My Digital Aquarium

This is my little browser toy aquarium: a goofy, early-2000s fish tank vibe on the surface, with a surprisingly nerdy chemistry simulation running underneath.

Built with Codex in an afternoon

I built this with Codex in an afternoon. It is exactly the kind of project where an AI coding partner shines: quick iteration, fast experiments, and lots of tiny systems to glue together without losing momentum.

What it simulates

Under the hood it runs a fixed-step sim with chemistry and catch-up logic. The HUD tracks: temperature, pH, oxygen, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, waste, and algae.

Controls / gameplay

• Cleaner: click/drag to scrub algae off the glass
• Scoop (net): click poop to remove it and earn coins
• Food: click to drop pellets; fish seek them when hungry
• Bubbles: click to spawn bubbles (adds oxygen)
• Move: drag plants/rocks (and other bits) around
• Magnet: collect coins more easily
• Hatchery: click the egg to hatch a fish (first is free, then eggs cost 100 gold)

Save + offline rules

• Autosaves every 30 seconds and on key actions.
• Uses localStorage key dwbeck_fish_tank_save_v1.
• On load, it simulates the real time elapsed since the last save (fast-forward up to ~6h, then aggregated catch-up).
• If you were away 72 hours or more, all living fish become permanent skeletons and a fresh egg becomes available.

Reset

Use the Reset button (top right) or clear your browser storage for the site to wipe the tank.

Files (for devs)

• index.html - page + HUD
• styles.css - layout
• game.js - main loop + rendering
• storage.js - save/load (localStorage)
• sim.js - fixed-step sim + chemistry + offline catch-up
• entities.js - entity constructors + drawing helpers
• ui.js - DOM + input glue