A Johnny Castaway–style island survivor who lives in your editor — built on the architecture of vscode-pets, with the 1992 desert-island premise dragged kicking and screaming into the modern world. He has a phone. It has no bars. A drone delivers packages. They contain socks.
Scenes
The classics — idle, fishing, raft building (with a proper two-handed stone mallet), sleeping, jogging (now with smartwatch step-goal celebrations), coconut gathering, watching the horizon, and making fire — a real one, with a driftwood teepee, a stone ring, rising embers, and drifting smoke.
The modern conveniences
| Scene | What happens |
|---|---|
| Drone Delivery | A quadcopter winches down a smiling cardboard box. Contents: one of 20 disappointments (bulk mayonnaise, a snow shovel, someone else's returns...). |
| Searching for Signal | Phone held aloft. Zero bars. Occasionally one bar, briefly, cruelly. |
| Island Selfie | Selfie stick, countdown, flash, #castaway #day2947 #blessed. |
| Doomscrolling | Sitting in the phone glow, refreshing a feed with no new posts. |
| Video Call | Phone propped on a delivery box. Buffering. Buffering. Call failed. |
| Satellite Internet | Dish, laptop, RESCUE_MAP.ZIP at 2%, ETA 14 years. |
| Food Delivery | A delivery jetski passes by. It's the wrong island. |
| Robot Vacuum | It came in one of the boxes. It cruises, bumps, spins in place, and wanders off in a new direction. The sand gets tidied eventually. |
| Wilson | A volleyball is a fine conversationalist. |
| Stargazing | Shooting stars, a passing satellite, and one very specific wish. |
| Password Reset | The login code was sent via SMS. To his phone. The one with no bars. |
| Message in a Bottle | Shipped with real-time tracking: label created, awaiting pickup, ETA 2041. It's still visible from shore. |
| Smart Doorbell | Mounted on the palm. Motion detected: crab. Motion detected: crab (again). Worth every penny. |
| Targeted Advertising | A plane tows a banner past the island: ESCAPE TO PARADISE — BOOK NOW! |
| Asking the AI | "Great question! Step 1: book a ferry." The half-built raft declines to comment. |
The island follows your clock through a full day: golden sunrise, bright afternoon, orange-and-purple sunset, and a proper night — crescent moon with craters, twinkling stars, a shimmering moonlight path on the water, and fireflies over the sand. At night the world dims and the light sources take over: the campfire throws a warm glow, phone screens light Johnny's face, and delivery drones switch on red/green navigation lights and a drop-zone spotlight. Scene selection is time-aware — stargazing, doomscrolling, and sleeping at night; jogging and selfies by day.
Plus holiday easter eggs (Halloween, Christmas, St. Patrick's, New Year's Eve) and two graphics modes: classic (1992 VGA pixel look) and modern (gradients and effects).
Commands (⇧⌘P)
Castaway: Start Island Session— open the island in an editor panelCastaway: Next Scene/Castaway: Choose Scene...Castaway: Order a Package (Drone Delivery)— same-decade shippingCastaway: Check the Phone— a random phone sceneCastaway: Toggle Graphics Mode (Classic/Modern)Castaway: Pause/Resume
Settings
vscode-castaway.graphicsMode—classic(default) ormodernvscode-castaway.position—panel(default) orexplorer(sidebar view)vscode-castaway.textSize—small,medium(default),large, orx-large; bump it up if speech bubbles are hard to read in the sidebar
Development
npm install
npm test # compile + headless smoke test of every scene
Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host, or open
dev.html in a browser for a standalone harness with scene-picker buttons.
src/extension.ts— extension host (panel + explorer view, commands)media/— the webview:engine.js(loop/messages),renderer.js(classic + modern drawing),scenes.js(scene definitions),calendar.jslegacy/— the original browser-only prototype this was ported from
Credits
A loving riff on Johnny Castaway (1992, Sierra On-Line/Dynamix) and the extension scaffolding of vscode-pets (MIT, Anthony Shaw). Not affiliated with any retailer whose logo may or may not be a smile.