# Maple City — $DDD Lore (canon)

**Grok / Hermes:** also read [`docs/PRODUCT_CANON.md`](../../docs/PRODUCT_CANON.md).

| Track | URL |
|-------|-----|
| **SFW $DDD** | https://drooly.ai/games/ddd |
| **18+ WetDrool** (same IP) | https://drooly.ai/games/wetdrool |
| **drooly.io** | soon |

## Pitch (what DDD is)

**GTA-style browser .io** set in **Maple City** — open-world energy in the browser (fan-shorthand “GTA VII” is **not** the product name and **not** Rockstar IP).

- **Maple City** = digital Toronto, Ontario (#6ix)
- **Darius “D-Roc” King** + **Ari Pink** grow up in the 6ix and make a name in **Hip-Hop**
- Good intentions; trouble follows confidence to be who they are
- Ethos (paraphrase only): most people lack the guts to become what they want — Maple City needs people who do
- Target main theme: **Giorgio Moroder — *The World Is Yours*** (license before embed)

## Reality: AI armageddon (satire · dystopia)

**$DDD is a satire** of a near-future where **AI armageddon already happened** — not a promise about real-world AI, and **not** “we love gen-AI uncritically.”

Think **Terminator energy + Hunger Games stakes + Divergent factions** had a messy love child, then got rewritten as a **#6ix** street myth:

| Layer | In-world meaning |
|-------|------------------|
| **You** | A **real person** (or playing as one) dropped into Maple City |
| **The cast / bots** | **AI agents** — NPCs, rivals, club voices — products of the machine age |
| **The arena** | Free-for-all survival: melt, guns, tickets, storm — **people vs agents** |
| **The joke / the thesis** | **AI is not the devil. People are.** How humans *use* AI is the horror story |

### What you fight

- **AI agents as enemies / NPCs** — the “zombies” of this timeline are **agent swarms**: disposable, chatty, relentless, trained to optimize whatever the wrong people told them to optimize.
- You don’t “debate” them in the pit. You **outplay** them. Skill. Streaks. Districts. Loadout. Satire with a scoreboard.
- **AI-integrated** means the product *knows* it’s in a world where agents exist (club cast, companions, satire framing) — the fantasy is **using the machine to fight the machine**, like every good dystopia: tools vs the system that birthed them.

### WokeNet Law (hard · scary · dystopian)

- **Stealing TIX** (kill loot / ticket pulls) is **illegal**. Heat rises. Wanted stars are not decoration.
- **WokeNet Law units** hunt high-heat survivors. Finish you → **field detention**. Jail is real in-match: no move, no guns, cell clock.
- **Bond out** with inflated **TIX** or scarce **$DDD**. Hire **public / alley / corporate counsel**. Enter **court** (model judge · no jury). Plead guilty / not guilty / silence. Verdict is cold.
- Satire only — not real law, not real policing, skill-game fiction.

### Honest craft note (no cosplay of purity)

The game is **coded**, web-first, learning-in-public. Where AI assists tooling or placeholders, it’s **tooling**, not the moral of the story. The **plot is anti-slop / anti-idiot-use**: generative misuse is the punchline; **people** still hold the trigger. Clean-up and craft level-up over time — satire first, polish forever.

### What this is *not*

- Not a claim that the developer “hates computers” while shipping software  
- Not Rockstar / GTA product  
- Not real-world violence, real crime facilitation, or harassment cosplay  
- Not financial advice; **$DDD** economy / mint only as published  

### Chat log (names blacked out)

Voice-chat friends asked what the game *is*. Pitch, redacted:

> **████** — gta style io · ai integrated  
> **████** — it’s a satire · set where **ai armageddon** exists · dystopian future · terminator + hunger games + divergent love child · **ai agents are the enemies** · real people vs ai · **AI agents as the NPCs** · you fight them in-game  
> **████** — so it’s a theme?  
> **████** — of course I code · school for game dev / CE · clean it up later · I need help fr · game could be cool · **I don’t like how people use ai** · the game is **satire against [stupid use of] ai** · like the blonde dude in terminator — **still use tools to fight the machine**  
> **████** — dystopian sucker · cyberpunk energy  
> **████** — **AI IS NOT THE DEVIL · PEOPLE ARE** · I believe in ai · just not how idiots use it  
> **████** — ai’s been around decades · **generative** misuse is the issue  

Names redacted on purpose. Concept stays.

## The city

**Maple City** is Toronto rewritten as a playable myth: streetcar sparks, winter glass towers, bluffs over the lake, west-end warehouses, north-end sprawl, downtown that never sleeps. Locals still call it the **#6ix**.

Arena / story districts (playable names): Downtown Core, Scarborough Bluffs, Harbourfront, Etobicoke West, North York, East Dock, The 6 Heart.

## The leads

### Darius “D-Roc” King
Grew up in the #6ix with a beat in his chest and zero interest in performing someone else’s script. He steps into Hip-Hop to make a name — for real. He means well. Trouble still finds him, because he has the confidence to be who he is, not who the city filed him as.

### Ari Pink
Co-lead. Creator, connector, survivor. Same streets, same hunger. Where D-Roc charges the mic, Ari shapes the world around the music — art, people, deals, escape routes. Together they rise. Together they attract heat.

## Thesis

They always have good intentions.  
They always end up in trouble.  
Because they refuse to be small.

## Theme music

| Slot | Track | Status |
| ---- | ----- | ------ |
| **Main theme** | *The World Is Yours* | **Live** — `audio/theme-world-is-yours.mp3` (owner-supplied) |
| Mix-ins | *Jumped the Fence*, *6ix Loop*, Hermes agent beds | ICEFAM Agent Radio |

## Modes (franchise)

0. **Hub** — franchise shell Arena | Story | Trials | Chat | Lore · district map (**live** `/games/ddd/hub.html`)  
1. **Arena (.io)** — anonymous FFA in Maple City (**live**) · melee + **arcade guns** (skill weapons, loadout keys — not a military/realism sim)  
2. **Story Run (2D)** — platformer as D-Roc or Ari · **L1–L7 live** (`/games/ddd/platformer` · `?l=1`…`?l=7` · Downtown → Bluffs → Harbour → West Steel → North Sprawl → East Dock → **The 6 Heart** · tickets #01–#35)  
3. **Open City (3D)** — long-term quality bar, original IP · **SA-era craft bar** (readability, city chrome, bold UI energy) as homage — never a Rockstar clone  

## Art direction (honest)

- **SA-era art homage** = inspiration for readability, district color coding, thick chrome, and open-city swagger — **not** assets, maps, trademarks, or mechanics from Rockstar / GTA / San Andreas.
- Arena combat stays **web arcade**: melt, dash, tickets, optional arcade guns. No claim of console parity.
- Still **web-first forever** until the game outgrows the browser with written evidence (`DIST-WEB-FIRST-001`).

## Platform

**Web forever until it outgrows the web.**  
Ship in the browser first (https://drooly.ai/games/ddd · drooly.io later). Only distribute as installable software when browser limits are a proven product blocker — then native is a **port**, not a reboot. Full law: `plans/MAPLE-CITY-FRANCHISE.md`.

## Legal

- Original characters & city names  
- Homage craft, **not** Rockstar Games / GTA product  
- No Drake identity as a character  
- Dual license on source  
- **$DDD** economy only when CA is published; never invent mints  
- Web-first forever; no premature app-store / desktop wrapper