Contents
1 Overview
A merge tower defense in landscape, set in a castle above the clouds. Recruit baby dragons, drag two equal dragons together to grow a stronger one, and place your best dragons in the five front rows of the roost so they breathe fire at the goblin balloons flying at the castle wall. 12 dragon levels, each with its own attack (fireballs, twin sparks, thorns, ember streams, lava rocks, iron darts, frost, spirit flames, chain lightning, moon orbs, a sun beam and a cosmic vortex). 30 campaign waves in 3 worlds (Golden Skies, Storm Canyon and Aurora Night) with 8 kinds of goblin balloons and a boss every 10 waves (Ram Zeppelin, Goblin Queen, Shell Fortress), then an Endless mode. A dragon keeper mascot teaches the first game and cheers with recorded English narration. The Royal Aerie sells upgrades (Recruitment, Extra Fire, Sturdy Wall, Quick Patch). 14 interface languages, recorded sound effects and music, no external services.
2 Installation
Extract the ZIP. Open DOCUMENTATION.html for this guide. Upload only the contents of game/
to your static HTTP(S) hosting, keeping all folders beside index.html. Open that address in a browser. No database, PHP, account or Node.js runtime is needed to play. Keep source/ and the full ZIP outside your public website.
3 Requirements and sound
Use a current browser with JavaScript, Canvas 2D, Web Audio and local storage enabled. Mouse and touch are supported. The first click, tap or key press unlocks sound; check browser autoplay settings and the in-game sound controls. Files are bundled locally; normal play makes no request to Polar ranking, advertising or payment services. Host the complete folder; opening game HTML through file:// is not the supported installation method.
4 How to play
Tap Recruit (or press Space) to call a dragon: it lands in a free nest. Drag a dragon onto an identical one to merge them into the next level; drag it to a free nest to move it, or onto the bin to dismiss it for half its price. Dragons in the front column attack along their row. Each wave starts by itself after a short countdown; Call Wave starts it early for a small bonus. Wyverns (from wave 3: tap the sky to send them) and War Horn (from wave 7) are free powers with a cooldown. Treasure chests on little balloons sometimes fall on the field: tap them for coins or a dragon. If the wall falls, Retry resets the formation to the start of the wave and repairs the wall. The 1x/2x button changes the game speed. Pause opens Resume, Restart wave, Sound, Language and Main menu.
5 Interface guide
Marks on the screenshot
- Play
- Continue the saved campaign
- Settings
- Reset progress (tap twice)
Marks on the screenshot
Marks on the screenshot
- Wave
- Enemies coming next
- Coins
- Wall health
- Pause
- Recruit a dragon (Space)
- Wyverns power
- War Horn power
- Royal Aerie
- Game speed 1x/2x
Marks on the screenshot
- Boss health
Marks on the screenshot
Marks on the screenshot
Marks on the screenshot
6 Files and customization
All balance numbers are in src/game/data.js: dragons (damage, rate, range), enemies (health, speed, reward), the wave lists, the bosses and the economy (BAL: start coins, prices, rewards, upgrades, wall). Game feel numbers (shake, hit-stop, particles, coin flight, boss intro) are in src/render/feel.js. Texts are in src/i18n/ (game names in dragon-theme.js). Images and sounds are files in assets/: replace them keeping the same names and sizes. After a balance change, run npm test. Internal code names: this game shares its engine with a garden-themed template, so the code keeps neutral internal keys. Dragons are plants (p1..p12, files assets/plants/pN-F.webp), goblin balloons are pests (aphid = Goblin Balloon, hopper = Dart Kite, beetle = Barrel Blimp, snail = Ironclad Balloon, slug = Sky Barge, stinkbug = Catapult Balloon, bombardier = Powder Keg, ladybug = Treasure Balloon; bosses rhino = Ram Zeppelin, wasp = Goblin Queen, megasnail = Shell Fortress), the wall is fence, the Royal Aerie is shed, the Wyverns power is bees, the War Horn power is fertilizer and the mascot poses are assets/ui/hazel-*.webp. Player-facing names come from src/i18n/dragon-theme.js, so renaming in the texts never breaks the code.
