NUCLEAR ZOMBIES IN SPACE – A Psychedelic Twin-Stick Survival Shooter

THE IDEA

NUCLEAR ZOMBIES IN SPACE – A Psychedelic Twin-Stick Survival Shooter

Type: Game Status: MVP Tech Stack: React 18, Vite, HTML5 Canvas 2D, Web Audio API, Docker, Nginx Problem Statement No domain problem is being solved here in any narrow sense: the project is a self-contained entertainment product. The ambition is a tight highscore loop playable in the browser straight away — with no backend, no installation and not a single external graphics or audio asset. Description An arcade wave shooter that runs entirely in the browser and needs no backend, no database and no external graphics or audio assets — every sprite is drawn from Canvas 2D vector paths, every sound is synthesised from Web Audio oscillators. The player steers a small ship against waves of mutated zombies with differing behaviour (some split into several enemies on death, some leave acid pools behind, a boss appears every five waves), collects “drug” pickups granting time-limited buffs (split shot, double damage, invulnerability, slow motion, rapid fire, screen clear) and buys permanent upgrades from a small shop between waves. A “trip intensity” metric escalates colours, screen shake and pace as the score rises, underpinned by the LSD/rave art direction the game is named for (CRT scanlines, hue cycling, three selectable neon palettes). Controls work both with mouse and keyboard (WASD plus aiming) and through a hand-built dual virtual joystick system for touchscreens. Highscores are kept locally in the browser (localStorage) across sessions. A multi-stage Docker setup (Vite dev server or a static nginx build) is available for development and production. Use Case A small arcade game playable in the browser straight away, in which you fight waves of zombies with a spaceship and collect psychedelic power-ups to push the highscore as far as possible. Link: https://github.com/rawk7000/nuclear_zombies_in_space (private repository) Title screen with the menu, hi-score and the “containment breach” framing. “How to play”: desktop and touch controls, the six drug pickups and a bestiary of the seven enemy types. Gameplay on wave 3: score, credits, vitals and the trip-intensity meter at 99 %. The combo multiplier above the playfield; every sprite is drawn from canvas vector paths. “The Dealer”: the between-wave shop where credits buy permanent upgrades. The “bad trip” game-over screen with the final tally, waves survived and the highscore entry. Settings: volume, hue-cycle speed, screen shake, CRT scanlines and three neon palettes.