Year: 2026
Tools: Claude Code, ChatGPT, Tripo3D, Runway, Blender
Daily driver: Claude Code

Q World

Our accidental videogame. It fell out of a list of notes I was giving for QOS 2026.

An accident

I was explaining the changes I wanted for QOS 2026. Somewhere in that list I described a game, and we made one: an isometric 3D world in three.js that grew out of the 2026 board.

My rule for it: the game is an easter egg and a lab project, not the website.

The QOS 2026 board: the Many modes, One Q headline, project windows, the QBOT search bar and the 3D Q doll standing at the right. — Fig. 1: The 2026 board, where the doll first stood.

Q's World

The star is the QBOT Pet, a floating 3D Q doll. Grab him and throw him. He bounces off the windows and the dock, gets up and hops home, and he wears an angry face while you hold him.

Under the hood he is a rigged model on a 120 Hz verlet ragdoll.

A realistic, rounder take on Q: a short man in a green zip hoodie, a cream T-shirt, dark jeans and sneakers. — Fig. 2: The failed first attempt, before I explained the style a little better. This was terrifying.

The Q doll from every side: front, both sides, back, from above, the top of his head and the soles of his shoes. — Fig. 3: All the way around: the views ChatGPT made for Tripo3D to build the doll from.

Loot chests unlock outfits. The default is hoodie Q. Hero is a blue adventurer with a cap, elf ears and a sword. The Program suit glows. Pick one in Settings, under Outfits, and he keeps it from page to page.

Each costume started as a ChatGPT image, became a 3D model in Tripo3D, then was fit to the doll's rig.

The Hero outfit in blue, then in green from the front and the side, each with a sword on his back. — Fig. 4: Hero, in blue and in the green it started from.

The Program suit turnaround: six views of the doll in a glowing blue patterned suit and helmet. — Fig. 5: The Program suit, front, side and back.

Eight faces of the Q doll: sad, a wink, angry, laughing, surprised, worried, a grin and mid-word. — Fig. 6: His faces.

A world to walk around

My studio sits at the center, with a desk, a monitor and a trophy shelf.

Fig. 7: Out of the studio and onto the grid.

Around it are five Work buildings, one for each project. Walk up to one and its project opens.

Fig. 8: The Work district, one building per project.

Fig. 9: Walk up to a building and its project opens.

Past them are a videos drive-in, a Labs bay, warp pads, a Grid map and a sword terminal.

Fig. 10: The videos drive-in, now showing.

Walk with WASD or the arrow keys and run with Shift. E, Space or Enter interacts, J swings the sword, M opens the map, and a click walks you there.

Fig. 11: M opens the map.

Fig. 12: Pick a spot on the map and warp there.

Throw him in

On the 2026 board there is a QOS World game window. Throw QBOT onto it and he gets sucked in, furious, then falls from the sky into the world wearing whatever outfit he has won.

Five frames of the entrance over the glowing world: the world map, the swoop, a low tilt-shift ease in, landing at the desk, then turning round. — Fig. 13: The way in, frame by frame: the map, the swoop, landed at the desk.

The pipeline

The props took a chain of tools. Screenshots went to ChatGPT for a style target and turnaround sheets. Tripo3D turned the sheets into 3D models, Blender cleaned them up, and three.js placed them in the world.

Props for the world: a Quelish rug, a glowing Q warp pad, a sofa, three loot chests, four pylons and a sheet of desks, lamps and pads. — Fig. 14: Props, before Tripo3D made them 3D.

Fig. 15: Props from the ChatGPT to Tripo3D pipeline, lit in the world.

The music is a track made with Runway's Lyria. I picked it over human-made alternates.

The back-and-forth

Oct 7
QA Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, Link's Awakening. 3D isometric, walking around, going to projects, interacting with them.
Claude Code
World POC 1: my studio at the center, Work buildings, warp pads and a map.
Our accidental videogame.
Oct 7
Q
Use the blue adventurer costume from Tripo.
Claude Code
A Hero outfit on the doll's own rig: the body, a cap, a back scabbard and a sword.
A hidden chest unlocks it.
Oct 7
Qthe 'game thing pops up' and when people go to play the game (or drag ragdoll q onto the game box) then it throws him in with that awesome face he has on; but Q is wearing whatever costume you've 'won'.
Claude Code
A QOS World game window on the 2026 board. Drop or throw Q on it and he is sucked in, angry, then falls into the world.
The board and the game are one place.
Oct 7
Q
Give the world a theme song.
Runway
A world theme made with Lyria 3 Pro.
I chose it over the human-made tracks.
Oct 8
Q
Make the world's props match one style.
ChatGPT
A styled image of the world, made from screenshots, then a turnaround sheet for each object.
Oct 8
Q
Turn the sheets into models.
Tripo3D
A spire, a holo lamp, a trophy shelf, a pylon, a wall and a warp pad.
Each area got its own lights, colors and signs.

Tools

Claude Code: World, outfit, rig and asset builders: the world, the ragdoll, the chests and the throw-in.
ChatGPT: The style target and turnaround sheets for the props, made from screenshots.
Tripo3D: The doll, its outfits, the sword, the chest and the world's props, from images to 3D models.
Blender: Model fixes and the doll's rig.
Runway: The world theme, made with Lyria 3 Pro.

Sources & credits

Code and libraries

three.jsthree.js authorsWe built the 3D scenes on it.MIT

Art and 3D

Tripo3DImage to 3D for the QBOT Pet, the chests and the world props: desk, tower, spire, warp pad, trophy shelf and the rest.
ChatGPT imagesOpenAIThe style target and turnaround sheets we gave Tripo3D.

Music and sound

QOS World themeRunway (Lyria 3 Pro)The world music, generated on Q's account.
Resistor Anthems: Arpanauts, Digital Native, UnderclockedEric SkiffTried first. The tracks are still in the world's folder as alternates.CC BY 4.0

References and inspiration

Advanced Character PhysicsThomas Jakobsen (GDC 2001)The verlet particles and distance constraints behind the doll's ragdoll. We wrote our own from this paper; no physics library.
Verlet integrationWikipediaA plain-language explainer of the method the ragdoll steps 120 times a second.
The Legend of ZeldaThe rules of the world: warp pads and chests.