game/ upload these contents
source/ editable source, tests and tools
documentation/index.html offline illustrated guide
DOCUMENTATION.html guide shortcut
THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES/ font license
source/index.html entry page: loads css/game.css, css/screens.css and src/main.js
source/css/game.css HUD, title, tutorial and bottom bar (sizes in --u = 1% of the stage height)
source/css/screens.css Royal Aerie, wave held, wall fell, pause/settings, victory
source/src/main.js boot, fixed-step loop, save/load, input, wiring
source/src/game/data.js every tunable number: dragons, enemies, waves, bosses, prices (BAL)
source/src/game/rules.js pure rules (no drawing): recruiting, merge, waves, combat; used by the tests
source/src/render/scene.js the Scene class: game events -> particles, shots, shake, sound cues
source/src/render/scene-draw.js the draw passes of the Scene (wall, shots, particles, texts)
source/src/render/scene-art.js image loading, baked sprites, dragon and enemy views, background
source/src/render/breath.js dragon breath, bolts and beams (credits for pixelfx inside, MIT)
source/src/render/combat.js combo ladder, coin flight, wrecks, parachutes, boss effects
source/src/render/feel.js every game-feel number (shake, hit-stop, merge pop, coin flight)
source/src/render/view.js 16:9 stage fitted to the window, lanes and roost slots
source/src/app/ HUD, overlay screens, tutorial, mascot call-outs (DOM)
source/src/audio.js sound effects, narration and music (Web Audio, mobile unlock)
source/src/i18n/ one file per language (14) + dragon-theme.js (game names)
source/src/debug.js testing panel (?debug=1, localhost only)
source/assets/ images (WebP/PNG), sounds, narration and music (MP3), font
source/tools/ build.mjs (copy to dist/), serve.mjs (local server)
source/test/ node --test tests (rules, bosses, narration files)
Internal code names: this game shares its engine with a garden-themed template, so the code keeps neutral internal keys. Dragons are `plants` (`p1`..`p12`, files `assets/plants/pN-F.webp`), goblin balloons are `pests` (`aphid` = Goblin Balloon, `hopper` = Dart Kite, `beetle` = Barrel Blimp, `snail` = Ironclad Balloon, `slug` = Sky Barge, `stinkbug` = Catapult Balloon, `bombardier` = Powder Keg, `ladybug` = Treasure Balloon; bosses `rhino` = Ram Zeppelin, `wasp` = Goblin Queen, `megasnail` = Shell Fortress), the wall is `fence`, the Royal Aerie is `shed`, the Wyverns power is `bees`, the War Horn power is `fertilizer` and the mascot poses are `assets/ui/hazel-*.webp`. Player-facing names come from `src/i18n/dragon-theme.js`, so renaming in the texts never breaks the code.
7 Languages
The game interface offers 14 languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese). The game picks the browser language on the first visit and the player can change it in Settings. This guide is in English, Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish; screenshots stay in English. Each language is one file in src/i18n/; English fills any missing key. Edit the texts without changing placeholders such as {n}.
8 Local saves
Progress belongs to this browser and origin. This buyer edition uses its own storage namespace, separate from the Polar website game. Clearing site data, using another browser or changing the hosting origin does not transfer progress. Private browsing and blocked storage may prevent persistence. There is no account, online ranking or cloud synchronization.
dragon-roost.template.save.v1 campaign: wave, coins, dragons, upgrades, best level, Endless
dragon-roost.template.settings.v1 language, music, sound and narration volume, speed, less motion, tutorial done
(keys set by SAVE and SETTINGS at the top of source/src/main.js)
9 Development
The game is plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript (ES modules): there is no compile step. Edit the files in source/ and reload the page. npm run build copies index.html, css/, src/ and assets/ into an empty dist/ folder, which is the same as game/. On localhost, ?debug=1 opens a testing panel (coins, win or lose a wave, jump to a wave, next boss, unlock dragon levels) and window.__bb exposes the game state for automated tests; both are off on any public host.
New to Node.js? 1) Install the LTS version from nodejs.org (Windows or macOS installer) or with your package manager on Linux; it must be 26.13 or newer. 2) Close and reopen the terminal, then run node -v and npm -v to confirm both print a version. 3) Open the terminal inside the source/ folder (the one containing package.json). 4) Run npm ci to install the exact tools from package-lock.json (only Prettier). 5) Run npm test for the tests, then npm run build to write the game to dist/. 6) Try it with npm run serve (http://localhost:5191/; the page needs a web server, it does not run from a double-clicked file), then upload the contents of dist/ like game/. Common errors: node or npm not found (reopen the terminal or fix PATH); on Windows PowerShell, npm.ps1 cannot be loaded (run npm.cmd ci or use Command Prompt); ENOENT package.json (you are not inside source/); EBADENGINE (Node.js is older than 26.13); network or proxy failures during install (check your connection and proxy); npm ci complaining about the lock file (do not edit package-lock.json; delete node_modules and retry).
cd source
npm ci
npm test
npm run build
npm run serve
# http://localhost:5191/
10 Updating and cache
Keep a backup of your edited files before replacing a release. Upload all updated assets together and keep the public URL unchanged to preserve the browser save. Clear hosting or CDN caches when applicable. Test a private window after deployment; adding ?v=2 to the entry URL can help diagnose stale HTML but does not replace updating all assets.
Clearing the cache without losing progress
Progress is stored in this browser, not on the server. Clearing cached images and files, or doing a hard reload, keeps your progress.
Computer: press Ctrl+F5 on Windows and Linux, or Cmd+Shift+R on macOS. Phone: in the browser settings, choose the option to clear cached images and files.
Do not choose cookies and site data, or clear site data, for the game's address. That deletes the local save.
11 Licenses
The game artwork, audio and editable game code are supplied under the purchased item license. Included fonts retain their complete SIL Open Font License notices in game/licenses/ and THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES/. Developer dependencies retain their own upstream licenses. Original production PNG masters and artwork-generation tools are not included.
12 Troubleshooting
If the page is blank, check that every folder was uploaded, the URL is served over HTTP(S), and the browser console and Network panel have no missing files. Module builds need correct JavaScript MIME types. If sound is silent, interact once and inspect browser and game volume. If progress resets, inspect storage permissions and origin changes. The guide itself also opens offline through file://.
13 Support
For support and customization contact willian@polargames.com.br. Include the product version, browser, device, hosting URL, reproduction steps and a screenshot. No backend, native app, ad SDK or real-money purchasing system is included.
Support request
When you write to support, include the browser and device, the game version, the page address, the steps that caused the problem, a screenshot and the first error shown in the browser console. Never send passwords, payment details or secret keys.