Pixel Blaster

About Pixel Blaster

Pixel Blaster is the most direct expression of what this site is for. You have a ship in the middle of an open arena, enemies arrive from every edge, and the only two things you control are where you are and where you are pointing. There is no cover, no reload, no ammunition counter. What there is, instead, is a constant tension between the position that keeps you alive and the position that lets you kill things efficiently — and those are almost never the same position.

The game runs on waves. Each wave has a budget of enemies drawn from four original types, and the budget grows on a curve that rises quickly through the first five waves and then flattens. That shape is deliberate: it means the early game teaches you fast, and the late game is a war of attrition against a threat level that is high but stable. A skilled run does not end because the game suddenly became impossible; it ends because you made one positional mistake with no room left to recover.

Scoring is built around a combo multiplier. Every kill extends a short window, and chaining kills inside that window raises a multiplier that caps at eight. Taking a hit resets it to one. This creates the central risk decision of the game: the aggressive play that keeps your combo alive is also the play most likely to get you hit, and the multiplier is worth so much that protecting it usually beats reaching for one extra kill.

How to Play

Survive as many waves as possible and score as highly as you can before your three lives run out.

Every game on this site can be paused with P or Esc and restarted with R. Sound, retro screen effects and fullscreen are toggled from the buttons above the play area.

Game Mechanics

The four enemy types

Drifters move slowly in a straight line and exist to be combo fuel. Chasers home in on your position and accelerate, so they must be dealt with before they cluster. Splitters break into two smaller, faster fragments when destroyed, which means killing one at close range is a mistake. Turrets stop at a fixed distance and fire aimed shots, and are the only enemy that punishes standing still.

Power-ups and why you should not chase them

Destroyed enemies occasionally drop one of three pickups: spread fire, rapid fire, or a shield that absorbs a single hit. They expire after eight seconds. The trap is that a pickup in a bad position is worth less than the combo you break getting to it — treat them as opportunistic, not as objectives.

Invulnerability and recovery

After a hit you get a short grace window during which you cannot be damaged again. Use it to leave the situation that hurt you, not to keep fighting in it. The single largest difference between a two-minute run and a six-minute run is what the player does in the two seconds after losing a life.

Scoring

Your best result is saved in this browser only. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no global leaderboard — see the storage policy for exactly what is kept.

Tips & Strategy

• Circle, do not zigzag. A wide circular path keeps every enemy on one side of you and keeps your escape route open. Zigzagging feels evasive but repeatedly puts you back into the space you just left.
• Kill Splitters at range. A Splitter destroyed at distance gives you time to handle both fragments. Destroyed in your face, it is effectively two unavoidable hits.
• Break your own combo deliberately. If your multiplier is at x8 and the arena is about to close on you, disengage. A x1 multiplier and a living ship out-scores a x8 multiplier and a game over.
• Aim ahead of Chasers. They accelerate toward where you are, which means they will arrive slightly ahead of your crosshair if you aim at their current position.

Common Mistakes

• Standing still to line up a shot. Turrets fire aimed shots and Chasers converge. A stationary ship is the easiest target in the game. Shoot while moving, always.
• Fighting in a corner. Corners halve your escape options and enemies funnel toward them. If you notice you are in one, leaving is more urgent than whatever you are shooting at.
• Treating power-ups as mandatory. Crossing the arena for a shield you will lose in four seconds has ended more runs than any enemy type.

Features

• Four original enemy types with distinct movement and threat profiles
• Wave-based difficulty with an asymptotic ramp
• Combo multiplier up to x8
• Three collectible power-ups on eight-second timers
• Three lives with post-hit invulnerability
• Local best score and best combo stored on your device