The breach points are open. Six operatives. Infinite threats. Pick your pair, enter the Warp Zone, and close the fold.
RIFT PROTOCOL is a tactical 2v2 card battler that runs entirely in the browser — no install, no build step. You command a pair of RIFT operatives (Rapid Interdimensional Field Team), each pulled from a collapsing world and fighting with that world's combat style. Stage your cards, confirm, and watch the round resolve in strict speed-tiers. Matches last about 3 minutes.
- 6 operatives, each a distinct archetype — 120 cards total (20 per class)
- ~3-minute matches, 5 rounds, deep enough to reward planning
- Single-player vs AI (4 difficulty tiers) and a single-player Escalations ladder
- Online 1v1 multiplayer over rooms + a chat lobby
- Synthesized audio (no audio files — every track + SFX is generated in the browser)
- No backend required to play locally; a lightweight Node server powers online play
| Escalations ladder | Battle |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Online lobby | Operative roster (Rift Cards) |
|---|---|
 |
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| Codename | Role | Home Warp Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Breachblade | Junction vanguard — set your weapon's element, then flurry | The Chrome Fold |
| Tempest | Elemental burst mage | The Shatter Court |
| Wraith | Evasive precision striker | The Ashfield |
| Longshot | Long-range control & gambits | The Pale Rim |
| Beacon | Frontline support & healing | The Radiant Compact |
| Aegis | Bulwark tank & blocks | The Holdfast |
Teams are two different operatives; pairings create the strategy. Balance is flat — a data-driven tuning pass holds every class within a ~2–3 point win-rate band, so there are no trap picks.
- Energy ramps each round (3 → 4 → 6 → 8 → 10). Cards cost by speed tier (T1=1 … T4=5).
- Each round you stage cards for your living operatives, choose targets, then Confirm.
- Cards resolve in speed tiers T1 → T4, simultaneous within a tier, with interrupt-on-kill — defenses played fast are already up when heavy hits land.
- Blocks are depletable pools; pierce ignores them. Burn, splash, ripostes, buffs and debuffs all interact.
- 5 rounds. Wipe both enemies to win outright; otherwise the tiebreak is most kills → most HP → draw.
- Deploy — quick match vs AI. Four clearance tiers: Recruit (random), Clasher (reads the board), Captain (triage + focus-fire), Warden (knows every card pool, plays around your threats).
- Escalations — a single-player ladder of six runs across Easy/Medium/Hard. Each is a sequence of battles in a fixed Warp Zone, ending against a mirror cell of that zone's home operative, with the enemy clearance ramping as you climb.
- Multiplayer (online 1v1) — create a room, share the 4-character code, meet in a lobby (team + Warp Zone + turn-timer pickers, live sync, chat), then deploy. Host-authoritative netcode keeps both clients in sync; an optional turn timer keeps matches moving.
Serve the folder over HTTP (art only loads over HTTP, not file://) and open the game:
python -m http.server 8124 --directory .
# → http://localhost:8124/rift_protocol.htmlnpm install # express + socket.io
node server.js # serves the game + sockets on :3000Then point the client at the server by setting RIFT_SERVER_URL at the top of the gf-ui script in rift_protocol.html (defaults to http://localhost:3000). Deploy notes for Railway are in the header of server.js. When deploying, use the https:// server URL.
node test/run_tests.mjs # 12 spec assertions + headless sims
node test/regression.mjs # 20 regression tests- One file for the whole game:
rift_protocol.html<script id="gf-core">— the DOM-free engine (cards, rules, AIs, the 12 spec assertions, a headless simulator). Exported asGF, so it runs under Node for testing.<script id="gf-audio">— RiftAudio, a self-contained Web Audio engine (synthesized music + SFX, no files).<script id="gf-ui">— all DOM/animation, guarded ondocument.
server.js— a pure relay/lobby server (Node + Express + Socket.io). It manages rooms, relays moves and chat, and runs the server-authoritative turn timer. It never runs the game engine.- Graceful art fallback everywhere — the
artassets/folder is intentionally incomplete; any missing image degrades to a colored placeholder. - Source of truth:
Rift_Protocol_Card_Reference.xlsx(Rules + all cards + per-class sheets), regenerated from live card data.
- ✅ 12/12 spec assertions, 20/20 regression tests, 0 simulation errors
- ✅ Class balance: ~2–3 pt win-rate spread across all six operatives (no clear best/worst)
- ✅ Single-player (Deploy + Escalations) and online 1v1 multiplayer implemented
- 🔜 Currently in deploy & validate for online play — see ROADMAP.md
See ROADMAP.md for where this is going next (the north star is single-player depth: progression/unlocks and richer Escalations).
Music
- "The Game" by Boss Bass — source: Free Music Archive · license: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- "Sweet Lofi" by VibeDepot — source: Free Music Archive · license: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
⚠️ These tracks are CC BY-NC-SA: non-commercial use only, and works that incorporate them are expected to be shared under the same license. Not cleared for monetized/commercial release or YouTube. Swap them out before any commercial use.
Fonts: Asimovian and Barlow Condensed (SIL Open Font License — see the OFL.txt files under artassets/fonts/).
Created by Dadpops