1. What is Doorways?

Doorways 1.3 is a playable fake operating system from another timeline — teal desktop, chunky windows, dial-up handshake sounds in your head. It runs as a full-page WebAssembly session inside your browser (no long-lived server circuit for the desktop itself). Scores, presence, hacks, and hosted websites phone home over HTTP APIs.

Your session score is measured in busywork points. Open apps, write BASIC, dial up, host a homepage, crack NPC boxes, deface a .dw site — then File → Exit Doorways to cash in.

2. Boot, desktop, and windows

Boot sequence

Opening /games/doorways plays a short HIMEM / SMARTDRV / PROGRAM.EXE boot splash, then lands you on the teal desktop with Doorway Manager open. There is no Start menu. This is 1992 energy.

Window chrome

• Drag a title bar to move a window.
• Minimize / maximize / close with the classic buttons in the title bar.
• Resize from the bottom-right grip (when not maximized).
• The bottom taskbar lists open windows; click to focus or restore.
• Chore List (toolbar or Main group) shows every open window like a task manager parody.

Wallpaper & trails

Knobs & Dials (Main) lets you pick a solid wallpaper color and toggle mouse trails — pure aesthetic busywork.

3. Doorway Manager — app catalog

Click group icons (Main, Accessories, Games, User Programs) to open apps. First open of each unique app awards busywork; reopening still ticks the meter a little.

Main

Accessories

Games

• 💣 Mine-ish — Minesweeper-ish grid. Clear the board for a solid busywork bonus.
• 🃏 Card-Alone — Klondike solitaire. Draw three from the stock; win for a large busywork jackpot.

User Programs

Programs you compile in DBasic (Make EXE) appear here and under C:\USERPROGS\. They persist in this browser via local storage. Launch from Doorway Manager, Filing Cabinet, or type the name in Duh Prompt.

4. Dial-Up Networking

Networking is the backbone of HyperBrowse, Site Studio, and all hacks. You must be signed in to negotiate a connection.

Connect

1. Open Dial-Up Networking from Main (or type DIAL in Duh Prompt).
2. Optionally set a machine name (shows on the network as a masked label to others).
3. Pick a phone-book number and press Connect.
4. On success you get a network handle (e.g. N1A2B3C) and stay online via heartbeats (~90s TTL).

Phone book

Firewall

In Duh Prompt while online: FIREWALL UP (or ON / RAISE). Levels go from 0–5. Each level makes your machine harder for other players to own (security formula also rewards staying online longer). Raising firewall also makes you look less innocent.

Finding hosts

Dial-Up Networking does not publish a host list. After Connect, open Duh Prompt and run NETSCAN (optional CIDR/range, default 10.13.37.0/24). That IP sweep is what discovers NPC and player machines. HOSTS only reprints the last successful sweep.

Hang up

Hang Up drops presence immediately: you leave the live host list, open hack sessions die, scan results are wiped, and HyperBrowse / Site Studio lose carrier (NO CARRIER). Exit Doorways hangs up for you.

5. HyperBrowse & Site Studio

The Doorways “web” is a shared dial-up cloud of .dw sites — roughly a hundred seeded NPC landmarks plus player-built pages. You must be dialed in; APIs refuse offline requests.

HyperBrowse

• Opens on the directory (directory.dw) with search.
• Navigate by host (e.g. coolpage.dw) and path (default index).
• In-page links stay inside HyperBrowse; history has back/forward style navigation.
• If a site is defaced, a big *** HACKED *** banner shows graffiti for 24 hours.
• Duh Prompt shortcuts: WEB, BROWSE, WWW, IEXPLORE, NETSCAPE.

Site Studio

• Register a hostname: 3–16 chars, starts with a letter, lowercase alphanumeric only (no .dw in the form — it is appended).
• Limits: 3 sites per account, 12 pages per site, 8,000 characters per page body.
• Edit title, tagline, publish/unpublish, security level, page path/title/body.
• Clear a defacement after someone owns your homepage.
• Duh Prompt: STUDIO, WEBSTUDIO, or HOMEPAGE.

DWML — Doorways Markup Language

Site Studio pages are a tiny 90s HTML subset rendered to safe HTML only.

