[FEATURE] Checkpoint Boss Battles — Every 10 Rooms, a Puzzle Showdown

[johnny603]

Problem Statement

As players progress through the escape rooms, the difficulty increases gradually, but there's no climactic milestone to celebrate their achievements. After every 10 rooms, players need a significant challenge that tests everything they've learned — a "boss battle" room that feels like a culmination.
Similar to Kirby's Avalanche or Puyo Puyo but with many branching paths

Feature our beloved Mascot, Lux (Inspired by Pingu and Tux)

Proposed Solution

Implement a checkpoint system that triggers a special "Boss Room" every 10 completed rooms:

• Boss Room Logic:

• After a player escapes room roadmap(cli): add CLI progress persistence, sorting, and tests #10, Document the versioned API #20, feat(sandbox): add privacy-conscious execution audit records and distinct failure states (closes #21) #30, etc., the next room is automatically a Boss Room (e.g., "The Guardian's Trial", "The Architect's Revenge").

• The Boss Room is not listed in the main catalog — it appears as a special event.

• The boss puzzle is a multi-stage showdown combining mechanics from previous rooms:

• Stage 1: Solve a knowledge-based riddle (text/code).

• Stage 2: Use an item from your inventory correctly.

• Stage 3: Beat a timed sequence (e.g., input a code under 10 seconds).

• Stage 4: Answer a cumulative trivia question about the lore/story of the previous 9 rooms.

• Game Design:

• Boss Rooms have a unique theme (e.g., "The Clockwork Sentinel", "The Shadow Labyrinth") and a dramatic UI with a progress bar showing the player's stages.

• If the player fails any stage, they restart the boss room (not the entire 10-room set).\n - Escaping a Boss Room rewards the player with a Boss Token (collectible) and unlocks a special achievement.

• Technical Implementation:

• Add a is_boss_room boolean and stages array to the Room model.

• Create a POST /api/v1/rooms/{id}/boss/submit-stage endpoint that accepts the stage index and the player's answer, returning stage_passed and next_stage or failed.

• In the web UI, render a dedicated boss room view with stage indicators, a timer, and visual feedback (e.g., flash effects on success/failure).

• In the CLI, add a boss command that shows current stage and accepts stage-specific input.

• Progression Guard: Players must complete the Boss Room to access the next set of 10 rooms. This creates a natural pacing and sense of accomplishment.

Alternatives Considered

• Skipping bosses and keeping difficulty purely linear — rejected because it removes the emotional highs and story beats.
• Random boss rooms with no fixed interval — rejected because predictability helps players prepare and set goals.

Additional Context

• The first Boss Room (after room 10) should be relatively easy — a "tutorial boss" that introduces the mechanics.\n- Later Boss Rooms (after room 50+) can be extremely complex, potentially requiring AI-driven generation (Ollama) to create unique riddles per player.\n- This feature directly supports the "platformer" metaphor — bosses are the level caps that reward mastery.