THE DEVELOPMENT ARCHIVE / 2025–2026
Behind
the signal.
I'm Jeremy Robards, CTO of Mycelia Interactive LLC. This is my account of building The S33k3r Transmission, from the first CRT screen to the Signal Teal rebuild and the faces of the collective.
13 entries, oldest first. GitHub commits and site sources appear at the end of every entry.
Starting with a screen
I started with a CRT screen, a short message and a place for the transmission to arrive. Getting that first version online meant solving the hosting and video limits as well as the design.
Teaching the CRT to respond
The CRT gained a message puzzle and working television controls. I kept adjusting the background and overlays because the atmosphere was competing with the text people needed to read.
Moving from the landing page into a world
I moved the site from Vite to Next.js and built a reusable room interface. The change gave the project room to grow, while browser audio restrictions kept the entry experience tied to a deliberate visitor action.
Building the cinematic room engine
I built an engine that could play a room video and offer a choice when it ended. Then I configured the Next.js build to export static pages for Cloudflare.
Preparing the December transmission
I brought the CRT back to the landing page and prepared its transition into a theater screen. The reveal needed timing, media delivery and a player that could recover when the first load failed.
Keeping the theater and opening the Bank
The theater became the permanent landing-page player, and the Bank became the first focused game encounter. I built the lobby-to-vault sequence around a six-pair puzzle, then fixed media delivery and repeat play.
Making the development record readable
The Archive needed the same attention as the experience it documented. I repaired its metadata and markdown routes, tried a magazine layout and kept a visual record of the December site.
Finishing the Bank reward card
I worked on the card revealed at the end of the Bank encounter, including its flip, sound and background. The final fix was making sure the required image and audio files were actually tracked for deployment.
Choosing Signal Teal
I wanted thes33k3r.com to fit the next stage of the project. Signal Teal brought a light default, new artwork and a clearer structure while keeping the theater and the original video loop.
Rebuilding the site behind the design
The visual redesign shared a commit with a substantial rebuild. I kept the static Cloudflare deployment, updated the stack and added checks that could catch missing routes and assets before a push went live.
Working through Cloudflare security
I tightened delivery rules and worked through the interaction between a strict script policy and Cloudflare bot detection. The result protects the current website without claiming that multiplayer security has already been built.
Letting more of the video loop show
The landing-page layout was right, but the looping video was too subdued. I raised its visibility in both themes while keeping the text, controls and reduced-motion behavior in place.
Giving the collective its faces
I brought eight approved character portraits onto the landing page and the collective cards. The implementation also carried an essential story correction: Ethan and Emma Walker are alternate-reality versions of the same person.