Librarian's Challenge
A relaxing Phaser 3 browser game where you sort books on the shelf. 100 levels, LGBTQ+ catalogue tags, and a live demo you can play right now.
- Stack
- Phaser 3
- JavaScript
- HTML5
- WebGL
- Docker
- Started
A messy shelf, a quiet library, one job: put the books back in order.
Librarian’s Challenge is a small 2D browser game on Phaser 3. No framework, no bundler. I made it to unwind: drag titles into place while the sort rule keeps changing.
Play it live: game-library.agustinafassina.com
What you do
Drag books into slots. Each level teaches a rule (title, author, genre, year, or a mix) and the shelf grows from a handful of books to dozens across pages. Optional timed or move-limited challenges add a little pressure. Fail the bonus and you can still finish the level. That was intentional: pressure without breaking the calm loop.
- 100 levels, from 4 to 67 books (LEVELS.md)
- Mouse and touch, including edge-drag to carry a book across shelf pages
- Progress in
localStorage: unlocked levels, best scores, guest stats - EN / ES UI from Settings
- Books catalogue to browse and filter by tag from the main menu
Catalogue with LGBTQ+ tags
Gameplay can use a local offline catalogue (data/books.json, about 70 titles) or, when
enabled, pull real books from a companion .NET API via Google-by-tag search. Configured
tags include LGBTIQ+, queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, intersex, feminism,
and activism. I wanted the shelves to hold stories that matter, not only filler titles.
Production keeps useApiBooks: false so the public demo works without shipping an API key.
If the API is down or CORS blocks the call, the game falls back to the local JSON and levels
still run.
How it is built
| Piece | Choice |
|---|---|
| Engine | Phaser 3.80.1, vendored (no CDN at runtime) |
| Modules | Native ES modules: scenes, rules, storage, i18n |
| Render | WebGL canvas (Phaser.AUTO, Canvas2D fallback), Scale.FIT |
| Data | fetch for levels/books; optional API + Formspree feedback |
| Deploy | Docker + nginx, reverse-proxied on a Hetzner VPS behind HTTPS |
Rules live in js/utils/rules.js. Each level’s rule string maps to sort keys,
getExpectedOrder() builds the correct shelf, and evaluateOrder() scores every slot. A
Playwright smoke test opens ?test=1 and autosolves every level so solvability and progress
saving stay honest.
Repositories
- Library.LibrarianChallenge.Game (static Phaser client)
- Optional API:
Library.LibrarianChallenge.Game.Api(live tagged books for local/dev)