CONTACT: 3D Naval Combat Game Built Entirely with Claude Code

What CONTACT Is

CONTACT is a 3D naval combat game where two players hide 7 submarines plus 1 decoy in a 7×7×7 grid, then hunt each other with torpedoes and earned abilities. Ships can be placed along 8 axes (including diagonal across depth layers). The 3D grid is rendered in Three.js with three view modes: full cube, single slice, and x-ray.

The game was built entirely with Claude Code + Opus, with zero frameworks and zero server dependencies — it runs in a browser.

Core Game Mechanics

The 7×7×7 cube has 343 cells compared to 49 in a traditional 7×7 flat grid, making brute-force strategies impractical. The game revolves around a credit economy where hits earn credits that buy tactical perks:

• Sonar Ping: Scan a 2×2×2 volume for presence
• Recon Drone: Reveal a 3×3×3 volume (27 cells)
• G-SONAR: Scan an entire depth layer (49 cells)
• Depth Charge: Strike every occupied cell in a 3×3×3 volume
• Radar Jammer: Invert your opponent's next sonar result
• Silent Running / Acoustic Cloak: Hide ships from recon

Each turn gives you three slots: ping, attack, defend. You choose how to spend them.

Game Modes

• Hot-seat PVP: Two humans, one screen, handoff screen between turns
• Human vs Claude (Sonnet): Select "VS AI" on the title screen, enter your Anthropic API key. Claude places its fleet automatically, reasons about strategy via tool use, and plays with embedded tactical knowledge from prior games
• Sonnet vs Sonnet (Agent vs Agent): Two Claude instances play full games against each other from the CLI. After each game, both agents reflect on the match and update persistent memory files with tactical lessons. Over multiple games, they evolve their strategies based on experience

Development Process

This was a collaborative development effort between the creator and Claude:

• The creator wrote the Game Design Document and Delivery Plan
• The creator managed implementation by breaking Phases into Sprints, Sprints into Tasks
• Claude built the implementation across phases (core engine → placement → combat → perks → 3D rendering → AI modes)
• The creator maintained architecture decisions, tested edge cases, caught design problems
• Claude handled the TypeScript, Three.js rendering, Tone.js audio synthesis, and the AI integration layer

Getting Started

git clone https://github.com/ChrisSc/contact.git

cd contact

npm install

npm run dev

For AI modes, you'll need an ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.

The simulation mode is also available: npm run simulate -- 100 --rank recruit -v

To watch Sonnet agents reason: node.js npx tsx scripts/agent-play.ts --verbose

To disable learning: node.js npx tsx scripts/agent-play.ts --no-memory