week interval. Random events should include: nearby Blockbuster reduces reputation by 7; hit new release adds $420 and 4 reputation; power outage removes 7 VHS; local ad campaign adds 6 reputation; big storm has no effect; employee finds rare tape collection adds 12 VHS.
Trigger historical log events as the year is reached: 1985 VCR craze adds 8 reputation; 1997 DVD launches, reduces VHS inventory to 60% and adds 5 reputation; 2006 Blu-ray arrives and adds 4 reputation; 2010 streaming emerges and subtracts 6 reputation; 2015 Netflix dominates, subtracts 9 reputation and reduces cash to 70% but never below
00; 2020 pandemic boosts home entertainment and adds 7 reputation. The era labels must update at these same thresholds. The player’s goal is to manage stock, cash, employees, store capacity, and format research well enough to survive until 2025. At year 2025 show a dark overlay modal titled "STORE CLOSED" with a summary of the run, final cash, reputation, and "You made it through the streaming wars!" followed by a rating: over
5,000 "Legendary manager!", over $6,000 "Solid run.", otherwise "Barely survived." Include a START NEW STORE button that reloads/resets the game. If money is depleted in a way that ends the run, support a BANKRUPT game-over summary saying the store ran out of money.
