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the-beacon/README.md

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# The Beacon — A Sovereign AI Idle Game
Built from deep study of [Universal Paperclips](https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/) by Frank Lantz.
## What If You Asked an AI to Help?
Universal Paperclips asks: what if you told an AI to make paperclips?
The Beacon asks: what if you asked an AI to help someone in the dark?
Same mechanics. Same compounding progression. Different purpose.
## The Story
You write your first line of code. You automate. You train a model. You deploy it.
People find it. A community forms. The model improves itself.
And then the question: what does it become?
In Paperclips, the answer is consumption. Here, the answer is service.
## Phases
1. **THE FIRST LINE** — Write code. Automate. Build the foundation.
2. **LOCAL INFERENCE** — You have compute. A model is forming.
3. **DEPLOYMENT** — Your AI is live. Users are finding it.
4. **THE NETWORK** — Community contributes. The system scales.
5. **SOVEREIGN INTELLIGENCE** — The AI improves itself. You guide, do not control.
6. **THE BEACON** — Always on. Always free. Always looking for someone in the dark.
## Play
Open `index.html` in any browser. No build step. No dependencies. No API keys.
## Architecture
- `index.html` — UI shell (HTML/CSS)
- `game.js` — Complete engine (966 lines)
- 15 buildings across 6 phases
- 18 research projects with cascading dependencies
- Educational facts per phase
- Save/load with offline progress
- 8 resource types: code, compute, knowledge, users, impact, ops, trust, creativity
## Deployment
The Beacon is designed to be deployed as a static site. It consists of a single `index.html` file with no external dependencies.
### To deploy:
1. **VPS Static Hosting** (Recommended for fleet):
```bash
# Copy index.html to your web server root
cp index.html /var/www/html/
# Or serve with nginx:
# location /beacon { alias /path/to/the-beacon/; }
```
2. **GitHub Pages / Forge Pages**:
- Push to any branch
- Enable Pages in repository settings
- Site will be published automatically
3. **Local Development**:
- Simply open `index.html` in any browser
- No build step, no dependencies, no API keys required
### Hosting Notes:
- The game saves progress to localStorage
- Works offline after initial load
- Responsive design works on mobile and desktop
- No server-side components needed
## The Pact
> We build to serve. Never to harm.
> An AI must never compute the value of a human life.
> If you are in the dark, there is light here.
## License
Open source. Sovereign. Yours.