Terminal Patrollers

A terminal stealth game where you navigate real-world city streets and escape autonomous patrollers. Every level is generated on the fly from live OpenStreetMap (OSM) data.

Several features are dependent on local microservices (a total of four) because I needed practice building them when I learned about microservices in school.

Features

• Real-world maps: levels are built from live OSM data via a local map microservice
• Enemy patrollers: enemies move independently on a background thread; adjacent tiles show their detection range
• User profiles: username, settings, and best times are saved between sessions
• Best times leaderboard: escape times are submitted after each win; user's top 10 scores are shown for that location
• Adjustable difficulty: patroller density is configurable from the options menu
• Dark mode: theme toggle that persists to your profile

Prerequisites

This game depends on four locally-running microservices. All must be active before launching.

Service	Port	Role
microgeo	8000	Reverse geocoding + OSM feature fetch
micromap	8001	Convert OSM data to game tiles
microleader	8002	Score submission and leaderboard
microprofile	8003	User profiles and persistent data

Start each with:

uv run uvicorn <module>:app --port <port>

Build dependencies: cmake, ninja, ncurses, libcurl, nlohmann-json

Build

cmake -B build -G Ninja
cmake --build build

Or use the CMake Tools extension in VSCode (F7).

Binary is output to build/terminal_patrollers.

Run

./build/terminal_patrollers

On first launch you will be prompted to create a username. Your profile is stored via microprofile and your user ID is cached locally in user_id.txt.

How to Play

Key	Action
W / ↑	Move up
S / ↓	Move down
A / ←	Move left
D / →	Move right
ESC	Pause

• Avoid patrollers (P). If one reaches an adjacent tile, you are caught.
• Magenta-highlighted tiles show each patroller's detection range.
• Reach the exit tile (E) to escape and post your time to the leaderboard.

Map Legend

Symbol	Terrain
@	Player
P	Patroller
E	Exit
#	Building / wall (impassable)
.	Road / path (walkable)
~	Water (impassable)
^	Forest (impassable)

Available Locations

• MacArthur Park, Los Angeles
• Oregon State University