The Game

Pulse is a neon orbit survival game with progressive levels, three power-up types, and procedural sound. You control a glowing orb locked in orbit around a central core. Click, tap, or hit space to reverse direction. Red hazards spiral inward from the screen edges — you read their trajectories, time your switches, and slip through the gaps. Collect green energy to charge your blast shield, grab purple boosters to expand your orbit, and grab cyan slow-mo clocks to freeze hazards in their tracks. When the screen gets overwhelming, unleash a full-screen blast wave that wipes every hazard clean.

Controls

Action	Desktop	Mobile
Switch direction	Click / SPACE	Tap screen
Blast shield	SHIFT / Z	Blast button (bottom-right)
Pause	ESC / P	—
Mute	M	M

Pickups & Power-Ups

Pickup	Color	Shape	Effect
Energy	Green	Circle	+1 blast charge. Spawns from center going outward or from edges coming inward — rotate to intercept.
Booster	Purple	Diamond	Expands orbit radius by 60px for 4 seconds. Buys breathing room when the circle gets tight.
Slow-Mo	Cyan	Clock	Slows all hazards to 35% speed for 5 seconds. Your movement stays full speed — read the chaos and navigate safely.

How It Plays

Mechanic	Detail
Movement	One button — switch orbit direction. That's your only move.
Blast Shield	Costs 5 energy charges. Fires a screen-wide shockwave from center that instantly destroys every hazard on screen. Use it when the screen is saturated for maximum value.
Scoring	Points over time + 2 per survived hazard + 25 per energy + 10 per hazard destroyed by blast + 15 per booster/slow-mo
Levels	8 named levels. Level 1 ("Awakening") has a large orbit and slow hazards. Each level shrinks the orbit and increases speed/density. Level 8 ("Collapse") is a tiny circle in chaos. Beyond that, infinite escalation.
Orbit Shrink	The orbit starts large at Level 1 (32% of screen) and shrinks each level down to 8% at Level 8. Boosters temporarily reverse this.
Energy	5 charges = one blast. Max 15 stored. Energy orbs drift across the orbit path — some from center outward, some from edges inward.
Sound	Fully procedural — every action has a distinct synth tone. M to mute.

Level Progression

Level	Name	Orbit Size	Hazard Speed	Max Hazards
1	Awakening	Large (32%)	0.65x	3
2	Stirring	27%	0.85x	5
3	Rising	22%	1.1x	7
4	Surging	18%	1.4x	10
5	Critical	14%	1.7x	12
6	Overload	11%	2.0x	14
7	Meltdown	9%	2.3x	16
8	Collapse	8%	2.6x	18
9+	∞	Shrinks further	Keeps escalating	Keeps climbing

What You Get Out of It

• Three power-up types — energy for blasting, boosters for space, slow-mo for precision. Each creates a different tactical decision.
• Progressive orbit shrink — the play space physically contracts as you progress, raising the stakes beyond just speed
• Screen-clearing blast — the ultimate panic button. Save it for when the screen is full, or spend it early and race to recharge?
• Bidirectional pickups — orbs and power-ups come from both directions (center outward and edges inward). You choose which to chase based on what's safest.
• Procedural audio — every switch, collect, blast, level-up, and power-up has its own synthesized sound. No audio files, all code.
• High-score chase — your best run is saved locally; the loop is "one more try"
• Quick sessions — runs last 15 seconds to 3 minutes; perfect for a break

Design Notes

The game is entirely self-contained — single HTML file, vanilla JavaScript, no dependencies, no backend. The audio is generated entirely with the Web Audio API — oscillators, noise buffers, and biquad filters produce every sound at runtime, so there are zero audio files to load.

The level system creates a structured progression curve. Each level has a name (Awakening → Stirring → Rising → Surging → Critical → Overload → Meltdown → Collapse) and its own parameters for hazard interval, speed, max count, burst chance, and orbit size. The orbit physically shrinks from 32% to 8% of the screen across levels, so the difficulty isn't just speed — it's spatial pressure.

The blast shield is the strategic anchor. It costs 5 energy and clears the entire screen, so the decision is always: blast now for safety, or hold and dodge through a denser wave for a bigger payoff? The slow-mo and booster power-ups add secondary layers — slow-mo lets you read a chaotic screen and thread through gaps, while boosters give you literal room to breathe when the orbit gets tiny.

All pickups spawn bidirectionally — some emerge from the core and drift outward, others appear at the edges and drift inward. This means there's always a choice: rotate toward the incoming one or wait for the outgoing one. That choice, made under pressure, is what makes each run feel different.

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▶ Play Pulse

First release in the Apps & Games monthly series — a new app, tool, or game every month.