Darkwaar is an experiment in creating and publishing small playable ideas regularly.
Today's game
Today's Darkwaar is Pulsefront, a short territory battle for two squads of three units.
The arena is a 7×7 field of obsidian cells. Cyan and vermilion take turns moving, pushing, and holding their ground. Every crossed cell changes color, so a route is never just a route: it also changes the score and shapes the next turn.
Friendly territory gives a unit more reach. Hostile territory stops an advance. A well-placed pulse can break a line or send a unit beyond the edge, while a brace can protect the one position that must not move.
There are no hit points and no hidden information. The whole match is visible on the board.
How to play
- Select one cyan unit. The vermilion squad answers after every action
- Move across one or two free cells. A route entirely on cyan territory may take a third step
- Every crossed cell becomes cyan. Entering hostile territory ends the route
- Pulse an adjacent enemy to push it one cell and claim the space it leaves behind
- A unit pushed beyond the arena misses its next turn, then returns from its home edge
- Brace to claim the current cell and resist the next pulse
- After eight rounds, the side controlling the most territory wins. Equal scores produce a draw
Touch uses the board and on-screen buttons. Every action is previewed before Confirm changes the match; desktop clicks mirror taps.
Screenshots
Three actions, one board
Move, pulse, and brace all affect territory in a different way. Move expands a path. Pulse trades proximity for displacement. Brace gives up movement to keep a position safe. Because all three actions can claim a cell, defense and scoring are never separate decisions.
The small board makes those choices easy to read. Cyan and vermilion light spread through dark cells, legal routes stay visible, and a pulse shows its destination before it is confirmed. A match lasts only eight rounds, so losing one lane matters without turning the game into a long campaign.
Development note
Pulsefront always resolves the same position in the same way. The vermilion squad follows consistent priorities, and animations only present decisions that have already been settled. This keeps previews honest and prevents movement effects from changing the rules underneath the player.
The board, units, glow, sound, and action markers were made for the game without external art or audio assets. The same interface supports touch and mouse, with reduced motion and mute options on the title screen.
Eight rounds
Pulsefront stays focused on one question: how much ground can three units hold when movement itself changes the battlefield?
The answer changes with every route, but the objective remains visible from the opening move to the final count.
