VARANO 2:39

An open-source narrative browser game inspired by a bizarre true story from Northern Italy.

Four points of view. Six hills. One photo at 2:39 a.m.

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10 levels · 4 roles · 6 endings · ~20 minutes
Free · In your browser · No download · No account

What is VARANO 2:39?

A free, open-source narrative game, recommended for a 12+ audience, loosely inspired by the mysterious reptile spotted in the countryside near Montichiari, Italy, in July 2026.

The game mixes documented news, contradictory witness accounts and a pixel-art legend. The monitor lizard is always the protagonist: it can be chased, protected, played by you, or crowned the improbable Count of Castello Bonoris.

The playable scenes are always marked LEGEND — an invented reconstruction. The documented facts and their sources stay in the editorial archive, docs/SOURCES.md, linked from the credits (ADR-024). The 2:39 time also remains a time reported by the press.

A second mystery stays open on purpose: where did the monitor lizard come from? The game does not solve it. Escape and abandonment remain reported, unverified hypotheses — everything the game adds is declared LEGEND.

Game features

• 10 levels in a single campaign (~20 minutes), each with its own background, chiptune track, three clues, checkpoint, a cameo of the lizard and a bonus star reachable only with the role's superpower;
• 4 perspectives: Hunter, Wildlife Guardian, Hero Mayor and the Monitor Lizard itself — each with its own goal, superpower and dialogue in every chapter;
• 6 endings: the story changes with what you do — and the game invites you to replay with another role;
• 3 lives per attempt (ADR-041), no enemies and no timer; «Skip the level» is always available and produces the same story outcome;
• six seals collected in the hill interludes unlock the «Count of the Six Hills» ending, and the lizard's condition is visible in the briefing;
• level result card (ADR-056) and «La Collezione» (ADR-057), the local archive of the ten levels with your best result in each;
• shareable meme card at the end of a campaign and a postcard of your score, both generated on your device (ADR-026/049);
• in-game menu with settings (character, audio, text scale, high contrast), Collection, credits, privacy and terms; the credits reach the sources register;
• installable PWA with atomic offline, announced updates and a visible version number in settings (ADR-054).

The edition is a single, 12+, playful-tone release (ADR-022). The arcade mode is the default for everyone (ADR-046): no system signal hides it, and the assisted path stays available in the Story and Calm modes. Current work focuses on performance, usability and the existing levels — not new chapters.

The real story

In July 2026 somebody photographed a monitor lizard wandering the fields near Montichiari, a small town in northern Italy. The pages and the local press told the story at 2:39 a.m., when the trail went cold.

VARANO 2:39 takes that news story and builds a fully playable story around it.

News where it is documented. Legend where the game begins. The sources of the documented facts are listed in docs/SOURCES.md.

Technical highlights

• TypeScript strict with Vite, zero runtime dependencies — no UI framework, no game framework, no external runtime;
• DOM-first, accessible UI: Canvas for the pixel-art scenes, semantic HTML for menus, dialogue, choices and endings; completable without sound, mouse or quick reflexes (12+);
• purity: narrative state driven by pure functions over a single GameState; the platformer uses a pure physics model (ADR-018);
• declarative content: chapters and levels are typed data compiled alongside the game — no remote scripts, no runtime plugin system docs/EXPANSIONS.md;
• complete Italian and English editions (ADR-060): same message keys, same placeholders, no silent fallback;
• privacy-first analytics (optional, disabled by default): visits and a fixed set of aggregate milestones, no identifiers, no choices, no endings (ADR-059);
• local save only — no account, no backend;
• tested: unit, integration and end-to-end tests, keyboard/touch/reduced-motion verified.

Architecture & documentation

All product, story, architecture, privacy, quality and expansion specifications live in the documentation index. Binding instructions for AI agents and contributors are also in AGENTS.md. docs/DECISIONS.md records every architectural decision (ADR).

Local development

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 24 LTS, pinned in .nvmrc;
• npm;
• Chromium for end-to-end tests.

