Haunted Attic Escape (Attic-Style Retro Platformer)

Overview

A retro, ZX Spectrum–inspired single-file HTML5 game where you explore a haunted attic made of multiple screens (rooms). Collect all treasures scattered across the attic while avoiding roaming ghosts.

This is an original, from-scratch homage to early 80s “attic exploration” platform games (no original assets/code).

Target Audience

• Primary: Humans who like retro arcade platformers

Core Loop

1. Start in a room with several platforms and ladders.
2. Move, jump, and climb to reach treasures.
3. Avoid ghosts; getting touched costs a life and resets you to the room start.
4. Collect all treasures to win.

Controls

Keyboard

• Left/Right: Move
• Up/Down: Climb ladders
• Space / Z: Jump
• Enter: Start / Restart
• M: Mute

Touch

• Left side: move left/right via on-screen buttons
• Right side: jump button
• Ladder climb: swipe up/down while on ladder (or use on-screen up/down)

Mechanics

• Rooms: A small grid of connected rooms. Exits on edges move you to adjacent rooms.
• Platforms: Solid rectangles.
• Ladders: Climbable rectangles.
• Jumping: Simple gravity + jump impulse.
• Ghosts: Patrol along platforms; slight “seek” behavior when close.
• Treasures: Collectable items; each adds score.
• Lives: Start with 3 lives.
• Timer: Optional score pressure via time bonus.

Difficulty

• Medium (fast ghosts, but forgiving collision and predictable movement)

Visual Style (ZX Spectrum homage)

• Low internal resolution (256×192-ish) scaled up.
• Bright, limited palette.
• Chunky sprites.
• Light screen border and scanline feel.

Sound

Web Audio API “beeper”-style effects: - Jump chirp - Treasure collect jingle - Hit/buzz on damage - Room transition tick - Win fanfare - Toggle mute

Win / Lose

• Win: Collect all treasures.
• Lose: Run out of lives.

Tech Notes

• Single self-contained HTML file using <canvas>.
• No external assets.
• Deterministic fixed-timestep update for consistent physics.