Retro-inspired games. Zero dependencies. Pure craft.

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[ CURRENT PROJECTS ]

Terminal Zero gameplay screenshot
Live on itch.io
Play Now

Terminal Zero

// Interactive Fiction · Hacking Sim

A Cold War thriller set inside a 1980s military mainframe. Navigate a phosphor-green terminal, uncover classified files, outwit an AI named SIGMA, and decide the fate of global nuclear defense. Thirteen chapters. Five endings. No second chances.

Canvas 2D Web Audio 0 Dependencies
Play Now itch.io browser release
Mad Scientist's Laboratory gameplay screenshot
Portal Candidate

Mad Scientist's Laboratory

// Puzzle · Adventure

Explore a sprawling underground lab filled with traps, switches, and mysterious ingredients. Solve environmental puzzles across four distinct rooms, collect reagents, and brew powerful concoctions at the cauldron. Every pixel hand-drawn in code.

Procedural Art Tile Engine 0 Dependencies
Genesis Block prototype screenshot
Prototype

Genesis Block

// Systems RPG · Idle Adventure

A retro computing mystery about cracking systems, exploring a connected world, and piecing together a personal history through terminals, NPCs, and research. Currently being scoped toward an Act 1 vertical slice.

Canvas 2D Save/Load Prototype
Currents concept placeholder
Concept

Currents

// Future Concept

A parked design concept for a later production cycle. It stays in the backlog while Terminal Zero, Mad Scientist's Laboratory, and Genesis Block move through launch, portal testing, and vertical-slice polish.

Design Doc Backlog Not Playable

[ ABOUT ]

Cathode Arc is an indie game studio founded by a plasma physicist who traded particle accelerators for pixel art.

We build games the old-fashioned way: vanilla JavaScript, HTML5 Canvas, and the Web Audio API. Small portable projects, direct browser entry points, and handcrafted code that stays close to the machine.

The current slate spans a narrative terminal thriller, a compact lab adventure, a retro computing prototype, and one parked future concept.

0 Dependencies
4 Projects
3 Playable Builds
∞ Passion