This is a submission for Frontend Challenge - Halloween Edition, Perfect Landing
🍂 What I Built
I created “The Curse of the Pumpkin”, an immersive interactive storytelling experience set in the haunted village of Oakhaven.
It’s a Halloween-themed choose-your-own-adventure web game where every decision shapes the player’s destiny — inspired by the eerie legend of Stingy Jack, the man who tricked the Devil and cursed his soul to wander the earth with a flickering pumpkin lantern.
Players explore misty fields, cursed forests, and ancient ruins, guided by choices that test their courage, logic, and morality. The narrative adapts dynamically — no two journeys through Oakhaven are the same.
🕸️ Key Features
- Interactive Storytelling — A fully branching narrative filled with mystery, consequence, and Halloween atmosphere
- Player Stats System — Track and influence four core stats: Life, Attack, Defense, and Guts
- Multiple Story Paths — Choose between the Path of Embers (reckless and puzzle-driven) or the Path of Roots (defensive and diplomatic)
- Dynamic Consequences — Each decision alters your stats, unlocks unique story branches, and changes your fate
- Multiple Endings — Face the final curse in several distinct epilogues
- Multi-Language Support — Play in English, Spanish, or Portuguese
- Immersive Audio — Rustling leaves, crackling fires, and spectral whispers powered by Tone.js
- Responsive Design — Seamlessly playable on desktop and mobile
- Story Navigation System — Revisit past decisions to explore alternate paths
⚙️ Technical Implementation
Built entirely with modern web technologies focused on performance and immersion:
- Framework: Next.js + React + TypeScript
- Styling: TailwindCSS (custom dark harvest theme 🌑🎃)
- UI Components: ShadCN UI + Radix UI Primitives
- State Management: React Context for game flow and player stats
- Audio Engine: Tone.js for procedural ambient soundscapes
- Internationalization: JSON-based locale system with contextual language switching
🌕 Demo
Live Demo:
👉 https://course-of-pumpkin.vercel.app/
GitHub Repository:
👉 wesleybertipaglia/course-of-pumpking
🎃 Title Screen — “The Lantern Awakens”
🌑 Story Interface — Choices and Stats in Action
🪔 Branching Paths — The Moment of Choice
🕯️ Journey
The project began with a single spark — what if the soul of a cursed pumpkin guided your fate?
From that seed grew a web-based interactive tale blending folklore, player agency, and modern frontend development.
Drawing from Halloween traditions and Celtic folklore, I wanted to recreate the feeling of reading a spooky story by lantern light — one where every choice burns brighter or dims the flame.
🔮 Development Highlights
- Designed a branching story engine supporting stat-driven conditions and narrative loops
- Built a stateful player system for dynamic outcomes and replayability
- Developed a multi-language architecture maintaining tone across translations
- Used Tone.js to craft haunting soundscapes
- Focused on accessible UI and responsive layouts for every device
🍁 What I Learned
This project deepened my understanding of interactive storytelling architecture, React state management, and internationalization.
It also reinforced the importance of accessibility, performance, and emotional pacing in user-driven experiences.
🕯️ What’s Next
Future improvements may include:
- New story branches and secret events
- Expanded sound design and subtle visual effects
- Support for community-created story packs
🧡 Final Thoughts
I’m especially proud of how choice and consequence intertwine in this project — where courage, fear, and curiosity truly matter.
Every flicker of the lantern feels earned, every branch of the story deliberate.
It’s my tribute to the timeless magic of Halloween nights, where pumpkins glow, spirits stir, and stories come alive.
Top comments (2)
AMAZING 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you so much 🤝