Daily-Derby

The Daily Web Game of Kings

Project Summary

Daily Derby is a browser based horse racing strategy game available at daily-derby.com. Players build and manage a stable of horses over many days, watch animated races unfold, and make long term decisions about which bloodlines to race, retire, or develop. The game is designed as a low friction daily ritual that rewards planning across generations rather than one off play.

Gameplay & Features

• Persistent Stable: Each player maintains a stable of horses that persists across days, encouraging attachment and ongoing management.
• Daily Races: New races are available on a daily cadence, creating a repeatable play loop that fits into everyday routines.
• Race Animation: Results are presented through a full race animation rather than static results, emphasizing drama, pacing, and readability.
• Generational Planning: Horses age, retire, and are replaced, prompting players to think in terms of bloodlines and long horizon decision making.
• Lightweight Interface: The UI is tuned for quick sessions on desktop and mobile browsers with minimal load times and no downloads.

Tools

• Frontend: Static web application built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• Hosting: Deployed via GitHub Pages with a custom domain at daily-derby.com.
• Backend: Firebase services for player data and persistent game state.
• Animation & Game Logic: Custom JavaScript for race simulation, timing, and on screen movement.

Implementation

• Static Delivery: All client code is bundled and served statically to keep hosting simple, portable, and low maintenance.
• Cloud Persisted State: Player stables and race histories are stored in Firebase so progress can persist across devices and sessions.
• Daily Progression Design: Game logic is organized around a daily cycle that encourages short, repeatable play sessions and long term attachment to horses.
• Animation Pipeline: Races are rendered in browser using JavaScript animation loops that synchronize horse positions with underlying race outcomes.
• Mobile Friendly Layout: Layout and controls are designed to remain legible and usable on both desktop and handheld screens.

Challenges

• Depth vs Clarity: Balancing generational depth and horse statistics with a ruleset that remains readable to casual players.
• Retention Design: Designing a daily loop that feels meaningful without push notifications, log in streaks, or aggressive monetization patterns.
• Identity & Persistence: Managing persistent player data via Firebase while keeping sign in and account friction as low as possible.

Outcome

• Live Daily Game: Daily Derby runs as a public web game that demonstrates MTR Magic Key's ability to design, ship, and maintain a small scale live service on static infrastructure.
• Design Testbed: Serves as an internal laboratory for experimenting with daily puzzle patterns, progression systems, and lightweight web animation.
• Portable Architecture: The GitHub Pages plus Firebase stack and static deployment model can be adapted to other daily games and museum facing interactives.