___ ___ ___ _ _ _ _ __ _____ ___ ___
/ __|_ _/ __| \| | /_\ | | \ \ / / _ \|_ _| \
\__ \| | (_ | .` |/ _ \| |__ \ V / (_) || || |) |
|___/___\___|_|\_/_/ \_\____| \_/ \___/|___|___/
A hack-and-slash roguelike that runs in your terminal.
Neon-drenched combat at 60 FPS. Momentum-based movement, directional melee, dash i-frames, enemy projectiles cutting across the screen, and wave after wave of hostiles spawning around you. Kill fast or get overwhelmed.
Built entirely in Python with a single dependency. No curses. No pygame. Just raw terminal output, Unicode rendering, and ANSI color.
- 60 FPS combat with fixed timestep, screen shake, hit-stop, and knockback
- 5 enemy types with distinct AI: swarmers, shields, chargers, ranged fodder, snipers
- Wave spawning system with choreographed spawn patterns and telegraph warnings
- 12 weapons across 6 base types with evolution paths
- 9 weapon mods that alter attack behavior
- 15 micro-upgrades for stat progression between rooms
- Braille sub-pixel particles (U+2800 block) for high-resolution visual effects
- Double-buffered rendering with dirty-cell diffing for flicker-free output
- ECS architecture -- entities are ints, components are dataclasses, systems are functions
pip install blessed
git clone https://github.com/Mazurevitz/SIGNAL_VOID.git
cd SIGNAL_VOID
python3 run.py| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Move | W A S D |
| Attack | I J K L (up/left/down/right) |
| Dash | Space |
| Execute Syntax Chain | H (when buffer is full) |
| Swap Weapon | Tab |
| Toggle FPS | F |
| Quit | Q / Esc |
You descend through rooms. Each room spawns enemies in waves. Kill everything to advance.
| Type | Char | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Buffer-Leak | & |
Fast swarm. Lunges when close. Dies in one hit. |
| Firewall | H |
Frontal shield blocks damage. Intercepts your path. Backstab to kill. |
| Overclocker | > |
Orbits at range, then charges with a red telegraph. |
| Spammer | ! |
Maintains distance. Fires yellow · projectiles every 2s. Flees when rushed. |
| Sniper | ¦ |
Charges a visible aim line that tracks you, locks, then fires a hitscan beam. |
Enemies drop verbs on death: RECURSIVE, SUDO, DASH. Collect three to fill your buffer, then press H to execute a Logic Blast -- a screen-clearing chain attack whose effect depends on the verbs collected.
Between rooms, you're offered upgrades: stat boosts, new weapons, weapon mods, or evolution paths that transform base weapons into specialized variants. The build you choose determines how you handle the escalating waves.
Rooms spawn enemies across 2-4 waves using choreographed patterns -- surround, pincer, behind-player, ring. Later waves trigger before earlier ones are fully cleared. Timer-based waves in deep rooms punish hesitation. Spawn telegraphs (flickering red ×) give you a split-second to read the incoming threat pattern.
signal_void/
├── main.py # Game loop, state machine, UI rendering
├── engine.py # DoubleBuffer, BrailleCanvas, GameRenderer
├── ecs.py # Entity-Component-System core
├── components.py # All component dataclasses
├── systems.py # Movement, collision, AI, combat systems
├── player.py # Player entity, input handling
├── enemies.py # Enemy archetypes and factories
├── weapons.py # 12 weapons with unique attack patterns
├── weapon_mods.py # 9 mods that alter weapon behavior
├── micro_upgrades.py # 15 stat upgrades
├── evolution.py # Weapon evolution system
├── wave_spawner.py # Wave system, spawn patterns, room templates
├── enemy_projectiles.py # Enemy projectile system
├── projectiles.py # Player projectile system
├── particles.py # Braille particle effects
├── syntax_chain.py # Verb collection and Logic Blast
├── rooms.py # Room state and transitions
└── spawner.py # Enemy spawn orchestration
The game uses a data-driven Entity-Component-System. Entities are integer IDs. Components are plain Python dataclasses with no behavior. Systems are functions that query the world for entities matching component signatures and update them.
Rendering uses a custom double-buffered system: each frame writes to a back buffer, diffs against the front buffer, and emits only the changed cells as ANSI escape sequences. Sub-pixel effects use Unicode Braille characters (U+2800-U+28FF) which encode a 2x4 dot grid per character cell.
- Python 3.8+
- blessed (
pip install blessed) - A terminal emulator with:
- Unicode support (for Braille particles and box-drawing)
- 256-color mode (for neon color palette)
- Minimum 80x24 characters
Recommended terminals: iTerm2, Alacritty, WezTerm, kitty, Windows Terminal, or any modern terminal with TrueColor support.
Game looks garbled or flickers: Your terminal may not support the required Unicode characters. Try a different terminal emulator.
Colors look wrong: Ensure your terminal supports 256-color mode. Most modern terminals do by default.
Input feels laggy: Terminal key repeat rate affects movement responsiveness. The game uses frame-based key hold detection to compensate, but lowering your OS key repeat delay can help.
Terminal too small: The game requires at minimum 80 columns and 24 rows. Resize your terminal or reduce font size.
MIT