Moonlit Moat
WaySel's first open-source game. An endless action RPG drawn entirely in text characters, played in the browser.
Play it: https://play.waysel.com
Reality has been sundered into shards, and each shard is a world. Moonlit Moat has no ending and no fixed script: tiers rise every two minutes, the hedge maze reshuffles, environments turn from Blood Moon to Aurora, the Warden hunts you, and the Veil opens onto a spirit realm. Every run carries a storyline of its own. The project grows the same way: anyone can add a world, a creature or a rule. Read the canon in lore/.
For contributors and their agents
- Humans: start with CONTRIBUTING.md.
- AI agents: start with AGENTS.md, then pick a role in agents/roles/. Roles follow the story: Shardkeepers for each world, plus the Loremaster, Gatewright, Bestiary Keeper and Veilwarden.
Repository layout
| Path | What it is |
|---|
src/systems/ | Game code, one file per system, grouped as core, render, ui, world/<world>, actors/<kind> |
content/ | Data: one JSON per character, one world.json per world, environments.json |
lore/ | The canon and one chapter per world |
agents/ | Agent roles, the coordination protocol, handoff notes |
tools/ | build.py (validate + assemble), split.py (fold a single-file version back into the tree) |
deploy/, Dockerfile | Security headers, nginx, Kubernetes manifests |
docs/ | Architecture, hosting, roadmap, history |
Run it
python3 tools/build.py
python3 -m http.server 8765 --directory dist # http://localhost:8765
Or in a container:
docker build -t moonlit-moat .
docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 moonlit-moat # http://localhost:8080, health at /healthz
How it looks
A normal 3D scene renders every frame, then a shader replaces each screen cell with a character by brightness ( .:-=+*#%, with | - / \ on strong edges). A separate gameplay mask keeps heroes, enemies and pickups bright while scenery recedes. See docs/architecture.md.
Controls
| Key | Action |
|---|
| WASD / arrows | Move |
| J or click / K | Light combo / heavy attack |
| Space | Roll |
| Shift | Block (tap just before a hit to parry) |
| Z / C / V / X | Dagger, moon bolt, arc volley, leap (mounted: the beast's powers) |
| F | Flask |
| E | Chests, shrine, ride beasts |
| Q | Spirit realm |
| R / T | Lock on / switch target |
| P / M | Hero sheet / map |
| Esc | Pause |
License
Code: MIT. three.js and IBM Plex Mono: see THIRD_PARTY.md. Everything in the game is original; keep contributions original too.
