GitHub - pshenok/server-survival: Tower defense game that teaches cloud architecture. Build infrastructure, survive traffic, learn scaling.

Server Survival

Server Survival is an interactive 3D simulation game where you play as a Cloud Architect. Your mission is to build and scale a resilient cloud infrastructure to handle increasing traffic loads while fighting off DDoS attacks, managing your budget, and keeping your services healthy.

How to Play

Objective

Survive as long as possible! Manage your Budget ($), Reputation (%), and Service Health.

Earn Money by successfully processing legitimate traffic requests.
Lose Reputation if requests fail or if malicious traffic slips through.
Maintain Health - Services degrade under load and need repairs.
Game Over if Reputation hits 0% or you go bankrupt ($-1000).

Traffic Types

Traffic	Color	Destination	Reward	Description
STATIC	Green	Storage	$0.50	Static file requests (images, CSS, JS)
READ	Blue	SQL DB	$0.80	Database read operations
WRITE	Orange	SQL DB	$1.20	Database write operations
UPLOAD	Yellow	Storage	$1.50	File uploads
SEARCH	Cyan	SQL DB	$0.80	Search queries (CPU intensive)
MALICIOUS	Red	Firewall	$0.50	DDoS/Attack traffic - must be blocked!

Infrastructure & Services

Build your architecture using the toolbar. Each service has a cost, capacity, and upkeep:

Service	Cost	Capacity	Upkeep	Function
Firewall	$40	30	Low	Security. First line of defense. Blocks malicious traffic.
Queue	$40	Queue:200	Low	Buffer. Buffers requests during spikes. Prevents drops.
Load Balancer	$50	20	Medium	Distribution. Distributes traffic to multiple instances.
Compute	$60	4	High	Processing. Processes requests. Upgradeable T1→T3.
Cache	$60	30	Medium	Caching. Caches responses to reduce DB load.
SQL DB	$150	8	Very High	Database. Destination for READ/WRITE/SEARCH. Upgradeable T1→T3.
Storage	$25	25	Low	File System. Destination for STATIC/UPLOAD traffic.

Scoring & Economy

Action	Money	Score	Reputation
Static Request	+$0.50	+3	+0.1
DB Read	+$0.80	+5	+0.1
DB Write	+$1.20	+8	+0.1
File Upload	+$1.50	+10	+0.1
Search Query	+$0.80	+5	+0.1
Attack Blocked	+$0.50	+10	-
Request Failed	-	-half	-1
Attack Leaked	-	-	-5

Upkeep & Cost Scaling

Base Upkeep: Each service has per-minute upkeep costs
Upkeep Scaling: Costs increase 1x to 2x over 10 minutes
Repair Costs: 15% of service cost to manually repair
Auto-Repair: +10% upkeep overhead when enabled

Game Modes

Survival Mode

The core experience - survive as long as possible against escalating traffic with constant intervention required:

Dynamic Challenges:

RPS Acceleration - Traffic multiplies at time milestones (×1.3 at 1min → ×4.0 at 10min)
Random Events - Cost spikes, capacity drops, traffic bursts every 15-45 seconds
Traffic Shifts - Traffic patterns change every 40 seconds
DDoS Spikes - 50% malicious traffic waves every 45 seconds
Service Degradation - Services lose health under load, require repairs

New UI Features:

Health bars on all services
Active event indicator bar at top
Detailed finances panel (income/expenses breakdown)
Service health panel with repair costs
Auto-repair toggle
Game over analysis with tips

Sandbox Mode

A fully customizable testing environment for experimenting with any architecture:

Control	Description
Budget	Set any starting budget (slider 0-10K, or type any amount)
RPS	Control traffic rate (0 = stopped, or type 100+ for stress tests)
Traffic Mix	Adjust all 6 traffic type percentages independently
Burst	Spawn instant bursts of specific traffic types
Upkeep Toggle	Enable/disable service costs
Clear All	Reset all services and restore budget

No game over in Sandbox - experiment freely!

Recent Features (v2.1)

Constant Intervention Mechanics - Game requires active management throughout
Service Health System - Visual health bars, manual/auto repair options
RPS Milestones - Traffic surge warnings with multiplier display
Active Event Bar - Shows current random event with countdown timer
Detailed Finances - Income by request type, expenses by service with counts
Game Over Analysis - Failure reason, description, and contextual tips
Retry Same Setup - Restart with same architecture after game over
Interactive Tutorial - Guided walkthrough for new players

Controls

Left Click: Select tools, place services, and connect nodes.
Right Click + Drag: Pan the camera.
Scroll: Zoom in and out.
WASD / Arrows: Move camera (pan) when zoomed in.
ESC: Open main menu and pause game. Press again or click Resume to close menu (stays paused).
Camera Reset: Press R to reset the camera position.
Birds-Eye View: Press T to switch between isometric and top-down view.
Hide HUD: Press H to toggle UI panels.
Connect Tool: Click two nodes to create a connection (flow direction matters!).
- Valid Flows: Internet -> Firewall -> Load Balancer -> Queue -> Compute -> Cache -> (SQL DB/Storage)
Delete Tool: Remove services to recover 50% of the cost.
Time Controls: Pause, Play (1x), and Fast Forward (3x).

Strategy Tips

Block Attacks First: Always place a Firewall immediately connected to the Internet. Malicious leaks destroy reputation fast (-5 per leak).
Watch Service Health: Damaged services have reduced capacity. Click to repair or enable Auto-Repair.
Scale for Traffic Surges: RPS multiplies at milestones - prepare before ×2.0 at 3 minutes!
Balance Income vs Upkeep: Start lean, scale as income grows. Over-provisioning leads to bankruptcy.
Use Cache Wisely: Reduces database load significantly for READ requests.
Buffer with Queue: Queue helps survive traffic burst events without dropping requests.
React to Events: Watch the event bar - cost spikes mean hold off on purchases, traffic bursts mean ensure capacity.

Tech Stack

Core: Vanilla JavaScript (ES6+)
Rendering: Three.js for 3D visualization.
Styling: Tailwind CSS for the glassmorphism UI.
Build: No build step required! Just standard HTML/CSS/JS.

Getting Started

Clone the repository.
Open index.html in your modern web browser.
Start building your cloud empire!

Community

Join our Discord server to discuss strategies and share your high scores: Join Discord

Built with code and chaos.