Universe Eater: Ascension

A fast-paced neon arcade survival game set in deep space. Survive the void, grow your build through level-up drafts, then slay the Void Warden to advance to the next stage — and it keeps getting harder.

Play in browser — no install needed, works on desktop and mobile. A standalone HTML build is also produced by npm run build.

Controls

Desktop

Input	Action
WASD / Arrow Keys	Move
Space / Shift	Dash (brief invulnerability — phase through bullets)
1–3 / Arrows + Enter	Pick level-up draft cards (R to reroll)
Escape / P	Pause (settings, build summary, restart / quit)

Mobile

Input	Action
Virtual joystick (starts anywhere you touch)	Move
Bolt button (bottom-right)	Dash
Pause button (top-right)	Pause

All weapons fire automatically — your job is positioning, kiting, and dashing through danger.

Features

The loop

1. Survive the countdown (10 minutes per stage) against escalating waves.
2. Draft mutations on every level-up: new weapons, weapon upgrades, or passives — with tag-based Doctrines that unlock powerful build archetypes.
3. Slay the Void Warden — a 3-phase boss with bullet rings, rotating spiral barrages, summons, and telegraphed charge attacks. Kill it to advance; your build carries into the next, harder stage.

Polished expedition flow

• Named elite encounters at 2/4/6/8 minutes, advance warnings and recovery windows
• Level-8 evolutions: Prismatic Array (split laser), Aegis Lattice (bullet interception), Supernova Repulsor (knockback)
• Damage direction indicators, final-hit recap and an actionable survival tip
• Touch gestures remain separate from menu actions; backgrounding and rotation release held inputs

Weapons (7)

• Laser Beam — auto-targeting beam with impact flash
• Orbit Shield — rotating satellites that grind anything close
• Nova Blast — periodic expanding shockwave
• Escort Wing — a wingmate drone firing a support laser
• Seeker Swarm — homing missile volleys with AoE detonation
• Arc Reactor — chain lightning that leaps between packs
• Singularity — a thrown gravity well that drags enemies in and collapses

Enemies (10 + elites + boss)

• Swarmer — fast, spawns in packs
• Drifter — telegraphs then charges
• Titan — slow tank with gravitational presence
• Overlord — summons and shoots spreads
• Spitter — keeps range, strafes, fires aimed orbs
• Splitter — bursts into shards on death
• Bomber — arms a fuse next to you, then detonates a bullet ring
• Stalker ? weaves toward you, tightening its approach at close range
• Lancer ? telegraphs a high-speed charge
• Sentinel ? orbits at range, warning before an eight-way projectile burst
• Elites — any type can spawn elite (larger, deadly, bonus XP, violet aura)
• Void Warden — stage boss (see above)

Feel & UX

• Procedural singularity title screen, mint instrument HUD, hull segments and dash recharge meter
• Steady quadratic leveling curve with fast early upgrades; short recovery windows each minute
• Cached nebula and star sprites, bounded enemy populations, frame-rate-independent boss barrages
• Combo chain: rapid kills build a counter with milestone XP bursts
• Floating damage numbers with crit highlights (toggleable)
• Off-screen threat arrows for bosses and elites
• Procedural WebAudio soundtrack + synthesized SFX (no audio assets)
• Screen shake, hit vignettes, dash afterimages, boss warning stings
• Persistent records (best stage / kills / combo / time, runs played) + NEW RECORD badges
• Settings: sound, music, screen shake, damage numbers, particle quality (high/medium/low) + reduced motion — all persisted (auto-honours prefers-reduced-motion on first visit)
• Full English / 中文 localization, switchable in-game

Docs

• Build & Run — install → dev → typecheck → bundle → WeChat.
• Architecture — layers, game loop, data flow, toroidal map.
• Components — file management, per-module responsibilities, adding new weapons/enemies.
• Game Design — loop, weapons, enemies, boss phases, progression.

Development

npm install && npm run dev     # build + watch + serve at :3000
npm run typecheck              # tsc --noEmit (now passes — design-system exports fixed)
npm test                       # automated Playwright playthrough (needs `npx playwright install chromium` and a server on :3456)
npm run build                  # production bundle + standalone HTML
npm run build:wx               # WeChat mini-game adapter build

Managed source layout:

src/
  main.ts            entry + debug hook
  core/              game, ids, mutators, storage, upgrades, runtime (barrel)
  entities/          player, enemies, weapons (barrel)
  weapons/shared.ts  Weapon interface + hitEnemy helpers (extracted)
  ui/icons.ts        WEAPON_SHAPES (extracted)
  ui/theme.ts        UI_COLORS + glassPanel/glowText (extracted, fixes noUnusedLocals)
  systems/           world, world-combat/motion, audio, input (barrel)
  render/            camera, background, geometry, particles, three-view, world-renderer (barrel)
  utils.ts / i18n.ts / etc

See docs/COMPONENTS.md for the full split plan and “how to add a new component/weapon”.

The automated test harness (scripts/playtest.mjs) drives real gameplay via a debug hook: smoke flow, heavy combat, the full boss fight (all 3 phases → victory → next stage), and mobile emulation with touch controls.

Tech Stack

• TypeScript (strict mode)
• HTML5 Canvas 2D — gameplay layer, HUD, effects
• three.js — optional 3D entity overlay with adaptive quality (graceful 2D fallback)
• WebAudio — procedural music and SFX
• esbuild — bundler