A retro-arcade 2D top-down mini game for Godot 4.7. You are da Präsident — reporters keep popping out of podiums to ask serious questions. Bonk them with your gavel before their question ring fills up, or your approval drops!
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Swing gavel | Left mouse click |
- Q&A satire flow: each reporter speaks their question when popping up (neural TTS). Your hit window matches the spoken question length at early levels — bonk them and the audio cuts off and da Präsident delivers his ironic answer. Later levels shrink the window below the question length.
- Hit a reporter before the
?ring fills:+100 × combo. - Miss a swing and your combo resets.
- Let a question finish and you lose one ❤ Approval. Run out = IMPEACHED!
- 10 levels, 2 minutes each — survive the full 20-minute term to get RE-ELECTED (+5000 bonus).
- Level 2+: podiums slide sideways (faster every level)
- Level 6+: podiums also bob vertically
- Each new level restores one ❤ Approval (max 5)
- Local leaderboard: top-10 arcade high scores with 3-letter initials, saved to
user://leaderboard.json.
godot --path . # play
godot -e --path . # open in editorHeadless gameplay smoke test (spawning, hit detection, lives, game over, restart):
godot --headless -s tests/smoke_test.gd # or: make test-source
make test # + the same test inside an obfuscated, encrypted exportBuilds are encrypted, obfuscated and stripped; everything lives in
tools/release/ and is driven by the Makefile.
make setup # venv + SCons, Godot source -> build/godot, key, git hooks
make setup-all # + llvm-mingw (Windows), emsdk (Web), JDK + Android SDK/NDK
make templates # compile hardened export templates (once per key / engine version)
make linux # export/v<VERSION>/linux/
make windows # export/v<VERSION>/windows/
make web # export/v<VERSION>/web/ + itch.io zip
make android # export/v<VERSION>/android/*.apk (signed)
make ios # export/v<VERSION>/ios/*.xcodeproj (template must be built on macOS)
make itch # web export + `butler push` to itch.io
make release # test + linux + windows + web + android + verify
VERSION=1.1.0 make release| Layer | What it does |
|---|---|
GDMaim (addons/gdmaim) |
Renames every identifier, strips comments/annotations, shuffles declarations, emits compressed binary tokens instead of source. Settings: .gdmaim/export.cfg. |
| PCK encryption | encrypt_pck + encrypt_directory on every preset: AES-256 over file contents and the file table (no readable paths). |
| Custom export templates | Compiled from source (build/godot) with the key baked in, production=yes, symbols stripped, disable_overrides=yes (no override.cfg) and Godot 4.7's disable_path_overrides (no --main-pack, -s, --path). Official templates cannot open the PCKs. |
| Silent runtime | disable_stdout / disable_stderr are on, so no script names or errors leak to logs. |
| Shipping filter | tests/, tools/, docs/ and the obfuscator itself are excluded from every PCK. |
No scheme makes a client binary impossible to reverse; the key can always be recovered by someone debugging the running process. These layers make the result expensive: even a recovered PCK yields only renamed, comment-free bytecode.
secrets/encryption.key 256-bit PCK key (make setup generates it)
secrets/android_release.keystore + .pass (make setup-android)
secrets/itch_api_key for make itch
secrets/gdmaim_source_maps/ obfuscation maps - needed to read crash reports
.env VERSION, ITCH_TARGET (copy of .env.example)
.godot/export_credentials.cfg written by Godot; synced from secrets/ via make sync-creds
secrets/, build/, export/, .env and .godot/ are git-ignored, and
tools/release/check_secrets.sh runs as a pre-commit hook (installed by
make setup) that refuses commits containing the key, keystore passwords or
forbidden paths. make check-secrets scans the whole tree.
Back up secrets/ somewhere safe - losing the key means rebuilding the
templates, and losing the keystore means no more Play Store updates.
make test / make verify prove for each artefact that no source identifier
or res:// path survives in plaintext, the PCK directory is flagged encrypted,
the release binary boots headless and ignores CLI path overrides, and (via the
Linux Test preset) that the full gameplay smoke test passes inside the
obfuscated, encrypted build.
addons/gdmaim/ GDScript obfuscator (export plugin, MIT)
assets/
crt_overlay.gdshader CRT scanline/vignette overlay
sfx/ synthesized sound effects (WAV)
voice/ dialogue.json + TTS-generated voice clips (WAV)
scenes/main.tscn main scene (game + UI)
scripts/
main.gd game loop, levels, score, spawning, leaderboard, HUD
hole.gd podium: pop-up/sink animation, question timer, hit box
reporter.gd procedurally drawn reporter (random suits/hair)
hammer.gd gavel mouse cursor with swing animation
voice.gd Q&A dialogue playback with subtitles (VoiceBox)
tests/smoke_test.gd headless gameplay test
tools/
gen_sfx.py regenerates assets/sfx/*.wav
tts_pipeline.py dialogue.json -> WAVs via Piper (espeak-ng fallback)
release/ build/export/verify/publish scripts (see Release Pipeline)
export_presets.cfg Godot export presets (hardened; no secrets inside)
Makefile release entry points
build/ (git-ignored) Godot source, toolchains, compiled templates
secrets/ (git-ignored) encryption key, keystores, API keys
All spoken lines live in assets/voice/dialogue.json: single president lines
plus qa pairs (reporter question → president answer) that drive gameplay per language.
Subtitles are read from the same file.
The pipeline uses Piper neural TTS (natural voices; deep pompous male for the president, urgent male/female reporters) and falls back to espeak-ng.
One-time setup:
sudo pacman -S python-pip # or your distro's pip package
python3 -m venv ~/.local/share/piper-venv
~/.local/share/piper-venv/bin/pip install piper-tts
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/piper-voices && cd ~/.local/share/piper-voices
for v in hfc_male/medium/en_US-hfc_male-medium joe/medium/en_US-joe-medium \
hfc_female/medium/en_US-hfc_female-medium; do
curl -LO "https://huggingface.co/rhasspy/piper-voices/resolve/main/en/en_US/$v.onnx"
curl -LO "https://huggingface.co/rhasspy/piper-voices/resolve/main/en/en_US/$v.onnx.json"
doneRegenerate all WAVs after editing the dialogue:
python3 tools/tts_pipeline.pyTo use real voice-actor recordings, replace the WAVs in assets/voice/ —
keep the filenames (<line_key>.wav, qa_<id>_q.wav, qa_<id>_a.wav).
MIT. All code and generated assets are original to this project. This is a work of satire; any resemblance to actual presidents is comedic.
| 🎮 Play | yemotay.itch.io/whack-a-reporter |
| ⭐ Source | github.com/YemotaY/WhackAReporter |
| ❤ Donate | paypal.me/YemotaY |