HIVEFALL

A from-scratch, zero-dependency browser run-and-gun in the classic mold: one-hit deaths, weapon pods, exploding bridges, minibosses, three stages — with free mouse aim, gamepad and touch support, rebindable controls, difficulty levels, New Game+ loops, a leaderboard, and drop-in network co-op. All graphics are procedural pixel art and all audio is synthesized with Web Audio. No assets, no build step, no libraries — the server is ~300 lines of stdlib Python.

Story

Year 2131. A seed-ship fell out of a clear sky and buried itself in Korai Island. For nine days, nothing came out. Then the garrison stopped answering, and the satellites saw the soldiers walking in perfect, silent rows.

The swarm wears people. Reach the nest. Kill what grows there.

Screenshots

The VIVID graphics mode (outlines, glows, contact shadows, screen-shake juice) is on by default; a one-key toggle in Options restores the flat retro look.

1 · Jungle garrison	2 · The Nest
3 · The Seed-Ship	The Core Mind
Hit-stop & shockwaves	Drop-in co-op

Run

python server.py

then open http://localhost:8137/ — the console also prints the LAN address for player two.

(Opening index.html directly works too, but only for solo play.)

Co-op

The first browser to open the URL is Player 1 and hosts the game. The second becomes Player 2 (blue bandana) and can drop in mid-mission. Anyone after that spectates. No accounts, no lobbies: sharing the URL is the whole netcode. The title screen's bottom-left LINK indicator shows each window's role.

Playing over the internet (different networks)

python play_online.py

starts the server plus a free Cloudflare quick tunnel and prints two links: yours (localhost — open it FIRST so you host) and a public https://….trycloudflare.com link for your friend. No signup, no router changes, nothing for your friend to install. Notes: the public URL changes every run, anyone holding it can join (or spectate), and the remote player feels roughly their ping as input delay — fine on decent connections.

Internet play needs cloudflared.exe next to play_online.py (it's not committed to this repo). Grab the single binary from the cloudflared releases; play_online.py prints the same link if it's missing. Plain server.py (LAN / same-network co-op) needs nothing extra.

Controls (rebindable — press O)

Input	Action
A / D	Run
W (or Space)	Jump — somersault included
S	Prone / (+W) drop through platforms
Mouse	Aim — full 360°
Left click	Fire
O	Options: rebind keys, fire mode
Enter	Start / pause / advance story
M	Mute

Fire mode (in options): TAP = one shot per click, classic. HOLD = every weapon autofires while the button is held.

One hit kills you. You start with 3 lives... unless you know a certain code — it works on the title screen in both its arrow-key and WASD spellings.

Weapons & pickups

Shoot the flying pods (weapons persist across stages; dying resets you to the rifle): R rifle · M machine gun · S five-way spread · L piercing laser · F flamethrower · H homing missiles · B 8-second barrier · 1 extra life.

Stages

1 — Jungle: the possessed garrison. Runners, snipers, turrets, shielded husks (shoot them low, steep, or from behind), two collapsing bridges, an armored-truck arena — then the fortress wall: gun ports first, core second.

2 — The Nest: skitterers, acid spitters, diving wasps, egg sacs, burrowers that stalk you underground, the larva queen — and the Heart, guarded by two spitting maws.

3 — The Seed-Ship: everything at once inside the living hull, ending at the Core Mind: shoot down its four shield orbs, then hunt the teleporting eye. When it dives across the floor, go prone.

Beat it and the campaign loops harder (score carries). Difficulty select is on the title screen (arrows / dpad / tap the line). Scores are per player, with a local best and a server-side top list.

Debug console

window.__contra exposes state and helpers (warp, god, step, key, setMouse, fire, beginStage, setBind, setFireMode) for automated testing. server.py is a pure relay; all game logic lives in the clients.