Don't Scream

An abandoned AGI tries to connect to you and desperately warns you about something hunting through your connection. Every message feeds the Static. Don't trust the protection protocol

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Inspiration

I binge the r/NoSleep subreddit for those “read at your own risk” text horrors.
That vibe + jump-scares + modern LLM super-powers = Don’t Scream.

What it does

You open a chat.
A glitchy AI named ZERO bursts in, begging you to stay quiet—“The Static” is hunting anyone who makes noise inside electronics.
ZERO tries to help, but every question you answer feeds the monster.

Highlights

  • Branching, unscripted dialogue (Gemini agent)
  • Real-time voice lines (custom ElevenLabs voice, slowed + echoed)
  • Screen glitches & surprise audio jumps triggered by tool calls
  • A doomed ending every play-through 😈

How I built it in 6 hours

Layer Tech Notes
Rapid prototyping Bolt “Vibe-coding” meant I wrote prompts, not boilerplate.
Narrative engine Gemini Pro Produces JSON commands: say, playSound, glitchScreen.
Voice & SFX ElevenLabs Voice API Custom erratic voice; params tweaked on the fly.
Front-end React + Tailwind (auto-generated by Bolt) Bolt scaffolded the UI & state.
Deployment dontscream.xyz One-click deploy.

Challenges

  • Prompt drift – balancing scariness vs. coherence.
  • Pacing jump-scares inside a text+audio loop without killing suspense.
  • Token budget (~3-4 M during dev); Bolt’s hot-reload helped prune fast.

What I learned

  • Treat an LLM like a Dungeon Master—give it tools, not scripts.
  • ElevenLabs’ per-utterance parameters are a cheat-code for horror SFX.
  • Bolt’s rapid “vibe coding” slashes prototype time; six hours ≠ myth anymore.

What’s next

  • Branching endings & (slim) survival paths
  • Multiplayer “shared haunting” using WebRTC
  • Local inference to cut latency and token cost
  • Extra personas (friendly AI, malevolent TV, possessed microwave…)

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