Hivebreaker

Shatter the swarm. Crack the fortress.

Hivebreaker is a fixed-screen arcade shooter. Slide along the bottom of the screen, thin out the sweeping formations of gnats, pop the cocoons before they hatch into hornets, then burn through the descending Hive Fortress to reach the Queen hiding inside.

Five waves make a sector, and every sector is faster and meaner than the last. There is no final level, only your initials on the hall of fame.

• Five distinct waves per sector, each with its own enemy and its own sky
• One shield: 1.6 seconds of protection, then 5 seconds to recharge
• A fortress boss that keeps descending: the lower you kill it, the bigger the bonus
• Keyboard or any gamepad, even plugged in mid-game
• Top 10 hall of fame with three-letter initials, saved between sessions
• Every sprite, the pixel font, all the sound effects and the music are generated by the game itself: one executable under 2 MB, no installer

Meet the swarm

• Gnat: hangs in a swaying formation and sheds diving gnats. Divers pay more.
• Cocoon: drifts across the screen, then hatches into a hornet. Pop it early.
• Hornet: shoot its wings and it drops straight down until they regrow. Hit the body to kill it.
• The Queen: hides behind the fortress hull. The lower she dies on the screen, the bigger the bonus.

One sector, five waves

1. Gnat Swarm: a formation sways and sheds diving gnats.
2. Frenzy: a bigger formation, faster bullets, more divers.
3. Cocoon Field: cocoons drift across the screen and hatch into hornets.
4. Hornet Nest: two lines of cocoons cross over. Clip the wings, then finish the body.
5. The Hive Fortress: cut through the hull and two counter-rotating shield belts to reach the Queen. It keeps descending, and if it reaches your ship you lose a life.

Rules of engagement

• Aim, don't spray. Only two to four of your shots can be on screen at once, depending on the wave.
• The shield destroys anything that touches it, and pays out. But your ship is frozen and can't fire while it is up.
• Kill the fortress low for a bonus from 1,000 up to 10,000 points.
• Flawless waves (no ship lost) earn a bonus of 500 to 1,250 points.
• Extra ship every 8,000 points.

Controls

Action	Keyboard	Gamepad
Move	Left / Right, or A / D	Left stick (analog) or D-pad
Fire	Hold Space (or Up, W, Z)	Hold A / X, or right trigger
Shield	Hold Shift (or Down, S, X)	Hold B / Y, left trigger or bumpers
Pause	P or Esc	Start
Mute / Fullscreen	M / F11	-

Any pad your system supports works: Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro, generic. The title screen shows "GAMEPAD OK" once one is detected.

High scores

The top 10 is kept between sessions and shown on the title screen. When your score makes the table, enter three initials: type them, or use the stick and A on a gamepad. Close the window mid-run and your score is still recorded.

How to play

1. Download the zip and extract it anywhere.
2. Run hivebreaker.exe. There is nothing to install.
3. If Windows SmartScreen warns about an unrecognized app, click "More info", then "Run anyway".

Windows only. Made with Rust.