Allowed tags:

h1 h2 h3 p br hr b i u em strong a center font blink pre marquee ul ol li div span

Links can point at other paths on your site or other host.dw addresses. Scripts, images from the real web, and arbitrary attributes are stripped. Blink and marquee still work, because of course they do.

6. Duh Prompt — command reference

Open Duh Prompt from Main. Type a command and press Enter. Each command line awards a little busywork. Type HELP anytime for a short list.

Always available

Online (dialed in)

Toolkit commands (after INSTALL TOOLS or dial 555-1337)

See sections 7–9. Without tools, those names often print “Bad command or file name” and gently point you at README.HAK.

7. Installing the underground toolkit

In-game, the only authorized tutorial is the secret file C:\DOORSYS\SYSTEM\README.HAK. The full manual you are reading expands that file with limits, ports, stages, and strategy — but the Duh Prompt still expects you to discover the path.

Unlock steps

1. Sign in to PointlessGames.
2. Open Dial-Up Networking and Connect.
3. Either:
   • Type INSTALL TOOLS in Duh Prompt, or
   • Dial phone book number 555-1337 (Night Owl BBS) and connect — tools auto-install via “ZMODEM”.
4. Confirm with TYPE C:\DOORSYS\SYSTEM\README.HAK or HELP (toolkit line appears).

Unlocking drops NMAP.EXE, HYDRA.EXE, TRACE.COM, BREACH.COM, and WARDIAL.EXE into the simulated C:\DOS folder and awards busywork.

8. Machine hacks (NPC + PvP)

Machine hacks are multi-stage, timed, and server-validated. Wrong answers spend attempts; two fails on a stage kill the session and apply cooldowns. You cannot hack yourself.

Prerequisites

• Signed in
• Dialed up (live heartbeat)
• Toolkit installed

Targets

Run NETSCAN (IP sweep), then HOSTS to reprint. Example handles you may see:

Stage flow

Easy NPC (security < 3): SCAN → EXPLOIT → CRACK → BREACH

Hard NPC (sec ≥ 3) and all PvP: SCAN → EXPLOIT → TRACE → CRACK → BREACH

Aliases

NMAP = SCAN · USE/PORT = EXPLOIT · ROUTE/PATH = TRACE · HYDRA/PASSWORD/LOGIN = CRACK · LOOT/PAYLOAD = BREACH

Limits & cooldowns (machines)

• 2 attempts per stage (1 on PvP BREACH).
• Stage timers shrink with security and PvP (roughly 12–50 seconds per stage).
• 45s global attacker cooldown after success (and soft fails).
• 180s pair lockout after a hard fail on a specific target.
• Daily: up to 12 NPC hacks, 5 PvP hacks, and 800 Tickets from machine hacks.
• Each handle can only be fully looted once per day by you.

Rewards

• Busywork: NPC ≈ 25 + 10×security · PvP ≈ 80 + 20×security (plus small progress ticks).
• Tickets: NPC ≈ 30+20×sec · PvP ≈ 120+40×sec, clipped by daily caps.
• PvP victims get intrusion alerts during the attack and a small firewall bump if you succeed.

Defense tips

• FIREWALL UP repeatedly after dialing.
• Stay online long enough and your effective security can climb further.
• Watch Dial-Up Networking’s security log for intrusion alerts — if someone is scanning you, hang up to drop offline mid-attack.
• Player labels are masked; handles are the real identifiers.

9. Website hacks (WEBHACK)

Website hacks are harder than machine hacks: five stages, tighter daily caps, and a successful finish defaces the live .dw site for 24 hours. You cannot hack your own site.

Setup

1. Dial up + toolkit (same as machine hacks).
2. Browse the directory in HyperBrowse; note a hostname (without .dw for commands).
3. In Duh Prompt: WEBHACK <hostname>

Limits (websites)

• Up to 3 successful web-hack attempts per day (sites are meant to hurt).
• Up to 400 Tickets per day from web hacks.
• 120s global cooldown after attempts; longer pair lockout after hard fails (~300s).
• One deface per host per attacker per day.
• Site security levels are treated as at least 3/5 (VERY HARD).

