Holiday Hound Quest

A pixel dog scouts Japan's 2024 public holidays, turning each date into a tiny route-planning challenge across a cartridge map.

Creation: creation_4190e44d8e37b2dfa004c6b1dd0fb857
Player action: Choose a route style, then press SCOUT to send the dog across a holiday path and reveal a different interpretation of the same fixed calendar.
Style cartridge: 👾 Retro 90s Pixel · retro-90s-pixel
Novelty delta: The sources become a miniature traversal system: holidays define terrain and the dog becomes the expedition token, with replay coming from honest client-side reinterpretation.

Causal chain

1. nager-dateProvides the holiday tiles, dates, and labels that form the playable route.
2. dog-ceoSupplies the scout avatar whose image anchors the route outcome and reward screen.

API roles

API	Operations	Essential role
nager-date	holidays	Defines the fixed set of holiday checkpoints, names, and dates used to generate every route and score.
dog-ceo	random	Provides the visible scout companion that makes each route feel like a distinct expedition rather than a text list.

Dependency

nager-date → rules → dog-ceo: The selected route style reinterprets the holiday list into jump lengths, hazards, and bonuses, while the dog image becomes the scout shown at the resulting checkpoint.

Interaction

Controls: route style selector, SCOUT button, NEXT LEG button

Outcome: The dog advances through a newly interpreted holiday path, with score, checkpoint, hazard, and mission text changing after each action.

Visual direction

Style: 90s handheld cartridge quest screen with map tiles and sprite-like panels

Palette: CRT black, phosphor green, cartridge magenta, and one bright highlight

Typography: pixel monospace with chunky score numerals and tile labels

Motion: stepped pawn movement, scanline-safe flashes, and palette pulse on checkpoint reveals

Cartridge receipt

Palette: strict four-color palette, CRT black, phosphor green, cartridge magenta

Typography: pixel monospace, tile-map labels, chunky score digits

Motion: sprite walk, scanline scroll, palette flash, stepped parallax

Era: 90s handheld and 16-bit cartridge game

Caution: Keep text legible at 390px; scanlines and dithering must never bury controls.