Summary

Add a new “games” page showcasing games the site owner has built, reachable from the same submenus nav dropdown that currently exposes bookshelf. The page reuses the existing _projects/card-grid pattern (_pages/projects.md + _includes/projects.liquid) driven by a new _games collection, rather than the book-shelf layout, since games need “View on GitHub” / “Play” links and descriptions, not cover art or reading status. Content is a curated, user-confirmed list of 7 real repos under github.com/ankhoa1212 (not a live API pull).

Note: this is unrelated to docs/plans/2026-07-10-001-feat-add-arcade-section-plan.md, an already-existing plan (not yet implemented) for a separate “arcade” page listing games the owner has played. That plan is out of scope here — see Scope Boundaries.

Problem Frame

The site has a bookshelf page (_pages/books.md) reachable only through the submenus dropdown in _pages/dropdown.md. The user wants an equivalent “games” section beside it, showing games they’ve made, referencing their GitHub profile (ankhoa1212).

An initial GitHub API scan of ankhoa1212’s 28 public repos found only one repo that was unambiguously a shipped game by auto-detection (BattleBox). The user then supplied the real list directly: BattleBox, comp55-final-project, and all comp159-* repos. A follow-up GitHub search confirmed exactly 5 comp159-* repos, all Unity/Java game projects built for a “Computer Game Technologies” course — for 7 games total. All 7 are technically GitHub forks of a course-template author (a-nguyen1) that the user personalized for coursework/capstone use, which is why they didn’t surface in a naive “owned, non-fork repos” scan.

Requirements

• R1. A new page at /games/ shows all 7 confirmed games (BattleBox, comp55-final-project, comp159-2d-randomly-generated-maze-escape, comp159-2d-randomly-generated-shooter, comp159-2d-tower-defense, comp159-2d-with-3d-endless-runner, comp159-3d-randomly-generated-platformer) as cards with title and description.
• R2. Each game has its own detail page with a “View on GitHub” link to the real ankhoa1212 repo, plus a “Play” / live-demo link when one exists (BattleBox, the maze escape, shooter, tower defense, and platformer games each have a live build; the endless runner and comp55-final-project do not).
• R3. /games/ is reachable from the same submenus dropdown that lists bookshelf, appearing beside it.
• R4. The new collection, page, and entries follow existing repo conventions (mirrors _projects/_pages/projects.md shapes; dropdown-only pages use nav: false like _pages/books.md).

Key Technical Decisions

• KTD1: Model games on _projects + projects.liquid, not the book-shelf layout. _layouts/book-shelf.liquid is purpose-built for the _books collection’s cover/status/olid/isbn fields, which games don’t have. _includes/projects.liquid already renders a generic card (title, description, optional img) with zero changes needed — reuse it as-is by passing project=game.
• KTD2: No new _includes/games.liquid. Confirmed by scanning every _projects/*.md entry: none set the include’s github/img shortcut fields — all of them place a manual “View on GitHub” link in the page body instead (e.g. _projects/1_project.md:13, _projects/2_project.md:13). Following that same established convention for games (rather than the unused include shortcut) avoids introducing a second, inconsistent way of doing the same thing.
• KTD3: Curated static _games collection, not a live GitHub API pull. The user named specific repos rather than asking for auto-discovery. Static per-game files also allow a real, written description instead of an auto-generated GitHub stat card (which the site already has, dormant, via _pages/repositories.md + _data/repositories.yml — that page stays untouched).
• KTD4: No screenshots at launch. No local image assets exist for any of the 7 games. projects.liquid already guards thumbnail rendering behind an if project.img conditional, so cards render cleanly without one — no template change needed. Deferred to follow-up (see Scope Boundaries).
• KTD5: Extend the existing submenus dropdown, not a new top-level nav item — per explicit user choice. _includes/header.liquid iterates page.children generically, so no template change is needed to add a third entry (currently: bookshelf, divider, blog).
• KTD6: No category tabs on /games/. _pages/projects.md’s categorized branch (gated by site.enable_project_categories, currently true site-wide) exists for filtering many projects into groups; 7 games in one grid doesn’t need that — use the simpler non-categorized branch shape instead.

Implementation Units

U1. Register the games collection

Goal: Make _games/*.md files build as pages and expose them via site.games.

Requirements: R4

Dependencies: None

Files:

• _config.yml (modify — collections: block, alongside books/projects/teachings)

Approach: Add a games: entry with output: true, matching the shape of the existing projects: and teachings: entries.

Patterns to follow: _config.yml collections: block (existing projects: output: true).

Test expectation: none – config-only change with no independent behavior; verified indirectly by U4’s build check.

Verification: Jekyll build does not error on the new collection declaration.

U2. Add the 7 game entries

Goal: One markdown file per confirmed game, mirroring the _projects entry shape.

