biome

Inspiration

What it does

How we built it

Challenges we ran into

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

What's next for biome

Inspiration

I noticed that the most successful Reddit games share a common trait: they give players a reason to come back tomorrow. Wordle did this for words, but there was nothing doing it for nature and ecology. I wanted to create a game that combines the addictive daily puzzle format with the beauty of ecosystems — a game where every placement matters, and every day brings a new challenge.

The concept of symbiosis fascinated me. In nature, organisms thrive not just by meeting their own needs, but by complementing their neighbors. A sunflower next to a pine tree creates something greater than either alone. I wanted players to feel that same satisfaction of building harmonious communities — one tile at a time.

What I Learned

• Phaser + Devvit integration: Building game loops that work within Reddit's iframe constraints taught me to optimize for both performance and mobile
• Deterministic generation: Creating the same daily puzzle for all players using seed-based terrain generation — no server state needed
• Scoring design: Balancing simple rules with deep strategy. The perfect placement bonus (+1) and symbiotic pairs (+2) create meaningful decisions without overwhelming new players
• Redis patterns: Storing game state, leaderboards, and user progress efficiently without WebSockets

How I Built It

Tech Stack: Phaser 3, Devvit, Hono, Redis, TypeScript, Vite

The game uses a 6x6 grid with 6 terrain types and 6 organisms. Each organism has 3 needs: Sun, Water, and Nutrients.

Daily Puzzle System: Seed = hash(today's date). Every player gets the same puzzle — no server-side generation needed.

Scoring Formula: $$\text{Score} = \sum_{i=1}^{6} (\text{Base}_i + \text{Perfect}_i + \text{Symbiosis}_i - \text{Wilting}_i)$$

Symbiotic Pairs: Sunflower ↔ Pine Tree, Mushroom ↔ Pine Tree, Lily Pad ↔ Fern, Cactus ↔ Sunflower

Challenges

1. No WebSockets: Designed entire game around single request/response cycles
2. Mobile-first: 6x6 grid works on both desktop and mobile with responsive scaling
3. Score validation: Client-side scoring with server-side verification using deterministic puzzle seed
4. Retention mechanics: Daily streaks, achievements, and progression that make players want to return

Built With

• devvit
• hono
• html5
• phaser.js
• pixel-art
• redis
• typescript
• vite