RNDvaders 1K

A Pico-8 game in 1024 compressed characters, created for Pico-1K Jam 2026 in 3 days.

Pico-8 Edu source code here.

RNDvaders 1K is a demake of the old arcade game "Space Invaders" (Taito 1978) except I have the constraint of 1024 bytes so I necessarily had to cut a few features: no red mystery ship at the top, 80% of the sound effects and a different scoring system.

Features:

• as "RND" in the title suggests, the iconic alien sprites are replaced by randomly generated pixel-art in 3 animation frames;
• defense bunkers damage mostly identical to the original (except your bullets cut through);
• the inevitable 4-note accompanying 'music' speeding up in sync with the aliens' movement;

Scoring System:

A reward for taking the risk.
While the original linearly awarded more points for the squid aliens at the top and less for the two couple rows below, in this remake you gradually get more points by shooting at closer aliens, thus rewarding the risk (or simply gaining more points at later stages since every next wave will start closer to you.

Game Controls:

⬅️➡️ Move your cannon left/right
⭕️ [Z or C] Fire
❎ [X or V] Start a new game
[P or Enter] Pause Menu and options...