NetWorm
A kernel worm auto-battler made with LÖVE 11. You are the operator: inject a worm into the kernel, steer it, and let its modules kill every hostile process on their own. Between levels, buy modules at the darkmarket, stack copies to rank them up, and combine classes for set bonuses. Survive 25 levels, with an antivirus boss every 6.
- 40 units across 4 tiers and 11 classes; every class has its own colour and each hero its own shade of it.
- Merchants make money: enemies can drop coins, and merchants add interest, gold per level, or gold per kill.
- The darkmarket (shop) has 5 levels. Upgrading it with gold raises the odds of higher tiers; the Catalogue lists every unit and the current odds.
- Colliding with an enemy damages both sides. Rammers take half the collision damage and hit much harder.
- Perks: one perk slot in the darkmarket (common $5, rare $8, epic $12, legendary $16; rarer at higher market levels), up to 3 installed. Many get stronger with a matching class. Rerolling refreshes units and the perk, and costs double each time within the same market visit.
- From level 2 on, a security update types out at the start of most levels as the kernel hardens its defences.
- Enemies include kamikazes that dive in and explode, repulsors whose pulses shove the worm, and snipers with laser sights.
- Terminal look: phosphor-green text in Roboto Mono, CRT scanlines, a dmesg-style boot screen.
Play in the browser: https://ianbedard.github.io/networm/
Controls
| Key | Action |
|---|
| A / D or Left / Right | Steer |
| Space | Start a run / start the next level |
| R | Reroll the darkmarket |
| U | Upgrade the darkmarket |
| L | Lock the darkmarket (offers carry over to the next level) |
| C | Open / close the catalogue |
| Right-click a unit | Sell it |
| P or Esc | Pause |
Run on desktop
Install LÖVE 11.x, then from this folder:
love .
Rebuild the web version
The browser build lives in web/ and is made with love.js. After changing main.lua or conf.lua, run (needs Node.js):
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File build-web.ps1
This refreshes the runtime files in web/ and keeps the hand-written web/index.html. Pushing to main redeploys the page through GitHub Actions.
Credits
Roboto Mono font: Copyright 2015 The Roboto Mono Project Authors, Apache License 2.0 (see font/NOTICE.txt).
