BEAT SURVIVORS

Miss a beat, feed the beast. BEAT SURVIVORS fuses rhythm gameplay with horror survival—hit notes to push back monsters, or become their next meal. Every beat counts. Every miss brings death closer.

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Inspiration

What if your rhythm skills were the only thing keeping a monster at bay? BEAT SURVIVORS merges rhythm gameplay with survival horror—every perfect hit pushes danger back, every miss brings it closer. The Kiroween hackathon was the perfect opportunity to explore this tension-filled fusion.

What it does

BEAT SURVIVORS is a rhythm horror game where players hit arrow notes to survive an approaching monster.

Core Loop: Notes spawn and move toward a hit zone. Perfect/Good hits fill the progress bar and push back the monster. Misses deplete progress and speed up the creature. Fill the bar to win, or get caught to lose.

Key Features:

Timing-based Perfect/Good/Miss judgments Monster AI that speeds up on misses Progressive difficulty (note speed increases over time) Randomized music, monsters, and backgrounds each playthrough Danger zone warnings: red glow, screen dim, heartbeat sound Visual polish: screen shake, particles, animated menus

How we built it

Built entirely with Kiro IDE using conversational AI-assisted development. Tech Stack: HTML5 Canvas, Vanilla JavaScript (2400+ lines), CSS, WAV/MP3 audio

Workflow: Started with core concepts, added features through natural conversation ("Add screen shake on miss"), then refined and optimized. Kiro generated the entire codebase—from game loop to particle effects—letting us focus on design and polish.

Challenges we ran into

Audio loading took ~3 minutes initially. Kiro optimized it to seconds by switching event handlers and adding timeouts. State management bugs caused PlayAgain button failures. Kiro identified and fixed the state machine logic. Event listener accumulation caused erratic menu behavior. Implemented proper cleanup. Difficulty balancing required multiple iterations to feel challenging but fair.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Complete game loop: Menu → Play → Win/Lose → Restart Genuine horror atmosphere with danger zone effects and heartbeat warnings Visual polish: particles, screen shake, animated UI elements Fresh playthroughs via randomized music, monsters, and backgrounds 2700+ lines of clean code generated through AI assistance in days, not weeks

What we learned

Describing features naturally and letting Kiro implement them is incredibly efficient Iterative refinement ("make it 10% instead of 15%") gives precise control Small details (screen shake, particles) dramatically improve game feel Horror atmosphere comes from anticipation, not just visuals

What's next for BEAT SURVIVORS

Future possibilities: Multiple levels with unique songs, boss fights, difficulty modes, expanded combo system, leaderboards, and mobile support.

The core concept—rhythm as survival—has room to grow into a full horror experience with chapters, unlockables, and community features.

Miss a beat, feed the beast. 🎵👹

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