The idea
Most top-down action games feature soldiers, spaceships, or monsters. We wanted to take players inside the microscopic human bloodstream, putting them in control of a solitary white blood cell hunting dangerous pathogens.
The core tension comes from managing two health pools: your cell’s membrane and the patient’s bloodstream vitals. Your cell can respawn after taking hits, but if the infection spreads unchecked across the body, the run ends.
What we built
An arcade action loop spanning 100 fast-paced levels with bacteria, viruses, and mutating pathogen waves. Players steer with keyboard or virtual joystick, hurling antibodies and dashing away from swarms.
There is not a single image sprite in the entire game. Every microorganism, pathogen spike, and fluid bloodstream current is calculated and drawn dynamically using soft-body mathematical curves that squish and pulse at 60 FPS.
The hard part
Simulating organic, squishy cell membranes without bogging down the canvas render loop. We developed parametric Bezier control points that react to velocity and collisions, giving pathogens life without costly physics engines.
We also replaced recorded sound files with algorithmic audio. The pulsing heartbeat background and strike impacts are synthesized directly in the browser using the Web Audio API, keeping memory low and audio latency near zero.
Result
A 100-level arcade survival game that loads in less than a second over mobile 3G. The whole package transfers at just 1.0 MB with zero third-party dependencies.