SLASHBOY

A Metroid Prime-style first-person action game. You are a kage-class operative with an energy katana, sent into the silent orbital arcology KUROGANE-9.

You wake in the dark with a blade, a visor and no map. KUROGANE-9 went silent forty-one hours ago, and whatever replaced its crew has grown through the walls. Fight in tight, melee-first first-person combat (parry, deflect plasma, dash through enemies, charge arc waves), scan the world for lore and weak points, and unlock traversal abilities that open up the interconnected sectors behind you. Rain-slick neon streets, molten foundries and cold data vaults are lit in real time with volumetric fog, and every sound is generated, so it's best played with headphones in the dark.

Undercity: the rain-soaked hub below the arcology	Foundry: a smelting hall over a lava river
Archives: data stacks guarded by the Archivist	Ring C: some of the things living in the concourse

There are two builds in this repo:

Build	Where	Status
Native (Godot 4.7, Metal)	godot/	Main version. Volumetric fog, real-time GI options, MetalFX upscaling
Browser (Three.js)	index.html, src/	Original prototype, kept for reference

The game (native build)

Five sectors, four abilities, five bosses, 12 hidden upgrades. Save stations auto-save; Continue on the title screen resumes.

Sector	Setting	Boss	Reward
1 · Ring C	Docking ring, maintenance spine, grand concourse, hydroponics vault	Stalker ambush	Lift to the Undercity
2 · Undercity (hub)	Rain-soaked neon chasm floor, night market, the Gap, subway station	Matriarch (brood queen)	Kusari Grapple
3 · Foundry	Smelting hall over a lava river, press line, coolant control	Warden (shielded mech)	Phase Step
4 · Archives	Data stacks, index-lock scan puzzle, cold storage	Archivist (teleporting hologram, decoys)	Kage Leap
5 · Bloom Heart	The Gut, the Throat (vertical shaft), the Heart chamber	Bloom Heart → Avatar	Escape → ending

The Bloom Heart lift in the Undercity opens once both the Warden and the Archivist are down. After the Avatar falls you have three minutes to climb the Throat (grapple anchor to anchor) and ride the lift out. Energy tanks (+25 energy) and ki shards (+15 ki) are hidden behind grapple anchors, phase barriers and Kage Leap ledges, so it pays to revisit earlier sectors.

Run the native build

Requires Godot 4.7 (brew install --cask godot).

./play.sh                       # windowed; F11 toggles fullscreen
./play.sh -- --quality=ultra    # start on a specific preset

Or open godot/project.godot in the Godot editor and press Play.

Use headphones and play in the dark.

Graphics presets (press G in game)

Each preset has an internal pixel budget. On Apple silicon, MetalFX Temporal upscales when the window is bigger than the budget, and dynamic resolution trims the render scale to hold ~60 fps.

Preset	Budget	Adds
MEDIUM	1.5 MP	AO, volumetric fog
HIGH (default)	2.4 MP	+ screen-space indirect light, reflections
ULTRA	3.6 MP	+ SDFGI global illumination, finer fog

Measured on an M1 Pro, fullscreen: HIGH 63–68 fps at native scale, ULTRA ~60 fps at 0.65 scale.

Regenerating assets

Textures and sounds are generated by scripts, not hand-made:

python3 -m venv tools/.venv && tools/.venv/bin/pip install numpy pillow scipy
tools/.venv/bin/python tools/gen_textures.py   # PBR sets, city, sky, creature skins -> godot/assets/textures
tools/.venv/bin/python tools/write_imports.py  # mipmaps + VRAM compression import settings
tools/.venv/bin/python tools/gen_audio.py      # all SFX, ambience loops, combat music -> godot/assets/audio

Debug harness

Arguments after -- drive automated checks:

./play.sh -- --autostart --warp=34,0,-106 --fps            # jump anywhere, log fps/scale/draw calls
./play.sh -- --autostart --scenario=lineup --shot=out.png --at=8 --quit
godot --headless --path godot -- --autostart --scenario=flow   # end-to-end check of every beat + ending

Jump to any sector with --sector=s1..s5 --entry=<name> and grant abilities with --abilities=grapple,phase,leap; --continue loads the save.

Scenarios: lineup (all creatures), arena, cloak (--scanmode, --visible=1), slash, scan, and the headless end-to-end checks flow (Sector 1 → lift), s2flow, s3flow, s4flow, s5flow (Heart, Avatar, escape climb, ending). Run each with the matching --sector=, for example:

godot --headless --path godot -- --autostart --sector=s5 --entry=lift --abilities=grapple,phase,leap --scenario=s5flow

Run the browser build

npm start          # or: python3 -m http.server 8000

Open http://localhost:8000 in Chrome.

Controls

Input	Action
WASD / Mouse	Move / look
LMB	Strike (3-hit combo); strikes also open door locks and deflect plasma bolts
Hold LMB	Charge an Arc Wave (costs Ki)
RMB	Guard. Raise it right as a hit lands to parry or deflect
Shift	Phantom Dash (brief invulnerability, cuts through enemies). With Phase Step: passes through barriers and light walls
Space	Jump. With Kage Leap: press again in the air to double jump
F	Kusari Grapple: zip to anchors, yank enemies, tear off shields and generators
M / Tab	Sector map (visited rooms, items found)
Q	Lock-on
E	Scan visor: read lore, study enemies, see cloaked things
R	Kage Focus (slows time, costs Ki)
G	Cycle graphics preset
F11	Fullscreen (native build)

Native build layout (godot/)

File	What it does
scripts/main.gd	Bootstrap, environment, quality/upscaling, game loop, debug harness
scripts/level.gd	Level engine: rooms, lights, doors, holograms, fog volumes, probes, save stations, items, lifts, grapple anchors, phase barriers, lava, crushers
scripts/sectors/	One script per sector (sector1.gd … sector5.gd): layout, zones and mood, encounters, story
scripts/g.gd	Global state, progression (abilities, items, bosses, flags) and the JSON save
scripts/debug_tests.gd	Headless flow tests for sectors 2–5
scripts/mesh_builder.gd	Merges static geometry into chunked meshes with world UVs
scripts/director.gd	Pacing engine: triggers, wave encounters, zone mood, checkpoints, ending screen
scripts/player.gd, katana.gd	Movement, combat, abilities, scan visor; first-person katana viewport
scripts/enemies/	Crawler (+hound, mite), Sentinel, Stalker (+Avatar), Bulwark, Turret, Phantom, Spore Pod; bosses Matriarch, Warden, Archivist, Bloom Heart + Tentacle; enemy manager
scripts/audio.gd	3D one-shots, room reverb, ambience beds, tension layer, combat music
scripts/fx.gd, hud.gd	Particles, lit dust, steam; visor HUD and menus
shaders/	Fog noise, chitin, veins, refractive cloak, iris, hologram, visor post-process