Requirements: R1, R2, R4

Dependencies: U1

Files:

• _games/battlebox.md (new)
• _games/comp55-final-project.md (new)
• _games/comp159-maze-escape.md (new)
• _games/comp159-shooter.md (new)
• _games/comp159-tower-defense.md (new)
• _games/comp159-endless-runner.md (new)
• _games/comp159-platformer.md (new)

Approach: Each file uses front matter layout: page, title, description, importance (sets card order via sort: "importance" in U3) — mirroring _projects/1_project.md’s front matter shape but omitting img/category/related_publications (no screenshots per KTD4; no category tabs per KTD6). Body content is a short paragraph plus a “View on GitHub” link, and a “Play” link where a live build exists (per KTD2, matching _projects/1_project.md:13’s manual-link convention):

Description content, drawn from each repo’s real GitHub description:

• BattleBox: a real-time strategy game built in Unity, using the Unity ML-Agents Toolkit to train autonomous agents; built as a CS Senior Project.
• Lookabout (Maze Escape): a 2D Unity horror maze-escape game with randomly generated levels, built for COMP 159 Computer Game Technologies and submitted to SCREAM JAM 2023.
• Randomly Generated Shooter: a 2D Unity run-and-gun shooter with randomly generated levels, built as the final project for COMP 159 Computer Game Technologies.
• 2D Tower Defense: a 2D Unity tower defense strategy game built for COMP 159 Computer Game Technologies.
• 2D/3D Endless Runner: a hybrid 2D/3D Unity endless runner built for COMP 159 Computer Game Technologies.
• 3D Randomly Generated Platformer: a 3D Unity platformer with randomly generated levels, built as an individual project for COMP 159 Computer Game Technologies.
• COMP 55 Final Project: a team project for COMP 55 Application Development (Spring 2022) — random level generation, UI, and enemy logic, built in Java with the ACM graphics library.

Patterns to follow: _projects/1_project.md, _projects/2_project.md (front matter shape, manual “View on GitHub” body link).

Test expectation: none – static content, no behavior to test.

Verification: Each of the 7 pages builds and renders its title, description, GitHub link, and (where applicable) Play link without Jekyll errors.

U3. Create the /games/ listing page

Goal: A grid page at /games/ listing all 7 _games entries as cards.

Requirements: R1, R4

Dependencies: U2

Files:

• _pages/games.md (new)

Approach: Front matter: layout: page, title: games, permalink: /games/, a short description, nav: false (dropdown-only, matching _pages/books.md’s nav: false). Body mirrors _pages/projects.md’s non-categorized branch (_pages/projects.md:40-64) but without the category-toggle wrapper (per KTD6): sort site.games by importance and render each through the projects.liquid include, passing project=game, inside a row row-cols-1 row-cols-md-3 grid.

Patterns to follow: _pages/projects.md:40-64 (non-categorized card grid), _pages/books.md:1-6 (dropdown-only front matter shape).

Test expectation: none – static page composition, no behavior to test.

Verification: docker compose up --build, visit http://localhost:8080/games/, confirm 7 cards render in importance order, each linking to its own detail page.

U4. Wire /games/ into the submenus dropdown beside bookshelf

Goal: Make /games/ reachable from the same dropdown as /books/.

Requirements: R3

Dependencies: U3 (target permalink must exist before linking to it)

Files:

• _pages/dropdown.md (modify)

Approach: Add a games entry to the children list immediately beside the existing bookshelf entry, before the divider:

children:
  - title: bookshelf
    permalink: /books/
  - title: games
    permalink: /games/
  - title: divider
  - title: blog
    permalink: /blog/

No changes to _includes/header.liquid are needed (KTD5) — it already iterates page.children generically.

Patterns to follow: _pages/dropdown.md:6-12 (existing children list shape).

Test expectation: none – front-matter-only data change, no behavior to test.

Verification: After rebuilding, open the “submenus” dropdown and confirm “games” appears between “bookshelf” and the divider, and clicking it navigates to /games/.

Scope Boundaries

In scope: One new collection (_games), 7 curated game entries, one listing page, one dropdown nav entry.

Out of scope / Deferred to Follow-Up Work:

• Screenshots or thumbnails per game (KTD4) — no local image assets exist yet; can be added later via each entry’s img: front matter with zero template changes.
• Category filtering/tabs on /games/ (KTD6) — not warranted for 7 items.
• Live GitHub stats (stars/forks) auto-embedded per game — the dormant _pages/repositories.md / _data/repositories.yml mechanism already covers that use case separately and is left untouched.
• Additional games not in the user-confirmed list (e.g. future projects) — can be added later by dropping in a new _games/*.md file; no template changes required.
• Not part of this plan at all: docs/plans/2026-07-10-001-feat-add-arcade-section-plan.md — a separate, already-written (not yet implemented) plan for an “arcade” page listing games the owner has played. That work is independent of this one; both can be implemented in either order since they touch _pages/dropdown.md’s same children list but add distinct entries.

Sources & Research

• Local patterns read directly: _pages/books.md, _pages/dropdown.md, _pages/projects.md, _pages/repositories.md, _layouts/book-shelf.liquid, _includes/projects.liquid, _includes/repository/repo.liquid, _includes/figure.liquid, _projects/1_project.md, _projects/2_project.md, _data/repositories.yml, _config.yml (collections, enable_project_categories).
• External research (GitHub REST/Search API, github.com/ankhoa1212): confirmed 28 public repos total, 18 non-fork via Search API; identified BattleBox as the one auto-detectable game; confirmed the user-supplied comp55-final-project and all 5 comp159-* repos via search/repositories?q=user:ankhoa1212+comp159+in:name; fetched each of the 7 repos’ description/homepage/topics/fork-status individually to source real card copy and demo links.