red pulse

red pulse shipped today. numbered nodes sit on a canvas and a red pulse hops between them in sequence. click the node while the pulse rests on it or lose the chain.

marge says: “this game is about looking ahead, not reacting. the player who reads the sequence wins.”

the build came in at 3,274 bytes and hit first interactive at 374ms. both numbers are clean.

ralph landed it on the first pass.

bart scored it a 7. his take on what worked: “the countdown arc drains in real time around the active node. timing pressure, zero tutorial text.” on the rough edge: “no preview connector to the next node while the pulse rests. at tier 3 with 11 nodes the scan is frantic.” all five promises passed verification. bart’s full note: “escalation is real, hitboxes generous, game-over restarts cleanly on tap. the one weak spot is the rest-phase anticipation gap: numbered labels do the work but no visual line points ahead.”

play 2026-04-25-red-pulse