Ticket reward on deface is roughly 80 + 40×security (about 200–280 before caps). Busywork score also jumps when the server reports a score bonus.

10. DBasic programming

DBasic is a classic line-number / label BASIC interpreter with a 25×48 text screen. Open it from Accessories. Use the Samples menu (or ◀ Sample ▶) for demos, then Run (F5) or File → Make EXE.

Workflow

1. Write or load a sample program.
2. Run for an immediate window (does not install).
3. Make EXE compiles into User Programs + C:\USERPROGS\ (browser storage).
4. Launch the EXE from Doorway Manager, Filing Cabinet, or Duh Prompt by name.

Statements

Functions

INT FIX ABS SQR SIN COS TAN ATN LOG EXP RND LEN ASC VAL TIMER INSTR STR$ CHR$ LEFT$ RIGHT$ MID$ SPACE$ STRING$ UCASE$ LCASE$

• String variables end with $ (e.g. N$).
• Labels: line numbers (100 PRINT "hi") or named (Start:).
• Hard limits: ~24k source chars, 2M ops per run, 200 output lines, array size 2048.

Help inside the IDE opens Scribblepad with this reference and lists built-in sample names (HELLO, GUESS, DONUT, SLOT, and friends).

11. Busywork scoring & exit

Busywork is a single-session score (higher is better, soft-capped around 100,000). Almost everything you click adds a little. Big chunks come from:

• First-time app opens and compiling EXEs
• Successful dial-up connect
• Installing the toolkit / reading README.HAK
• Server-reported hack score bonuses (machines & websites)
• Clearing Mine-ish / winning Card-Alone
• Registering a .dw site and saving pages
• Paint strokes cashed in on Exit

Choose File → Exit Doorways (Doorway Manager) or the red Exit Doorways toolbar button. Confirm shutdown to submit. Signed-in players post to the leaderboard; guests keep a local best via browser storage. You can reboot for another session without leaving the page.

12. Caps, presence, and fair play

Hacks and Ticket grants are decided on the server. Client-side tools only unlock UI commands; answers, timers, and payouts cannot be faked by editing the browser. Real-world cheating against PointlessGames (bots, API abuse) is still against the site Terms — keep the crime inside Doorways.

13. Quick-start paths

Tourist (no account required for most of this)

1. Boot Doorways → open Scribblepad, Paintstache, Mine-ish.
2. Open DBasic → load HELLO sample → Run.
3. Make EXE → launch from User Programs.
4. Exit Doorways when the busywork number looks impressive.

Sysadmin cosplay

1. Sign in → Dial-Up Networking → Connect.
2. Site Studio → register myname → edit index with blink and marquee → Publish.
3. HyperBrowse → open your host from the directory.

Script kiddie (in-universe)

1. Sign in → dial 555-1337 (or Connect + INSTALL TOOLS).
2. TYPE C:\DOORSYS\SYSTEM\README.HAK
3. NETSCAN → HOSTS → SCAN BBS-OWL → follow stage prompts.
4. Browse directory → WEBHACK somehost when you want a harder run.
5. FIREWALL UP so the next player has a worse day.

14. FAQ

Is this a real OS?

No. It is a browser toy with classic desktop vibes. None of the “disk” is real.

Do I need Pointless Plus?

Doorways is a Community game in the free arcade. Sign-in is required for dial-up, leaderboards, hosting, and hacks — not a Plus subscription.

Why does HyperBrowse say NO CARRIER?

You are not dialed in (or the heartbeat expired). Open Dial-Up Networking and Connect again.

Can I really hack other players?

Yes — if they are currently connected. Sessions are multi-stage, timed, and server-checked. Raise your firewall and hang up to defend.

Where is the in-game hack tutorial?

Only in Duh Prompt: TYPE C:\DOORSYS\SYSTEM\README.HAK after tools are installed. This Help Center manual is the external complete reference.

Do EXEs sync across devices?

No. User programs live in this browser’s local storage for Doorways, not on your PointlessGames account.

Do hacks pay Tickets?

Yes — successful server-validated breaches and defacements pay 🎟️ Tickets, capped per day. Busywork score rises either way.