A Tamagotchi-style Progressive Web App that raises awareness of sea turtle conservation. Hatch a nest, raise a juvenile in the open ocean, defend it from real-world hazards (light pollution, plastic, ghost gear, boats, sharks, beachgoers), and keep it healthy long enough to grow from hatchling to adult.

Built as a vanilla HTML / CSS / JS PWA — no build step, installable on iOS and Android, fully playable offline.

Play

Open http://localhost:8000/ after running a static server from the project root:

python3 -m http.server 8000

Then "Add to Home Screen" (iOS) or "Install app" (Chrome/Android) for the full standalone experience.

Gameplay

Three species — Green, Loggerhead, Leatherback — each with distinct appearance and a preferred playmate. Your turtle ages roughly one day per 15 seconds at peak health, slowing as stats decline. Progress persists across sessions via localStorage, and offline time is reconciled when you return.

Stage	Care loop
Nest	Scare crabs, fill holes, kill artificial lights, walk hatchlings to surf
Ocean	Feed, brush shell, play with species-specific companion, dodge hazards
Beaching	Hold tourists to the NOAA 10-foot boundary while the turtle rests
Hazard QTEs	Brace for sharks, dive under boats, cut through ghost nets

Tech

Single-page vanilla JS state machine (app.js)
Inline SVG turtle with CSS-driven species palettes and growth-stage scaling
Service worker (sw.js) with cache-first offline strategy
Web App Manifest with maskable icons, installable on Chromium, iOS Safari, Firefox Android, Samsung Internet

Conservation Topics Modeled in the Game

The hazards in Tortugotchi aren't decorative — each one mirrors a documented threat to wild sea turtles:

Light pollution and hatchling disorientation. Hatchlings orient toward the brightest horizon, which in undisturbed beaches is moonlight on the ocean. Artificial lighting pulls them inland, where they die of exhaustion, dehydration, or predation.
Plastic mimicry. Floating plastic bags resemble jellyfish, a primary food source for leatherbacks. Ingested plastic causes gut blockage and false satiation; necropsies regularly find plastic in dead turtles of every species.
Ghost gear entanglement. Lost or abandoned fishing nets and lines drift for years, tangling turtles and preventing them from surfacing to breathe.
Vessel strikes. Propeller wounds and blunt-force trauma from boats are a leading cause of injury for turtles in coastal waters.
Human disturbance on beaches. Crowding, touching, and flash photography stress nesting and basking turtles. NOAA and the U.S. Endangered Species Act establish a minimum approach distance of 10 feet (3 meters) in U.S. waters.
Defensive behavior. Unlike freshwater turtles, sea turtles cannot fully retract into their shells. The in-game "brace" posture reflects how wild turtles actually respond — tucking the head and flippers tight against the carapace.

Resources & Citations

Used to ground the game's mechanics, species behavior, and conservation messaging.

Regulatory & Government

NOAA Fisheries — Sea Turtles. Species profiles, threats, recovery plans, and viewing guidelines. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/sea-turtles
NOAA — Sea Turtle Viewing Guidelines. Establishes the 10-foot / 3-meter minimum approach distance and lighting guidance. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-life-distress/sea-turtle-viewing-guidelines
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — Sea Turtle Program. ESA listings, nesting beach management. https://www.fws.gov/program/sea-turtle
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. §§ 1531–1544). Federal protection framework for all six U.S. sea turtle species. https://www.fws.gov/law/endangered-species-act
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — Sea Turtle Lighting. Practical guidance behind the in-game "turn off the lights" mechanic. https://myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/lighting/

Scientific & Conservation Organizations

IUCN Red List — Marine Turtles. Current conservation status by species (Green, Loggerhead, Leatherback, Hawksbill, Kemp's ridley, Olive ridley, Flatback). https://www.iucnredlist.org/
IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG). Global assessments, regional management units. https://www.iucn-mtsg.org/
Sea Turtle Conservancy. Public education, satellite tracking, nesting beach protection. https://conserveturtles.org/
SEE Turtles. Conservation tourism, plastic and lighting campaigns. https://www.seeturtles.org/
The Ocean Cleanup — Ghost Gear research. Data on abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG). https://theoceancleanup.com/
Global Ghost Gear Initiative. Cross-industry effort tracking and removing lost fishing gear. https://www.ghostgear.org/

Selected Research

Schuyler, Q. A., Wilcox, C., Townsend, K. A., et al. (2016). Risk analysis reveals global hotspots for marine debris ingestion by sea turtles. Global Change Biology 22(2): 567–576. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13078
Wilcox, C., Puckridge, M., Schuyler, Q. A., Townsend, K., & Hardesty, B. D. (2018). A quantitative analysis linking sea turtle mortality and plastic debris ingestion. Scientific Reports 8: 12536. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30038-z
Witherington, B. E., & Martin, R. E. (2003). Understanding, Assessing, and Resolving Light-Pollution Problems on Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches. Florida Marine Research Institute Technical Report TR-2.
Stelfox, M., Hudgins, J., & Sweet, M. (2016). A review of ghost gear entanglement amongst marine mammals, reptiles and elasmobranchs. Marine Pollution Bulletin 111(1–2): 6–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.06.034
Lutcavage, M. E., Plotkin, P., Witherington, B., & Lutz, P. L. (1997). Human Impacts on Sea Turtle Survival. In Lutz & Musick (eds.), The Biology of Sea Turtles, Vol. I, CRC Press.

Species Biology References

Spotila, J. R. (2004). Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Bjorndal, K. A., & Bolten, A. B. (eds., 2003). Loggerhead Sea Turtles. Smithsonian Institution Press.
NOAA Species Pages for in-game species:
- Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas): https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/green-turtle
- Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta): https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/loggerhead-turtle
- Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea): https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/leatherback-turtle

How You Can Help (Real World)

Turn off or shield beachfront lighting during nesting season (roughly May–October in the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf).
Fill in holes and remove beach furniture before sunset — hatchlings get stuck.
Pack out all trash; cut six-pack rings and discarded line.
Keep 10 feet (3 m) from any wild sea turtle. Never use flash.
Report stranded, injured, or harassed turtles to your regional NOAA Stranding Network hotline.

License

Tortugotchi is a non-commercial educational project. Cited materials remain the property of their respective authors and organizations.

README.md Unescape Escape

Tortugotchi — Sea Turtle Protector