Photon Swarm

Started as a test of how many entities a browser canvas could handle at 60fps. It kept growing: four zones with territory control, boss archetypes, meta-progression, and touch controls on mobile.

Your beam carves through the swarm while four AI factions contest territory tiles below. The custom ECS engine holds 1000+ entities at 60fps; the minimap tracks how far the spread has gone.

Every other level offers a build choice: core stats, blessings, or risk-reward anomalies that trade a downside for power. Upgrade effects are pure data consumed by the ECS combat systems.

Info

I started this to learn Entity-Component-System architecture, with one concrete goal: 1000+ entities at 60fps in the browser. It grew into a complete arena roguelike. Four faction-contested zones, boss archetypes with phase transitions, an upgrade shop, blessings and curses, and ascension-based meta-progression. Playable end to end on desktop and mobile.

Custom ECS engine built from scratch: all game objects are entity IDs whose behavior is composed from typed components at runtime
Meta-progression with legendary upgrades, blessings, and curses that carry across runs via an ascension save system
Faction standing system that tracks your relationship with each of the four AI factions across a run
Boss content: per-archetype ability loadouts, unique animated sprites, and telegraphed arena shockwaves
Varied enemy mechanics: split-on-death spawns, minion summoning, heal-aura Sentinels, and teleport blinks
Mobile touch controls: dual virtual joysticks for move and aim, plus dash, parry, and burst buttons
Accessibility pass: screen-reader announcements via aria-live and a colorblind palette option
Winnable: clear the Zone 4 Deep Core boss and the run ends in victory, with end-screen stats and ascension unlock

About this project

Game DevECS ArchitecturePerformance OptimizationCanvas

Custom ECS engine built from scratch: all game objects are entity IDs whose behavior is composed from typed components at runtime
Meta-progression with legendary upgrades, blessings, and curses that carry across runs via an ascension save system
Faction standing system that tracks your relationship with each of the four AI factions across a run
Boss content: per-archetype ability loadouts, unique animated sprites, and telegraphed arena shockwaves
Varied enemy mechanics: split-on-death spawns, minion summoning, heal-aura Sentinels, and teleport blinks
Mobile touch controls: dual virtual joysticks for move and aim, plus dash, parry, and burst buttons
Accessibility pass: screen-reader announcements via aria-live and a colorblind palette option
Winnable: clear the Zone 4 Deep Core boss and the run ends in victory, with end-screen stats and ascension unlock