Lightbot

Lightbot is an educational puzzle game about programming and logical thinking.

The player controls a small robot and must guide it to light up all blue tiles in each level.
Instead of moving the robot directly, you build a program from simple instructions
(move, turn, jump, light up, repeat, etc.). This makes Lightbot well-suited for introductory courses on algorithms, control flow, and problem decomposition.

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Play online

You can play Lightbot directly in your browser:

• https://lightbot.lu

No installation or account is required for the online version.

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Downloading and running Lightbot locally

To get a downloadable, offline version:

1. Go to the Releases page of this repository on GitHub.
2. Download the latest Lightbot release archive (ZIP).
3. Extract the ZIP file.
4. Open index.html from the extracted folder in a modern web browser
   (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari).

Lightbot is a fully static web app: you only need to open index.html.
No web server or backend is required.

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Localizing the downloaded version

You can translate Lightbot into your own language using only the deploy ZIP.

In the extracted folder you will find a file:

js/locales/translations.js

This file contains the texts used in the game.

1. Open js/locales/translations.js in a text editor.

2. You will see a JavaScript object similar to this:

   window.LIGHTBOT_TRANSLATIONS = {
      "title": "LightBot v1.1",
      "controls": {
         "run": "Run",
         "stop": "Stop"
      },
      "welcomeScreen": {
         "start": "Start Game",
         "toggleAudio": "Toggle Audio",
         "help": "Help",
         "achievements": "Achievements"
      }
     // ...
   };

3. Do not change the keys (menu.play, welcome.title, etc.).
   Only change the text on the right-hand side to your language. For example:

   window.LIGHTBOT_TRANSLATIONS = {
     "menu": {
       "play": "Spielen",
       "options": "Optionen",
       "exit": "Beenden"
     },
     "welcome": {
       "title": "Willkommen bei Lightbot",
       "subtitle": "Lerne, wie ein Programmierer zu denken!"
     }
   };

4. Save the file.

5. Reload index.html in your browser. The game interface should now appear in your language.

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Building from source

If you prefer to build the game yourself (or modify the code):

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/haan/Lightbot.git
   cd Lightbot

2. Install dependencies

   Make sure you have Node.js installed, then run:

   npm install

3. Build the game

   npm run build

   This will:

   • Minify and bundle the JavaScript into deploy/js/lightbot.min.js
   • Minify the CSS into deploy/css/lightbot.min.css
   • Copy images, audio and other assets into deploy/
   • Copy the production index.html into deploy/index.html

4. Run locally

   Open:

   deploy/index.html
   

   in your browser to play the game from your local build.

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Using Lightbot in teaching

Lightbot was designed with teaching in mind. Typical use cases include:

• Introducing basic programming concepts (sequencing, loops, conditionals)
• Practicing algorithmic thinking and planning
• Comparing different solutions for efficiency (shorter programs vs. more steps)

Teachers are free to:

• Run the online version in class
• Provide a local copy built from the Releases page
• Fork the repository and customize levels and interface to their needs

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Credits

• Development: Laurent Haan
• Interface: Zenobia Homan
• Robot artwork: surt
• Music: hektikmusic
• Original Lightbot concept: https://lightbot.com/

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License

This project is released under the MIT License.
See the LICENSE file for the full license text.