Tidekin

Tidekin is a C++20 alien tidepool evolution simulator compiled to WebAssembly and hosted on GitHub Pages.

Watch organisms move, feed, mutate, reproduce, die, and split into species while you nudge the ecosystem with food, toxin, vents, and mutation storms.

Local Native Tests

./build.sh native

On Windows PowerShell, the equivalent native build is:

cmake -S . -B build/native -DTIDEKIN_BUILD_TESTS=ON
cmake --build build/native --config Debug
ctest --test-dir build/native -C Debug --output-on-failure

Local Browser Build

Install and activate Emscripten first:

source ~/emsdk/emsdk_env.sh
./build.sh wasm
python3 -m http.server 8000 -d docs

Open http://localhost:8000.

Controls

• Click with Spawn selected to add Tidekin to the empty universe.
• Click near a Tidekin to freeze time and inspect it.
• Press Escape or close the card to resume.
• Use the mouse wheel to zoom.
• Hold Shift, Alt, middle mouse, or right mouse while dragging to pan.
• Food and toxin can be painted by dragging.

GitHub Pages

The GitHub Actions workflow builds native tests, compiles the WebAssembly app, uploads docs/, and deploys it to GitHub Pages.

In the repository settings:

1. Open Settings -> Pages.
2. Set Source to GitHub Actions.
3. Push to main.

No server runtime is needed. GitHub Pages serves index.html, style.css, app.js, and app.wasm as static files.