Shardsling

No gun, just a rope.

Your drone has no weapon. Hook a drifting crystal, swing it around you and let go at the right moment to smash it into the others. Big crystals break into medium ones, medium into small, and every fragment is new ammo. Chain your smashes for a combo up to x10, but don't touch a drifting crystal: you only have three lives.

How to play

- Hold to hook the nearest crystal and swing it around you

- Release to fling it

- Break every crystal to clear the wave, then pick one of three perks

- Hunters (from wave 3) chase you, prisms (from wave 5) shoot crystals at you, and every 10th wave brings the boss, CORE. You can only hit them with what you throw.

Controls

Keyboard: WASD / arrow keys to move, hold Space to hook, release to fling. P or Esc pauses, M toggles sound.

Mouse: the drone follows the pointer; hold the left button to hook the crystal at the pointer, release to fling.

Touch: drag on the left half to move, hold on the right half to hook, let go to fling. Landscape works best.

Perks

Long Rope, Fast Swing, Extra Life, Shockwave, Magnet Hook, Focus (slows time while you swing).

Tips

- Heavy crystals swing slower and pull you along. Small ones are quick but light.

- Walls are bouncy, so bank shots count.

- Fragments from a smash are briefly "hot" and can set off chain reactions.

Details

- Free, runs in your browser, no download, no account, no ads, no tracking.

- Short tutorial on the first run; your high score is saved locally in the browser.

- Made with TypeScript and Canvas 2D, no engine. The whole game is about 130 KB.

- Music and sound are generated in code: a small synthwave loop plus ZzFX sound effects (ZzFX by Frank Force, MIT license).

- Fonts: Orbitron and Rajdhani (SIL Open Font License).

Watch a tiny neural network learn to play it:

Built with the help of an AI coding assistant.