Browser game / 2026
Pulse
Knowledge gives you control. In Pulse, it also takes control away.
Why I built it
Pulse started from a tension rather than a theme: what if the action that reveals danger also makes the danger harder to avoid?
The product
Making the premise tangible.
The player moves through darkness. Each tap sends out a sonar-like pulse that briefly reveals obstacles, but every pulse increases speed. The result is a one-input choice between visibility and control.
How it evolved
The thinking behind the build.
Start with a tension
The idea was not ‘a game in the dark’. It was a trade-off: the same action that gives the player information should also make survival harder. That tension became the product brief.
Make darkness feel fair
The first versions could feel arbitrary. We adjusted pulse reach, obstacle spacing, collision feedback and procedural patterns until each reveal gave enough information for the next decision—even when the player still failed.
Let atmosphere follow the mechanic
Sound, haptics and the visual pulse were refined together. They are not decoration; they communicate speed, proximity and risk across touch and desktop play.
The product / In context
Key decisions
Where product judgement showed up.
- 01Tie information and difficulty to the same input
- 02Use darkness as a mechanic, not surface decoration
- 03Keep collisions readable even when the environment is hidden
- 04Make mobile play feel native rather than adapted
My role / AI’s role
I directed the mechanic, interaction model, atmosphere, fairness and tuning. AI assisted with technical implementation, procedural generation, responsive behaviour, audio, accessibility and iteration.
Iteration
The first build was the beginning.
The core loop worked quickly. Most of the refinement was about trust: ensuring the game felt tense without feeling arbitrary, and that pulses revealed enough information to make failure feel earned.
What I learned
- Constraints can generate mechanics instead of merely limiting them.
- Atmosphere matters most when it reinforces the decision the player is making.
- A simple input can still create a layered choice.