Research Investigation: Black Screen and Asset Loading Failures (Unknown Root Cause)

[zenchantlive]

Problem

When generating a game, the app exhibits a black screen and fails to load assets. Console shows multiple analytics network errors (net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT for PostHog), UI init logs, and an unrelated JavaScript duplicate declaration error. However, we have not identified a clear, reproducible root cause or established if these are symptoms or actual causes.

Why This is a Research Task

• We do not know if analytics request blocking is causative, incidental, or unrelated
• The duplicate ground declaration error may or may not block rendering
• No direct asset or game logic network error is observed
• It’s possible the issue lies elsewhere: config/env, asset pipeline, routing, SSR/CSR boundary, etc.

Goals

• Document all observed symptoms (black screen, missing assets, console errors, JS errors, etc.)
• Catalog possible root causes, including (but not limited to):
  • Blocked third-party requests impacting first-party code
  • JS runtime errors preventing UI mount/render
  • Asset pipeline (Next.js, server vs static, image domain, path/URL resolution)
  • Incorrect environment/config vars
  • Next.js SSR/CSR boundaries (App Router edge cases)
  • Unhandled promise rejections or API failures
  • Other Next.js, TypeScript, or Tailwind misconfigurations
• Propose targeted diagnostic experiments (disable analytics, stub asset URLs, log SSR/CSR, etc.)

Initial Steps

1. Document all error/warning logs on page load/game generate in multiple clean/dirty browser profiles
2. Audit Next.js asset/image pipeline config and route handlers for assets
3. Add provisional error/loading boundaries in affected UI components (with a11y focus & feedback)
4. Sanitize all user/env input in config and asset URL handlers
5. Output detailed logs for asset fetches (server/client)

Success Criteria

• Can we localize the black screen to: asset loader, analytics, or another layer?
• Which errors are causal vs. correlative?
• What hypotheses can be disproven with minimal viable tests?

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Tech/Workflow:

• Next.js (App Router), TypeScript (Server Components first), Tailwind (utilities)
• Propose any error/loading/a11y UIs in plan
• Prefer small, focused TypeScript server components; use JSDoc for non-trivial logic
• Prioritize security (do not leak env vars/URLs to client), sanitize all inputs
• Prefer Next/Image for all assets if possible

[github-actions]

🤖 Hi @zenchantlive, I've received your request, and I'm working on it now! You can track my progress in the logs for more details.

[github-actions]

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[zenchantlive]

Issue 87

[zenchantlive]

gemini workingon it