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Case study · 06 / 06

Adventure Game

“The Archive” — full-stack text adventure

Stack
Java · Spring Boot · React · JavaScript · MySQL · JWT
Links
GitHub Live Demo

Fig. 06 — Adventure Game · conceptual render

Overview

A full-stack text adventure game, “The Archive,” with a Spring Boot backend, React frontend, MySQL database, and JWT authentication — three playable chapters, an achievements system, and a leaderboard. Live demo linked below.

Problem

Game feel alone doesn't make a product: accounts, persistent progress, and competition need real backend engineering behind the story.

How it works

  1. 01

    Sign in (JWT)

  2. 02

    Explore three chapters

  3. 03

    Make story choices

  4. 04

    Unlock achievements

  5. 05

    Climb the leaderboard

A Java/Spring Boot API with JWT-secured accounts over MySQL, a React client rendering three story chapters, and achievement and leaderboard systems layered on top.

Key features

  • Three playable story chapters
  • JWT authentication + accounts
  • Achievements system
  • Leaderboard
  • Deployed live demo

Lessons learned

  • Lesson 1: Auth and persistence turn a toy game into a real product.
  • Lesson 2: Content and systems ship together — chapters plus achievements and leaderboard.
  • Lesson 3: Deploying live forces engineering discipline no localhost demo can.

My contribution — Designed and built the full stack — API, schema, auth, game client, chapters, achievements, and leaderboard — and shipped a live demo.