Chip's Challenge — Neon Circuit Remake

A fan-made, browser-based remake of the classic 1989 tile puzzler, built from scratch: an original game engine, an original procedurally-drawn "neon circuit" tileset, and synthesized audio — no game assets are copied or bundled.

The engine plays the classic MS-ruleset levels from a standard .DAT level file (such as the original CHIPS.DAT), which you supply yourself.

Running it

The repo deliberately does not include level data (the original levels are copyrighted). The game finds levels from any of these sources, in order:

1. ?dat=<url> query parameter — fetches a .DAT/.ccl/.zip from any CORS-enabled URL. Handy for community level packs.
2. Browser storage — whatever file you last loaded (see below).
3. Embedded data — js/levels-data.js, generated locally by node tools/embed.mjs from original/CHIPS.DAT. Lets the game run from a double-clicked index.html.
4. original/CHIPS.DAT fetched from next to index.html when the folder is served (python3 -m http.server 8741).

If none are found, the title screen shows a drop zone: drop in your own CHIPS.DAT — or the whole .zip you have it in (unzipped in-browser via the native DecompressionStream). The file is parsed locally, never uploaded anywhere, and is saved in that browser's localStorage, so on every later visit the game starts immediately.

GitHub Pages

This is exactly how the hosted version works: the public site ships only the engine, and each visitor supplies their own level file once. No copyrighted data is served. Useful query parameters:

• ?dat=<url> — load a level set from a URL (host must send CORS headers).
• ?reset=1 — forget the level file saved in this browser.

Any CC1-format .DAT level set works, not just the original one — progress and best times are tracked separately per level set.

Controls

Key	Action
Arrows / WASD	Move
R	Restart level
P / Esc	Pause
L	Level list
M	Mute
[ / ]	Previous / next unlocked level

Progress, best times, and unlocks are stored in localStorage. Level passwords from the data file work in the password box on the title screen.

What's implemented

MS-ruleset mechanics: walls, dirt, gravel, water/fire (+ matching boots), ice and ice corners with sliding & bouncing, force floors (+ suction boots, perpendicular override), pushable blocks (water → dirt, bombs, crushing), all four key/door colors, sockets, thieves, hint tiles, popup walls, invisible/appearing walls, blue fake/real walls, toggle walls + green buttons, tank reversal + blue buttons, traps + brown buttons, clone machines + red buttons, teleports, bombs, and the nine monster types with their classic movement AIs (bug, paramecium, fireball, glider, ball, tank, walker, blob, teeth). Timed levels, chip counters, hints, passwords, and per-level best times are all in, plus a live HUD minimap showing the full level, entities, and the current camera viewport.

A few deep MS quirks (slip-list ordering, boosting, even-step parity) are intentionally simplified.

Project layout

index.html            app shell
css/style.css         neon-arcade UI theme
js/dat.js             CC1 .DAT parser
js/tiles.js           tile constants + procedural tileset & entity painters
js/engine.js          game logic (tick-based, MS-style rules)
js/render.js          canvas renderer: camera, atlas, particles
js/audio.js           WebAudio synthesized SFX
js/main.js            screens, HUD, input, persistence, main loop
tools/verify-dat.mjs  parse + validate a .DAT, ASCII-dump a level
tools/embed.mjs       embed a .DAT into js/levels-data.js
tools/sim.mjs         headless engine tests (node tools/sim.mjs)

Tests

node tools/sim.mjs    # 18 headless gameplay assertions against the engine

Credits

• Chip's Challenge was created by Chuck Sommerville; the game concept and the original level designs remain the property of their respective owners.
• Engine code, artwork (all drawn in canvas at runtime), sounds, and UI here are original work for this remake.
• Fonts: Bungee and IBM Plex Mono (SIL OFL), loaded from Google Fonts.

This is a personal, non-commercial fan project.