Initial setup:

nvm use
npm ci
npx playwright install chromium

Commands:

Command	Purpose
npm run dev	Start the Vite development server.
npm run preview	Serve the latest production build locally.
npm run build	Type-check and generate dist/.
npm run typecheck	Run TypeScript strict without emitting files.
npm run lint	Run ESLint without accepting warnings.
npm run format	Format supported files with Prettier.
npm run format:check	Verify formatting without modifying files.
npm run test	Run unit and DOM tests with Vitest.
npm run test:e2e	Run Playwright and axe against a /-based build.
npm run validate	Compile the contracts and validate graph, sources, assets, messages.
npm run size	Enforce the bundle budget (80 KB JS / 10 KB CSS gzip).
npm run dist	Build the portable zip varano239-web.zip for portals (FASE 8).
npm run marketing	Generate the marketing asset pack in marketing/ (FASE 12).
npm run check	Run every gate defined in docs/QUALITY.md, in order.

The build uses base / (Netlify, ADR-020). The configuration accepts VITE_BASE_PATH for other subpaths; use the same base for build and preview. The build has no runtime dependencies and loads no remote fonts, scripts or assets.

Distributable web build

npm run dist produces varano239-web.zip (contents in dist-dist/) for portals that host the game in an iframe, starting with itch.io. It rebuilds with a relative base (./) and without the service worker (portal iframes cannot register one), then fails if the artifact keeps absolute asset paths or depends on the production domains. index.html sits at the zip root. The zip is gitignored and regenerated on demand.

Marketing asset pack

npm run marketing writes the distribution assets used by the landing page, itch.io and the press into marketing/: a transparent logo, covers (landscape/square/portrait), the Open Graph image, screenshots captured from the running game, an example share card, a short gameplay GIF and two silent preview videos. The brand SVGs are the source of truth and are rasterized to PNG; the screenshots, GIF and videos are driven through the real game with Playwright and assembled with ffmpeg. See docs/ASSETS.md for the full registry. Ready-to-use copy for itch.io, press, Reddit, Hacker News and LinkedIn lives in marketing/copy-kit.md.

Pull requests produce a downloadable preview artifact after the quality gate, and pushes on main re-run npm run check on the merge result. Publishing is separate: Netlify builds main on its own and serves it at app.varano239.it, so the gate is the signal, not the lock — a red run on main means the live build needs a look. The landing page is at varano239.it.

Game direction

• Arcade platformer on canvas with DOM-first narrative: contextual bar during the run, card overlay for dialogue, choice and ending.
• Mobile-first and desktop browser.
• Touch and keyboard.
• Complete Italian and English editions.
• No mandatory reflex challenge: every level is skippable with the same story outcome.
• Content distinguished as FACT, TESTIMONY, HYPOTHESIS, LEGEND or RECANTED.
• Human characters are invented or composite and never represent real people.
• Chapters and levels are declarative content compiled with the game; a new mechanic stays isolated behind the level register.

Safety & disclaimer

The game is not a guide to find the animal. Do not approach, chase, startle or try to catch wild or exotic animals: keep your distance and alert the competent authorities.

Death remains non-graphic. Only in the Hunter's path, when he chose «Document the scene» in the prologue, the player can be directly responsible for it; the game shows consequences, does not celebrate violence and does not teach weapon use.

Contributing

Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening an issue or a pull request.

Licensing

The project uses two licenses, explained in LICENSING.md:

• the code is free software under GNU AGPL-3.0-only: you can study, modify and redistribute it, and whoever publishes a modified version (even as a website) must publish its source code;
• story, text, pixel art, music and level design use CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: shareable and modifiable with attribution, but not for commercial purposes. Because the game is inseparable from its content, the work as a whole cannot be sold.

The name VARANO 2:39 and the characters are not licensed: a derivative version must use its own name. Images, fonts, music and other assets must be original or accompanied by a compatible license and clear provenance information.

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Italiano

VARANO 2:39 è un videogioco narrativo gratuito e open-source ispirato al misterioso varano avvistato nei campi di Montichiari nel luglio 2026: dieci livelli, quattro ruoli, sei finali e circa venti minuti di gioco, direttamente nel browser, senza account.

• Gioca subito: app.varano239.it
• Landing page: varano239.it
• Documentazione: docs/README.md

Copyright © 2026 Francesco Falanga.