Eight Bit Invaders

Classic home-console alien blasting! A faithful recreation of the Atari 2600 Space Invaders experience, built for competitive high-score showdowns.

How to Play

Defend Earth from waves of descending invaders. Move your laser cannon along the bottom of the screen, take cover behind destructible shields, and pick off the alien formation before they reach the ground. A command alien ship flies across the top periodically for bonus points.

Invaders speed up as their ranks thin out. Clear a wave and the next one starts closer and faster. How long can you survive?

Controls

Key	Action
Left/Right	Move cannon
Space	Fire laser
M	Difficulty menu
P	Start game
ESC	Return to title screen

Scoring

Target	Points
Top row invaders	30
Upper-middle rows	20
Middle rows	15
Lower-middle rows	10
Bottom rows	5
Command ship	200

Max score: 9,999. Three lives by default. Endless waves with increasing difficulty.

Difficulty Settings

Access the menu from the title screen to customize your game with 10 independent options:

• Starting Lives - 1 to 5
• Cannon Size - Small or Large
• Shield Count - 0 to 4
• Shield Strength - Normal or Reinforced (2 HP)
• Shield Behavior - Stationary or Moving
• Bomb Type - Straight or Zigzag
• Bomb Speed - Slow or Fast
• Invisible Invaders - Invaders hidden until hit
• Invader Speed - Slow or Fast
• Wave Start Distance - Far, Mid, or Close

Three presets get you started:

• Classic — The traditional experience (all defaults)
• Hard — Moving shields, zigzag bombs, fast bomb speed
• Showdown — 1 life, large cannon, 2 shields, zigzag fast bombs, 1.5x speed. High stakes.

About

Eight Bit Invaders is a companion to Eightbitoids, continuing the series of faithful Atari 2600 recreations. Built with Love2D — all sprites and sound effects are generated procedurally with zero external assets. Quick rounds make it perfect for competitive Friday afternoon sessions.