Pumpkin Patch Panic

It's Halloween night and the critters want your pumpkins. Ghosts drift in from the edges, bats zig-zag across the field and spiders drop down on silk threads. Each one heads for one of your five pumpkins. Click or tap a critter to banish it with a flash of lantern light. If one grabs a pumpkin, you can still zap it before it reaches the edge, and the pumpkin bounces back to the patch.

The night lasts 90 seconds and gets busier as it goes. A new wave starts every 15 seconds. Big ghosts split into two little ones, spiders take two hits, and late in the night whole bat swarms come in at once. Hit critters without missing to build a chain and push your multiplier up to x5. Get two or more with one zap for a bonus. Catch the floating power-ups as they drift past:

- Lantern Flare: banishes every critter on screen

- Moon Charm: slows everything down for 6 seconds

- Magic Seed: grows a lost pumpkin back

Lose all five pumpkins and the night is over. Make it to sunrise and the critters run off, and you get a Dawn Bonus for every pumpkin you saved.

It's spooky but friendly: everything is cute and there's no gore. Rounds are short and full of particles, little pops and a synthesized spooky-bouncy soundtrack. Your best score is saved in your browser.

Features

- 90-second rounds with 6 waves that keep getting faster

- Four critter types: ghosts, zig-zag bats, two-hit spiders and big ghosts that split

- Bat swarm events, three power-ups and mid-air pumpkin rescues

- Combo chain scoring up to x5, plus bonuses for hitting several at once

- Dawn ending with a bonus for every pumpkin you saved

- Local high score, pause and mute

- Mouse, keyboard or touch controls

- Runs entirely offline in your browser, with no downloads or tracking

Controls

Mouse: move the lantern and click a critter or power-up to zap it. Missing breaks your chain.

Keyboard

- Arrow keys or WASD: move the lantern

- Space, Enter, Z or X: zap (also starts the game)

- P or Esc: pause / resume (T quits to the title while paused)

- M: mute / unmute

- Esc on the results screen: back to the title

Touch (phone/tablet): tap critters and power-ups to zap them. Pause and mute buttons are in the top-right corner. Landscape works best.

Credits / notes

All graphics are drawn in real time with HTML5 Canvas, and all sound and music is synthesized live with the WebAudio API. No external fonts, images, audio files, libraries or network requests are used.

More from neuralprint: https://neuralprint.itch.ioWhat's new: Jam polish pass with a clearer how-to-play on the title screen, tighter control hints and a more readable cover. AI disclosure: made with AI assistance (code and text); all art is drawn in code. More pixel art: https://neuralprint.itch.io/frostfield-winter-pixel-pack