There's a hidden game on this site
Small side projects used to lose to the backlog every time. There was always something more urgent than "put a hidden game in the corner of my site for fun." What's changed isn't just AI: better tooling in general, faster build pipelines, cheap deploys, and AI coding assistants that can turn an afternoon idea into working code have all pushed that backlog line further down. Things that weren't worth the hours now are. So I built one.
I added something to this site that isn't linked from anywhere: a tiny hidden game called Shards.
It's an Asteroids-style shooter, built in the same visual language as the rest of the site: thin outlined polygons, no color, everything drawn in the site's own monospace/crystalline aesthetic. Wave-based combat, a combo multiplier, a rogue "prismatic" shard that drops power-ups (triple-shot, shield) when you break it, screen shake, hit-stop on kills, a few synth sound effects (mutable). It's lazy-loaded, so unless you trigger it, none of that code ever ships to your browser.
There's no button, no menu entry, nothing in the nav. You have to know it's there.
The hint
It's the Konami code. Yes, that one. Type it anywhere on the site.
There's also a second, touch-friendly way to trigger it, and a muted reminder waiting in the dev console if you forget the sequence.
The exact instructions
If you want it spelled out instead of hunting for it, expand below.
Click for the exact steps (spoiler)
There are two ways to trigger it:
- Keyboard: type the Konami code,
↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A, anywhere on the site. - Touch/mobile: tap my name in the hero section 5 times quickly (within about 2.5 seconds).
Either one opens the game. Press M in-game to mute the sound effects.
Go try it: gabrieleventuri.eu