Live demo → https://waiting-game.vercel.app
A transparent overlay game that lives on your desktop — play while you wait.
Waiting Game is a full-screen transparent overlay that sits quietly on your desktop until summoned. Six game modes, global leaderboards, and near-zero resource cost when idle. Built with Tauri v2 and Rust — runs natively on Linux, Windows, and macOS.
🦖 Dino Runner — Classic runner with jump physics
🐦 Flappy Bird — Momentum-based flight with neon pipes
🌀 Gravity Runner — Gravity-flip runner with spikes
🛡️ Defender — Side-scrolling space shooter
🐍 Cyber Snake — Grid-based snake with glowing food
🧱 Neon Breakout — Paddle-and-ball breakout with brick waves
- Transparent overlay — Full-screen, no window chrome, doesn't block your desktop.
- Always-on-top — Available with a keypress, never lost behind other windows.
- Six game modes — Dino Runner, Flappy Bird, Gravity Runner, Cyber Snake, Neon Breakout, and Defender.
- Global leaderboards — Submit scores to a live leaderboard and track your rank across all players.
- Dynamic difficulty — Easy, Normal, and Hard presets with per-game speed, physics, and spacing.
- Customizable roster — Enable, disable, rename, and theme games through the config file.
- Near-zero idle cost — No CPU or RAM draw when the game isn't running.
# Download the latest AppImage
curl -L -o waiting-game.AppImage \
https://github.com/ziuus/waiting-game/releases/download/v0.4.2/waiting-game_0.4.2_amd64.AppImage
chmod +x waiting-game.AppImage
./waiting-game.AppImageSee other installation methods below.
Add this to your hyprland.conf to toggle the game window with a keybind:
bind = SUPER SHIFT, G, exec, pkill waiting-game || ~/Applications/waiting-game-0.4.2.AppImage
Download the .dmg from Releases (Intel and Apple Silicon).
Download the .exe / .msi installer from Releases.
Package Manager Manifests
| OS | Method | Status | Manifest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arch | AUR | Planned | waiting-game-bin |
| Windows | WinGet | Draft | packaging/winget/waiting-game.installer.yaml |
| macOS | Homebrew | Draft | packaging/homebrew/waiting-game.rb |
| Universal | npm | Planned | npx waiting-game |
Manifests exist in
packaging/but are not published to public registries yet.
The game reads ~/.config/waiting-game/config.json (auto-created with defaults if missing).
{
"activeGame": "dino",
"activeDifficulty": "normal",
"games": {
"dino": { "enabled": true, "displayName": "Dino Runner" },
"flappy": { "enabled": true, "displayName": "Flappy Bird" },
"gravity": { "enabled": true, "displayName": "Gravity Runner" },
"snake": { "enabled": true, "displayName": "Cyber Snake" },
"breakout": { "enabled": true, "displayName": "Neon Breakout" },
"defender": { "enabled": true, "displayName": "Defender" }
},
"themes": { /* per-game player, obstacle, and score colors */ },
"difficultyModes": { /* fine-tune easy/normal/hard physics */ }
}Run the binary. The game window appears full-screen and transparent.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
SPACE |
Jump / Initialize |
H |
Hide the game window |
Tab |
Cycle controls on game-over screen |
On Linux compositors with custom keybinds (Hyprland, COSMIC), bind a hotkey to toggle the game window. See install.sh for an example.
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Dino Runner | Classic runner with jump physics. Dodge cacti and birds. |
| Flappy Bird | Momentum-based flight through neon pipe gaps. |
| Gravity Runner | Gravity-flip runner. Navigate spikes by reversing gravity. |
| Cyber Snake | Grid-based snake. Collect glowing food, avoid walls. |
| Neon Breakout | Paddle-and-ball breakout. Clear brick waves for score. |
| Defender | Side-scrolling space shooter. Destroy enemies, protect shields. |
- Core: Rust, Tauri v2
- Frontend: Vanilla JS / Canvas API
- Leaderboard: Firebase Firestore
See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup and contribution guidelines.
Built with ❤️ by Noel Paul Tomy
MIT — see LICENSE