Villager Vikings

About the game

Villager Vikings is a real-time strategy game written by D.M.R for Sprig, the open-source game console made by Hack Club that you program in JavaScript. The title screen credits the story to D.M.R and the music to X.H.R. The story is a short fantasy: the kingdom of Norgal has been attacked by an evil power called Kharaz the Red, who has turned into a being known only as The Center and commands every wicked monster. The king is dead, and you, his son, are handed the Spawning Stone, which lets you call good monsters to your side. Press S on the title screen to watch it unfold as a few short scenes, or press L to jump straight into the first level.

Each level is a top-down map with a walled village in the middle and The Center at its heart. You do not walk yourself. You move the Spawning Stone around the edge of the map with I, J, K and L, and every time you press D, W or A it spits out a dino, a morgul or a knight, which immediately starts marching toward The Center and attacking whatever is in its way. Creatures with names like Bolt, Blob, Pebble and Scorpion, and tough brick blocks, defend the village, and your monsters differ in their stats, so a good level is about choosing what to spawn, where, and when. If you or one of your monsters reaches The Center, you win; if the clock runs out first, The Center unleashes its power and the level is lost.

There are twelve levels, each with its own time limit from half a minute to two minutes, and the layouts get denser with walls and defenders. The game is a little rough in places, as hobby projects are, but the idea of a siege you fight by spawning waves is a real one.

Playing it here

Click Play and the game starts in the page, on the Sprig's own 160×128 screen scaled up so the pixels stay sharp. Different music plays on the title screen and while you play, and there are sound effects for the fights. The game keeps no save, so closing the page starts you from the beginning again.

On a phone or tablet, two groups of buttons appear under the screen, like the eight buttons of the console. On a computer, use the keyboard.

Controls

Tips

Spawn where the road is short. Monsters head toward The Center from where they appear, so park the stone on the side with the fewest walls.

Do not wait. The timer starts at once and your first wave takes a few seconds to arrive.

Try each monster. They are not the same, so spawn one of each early on and see which one the defenders cannot stop.

Watch the clock in the corner. The seconds left are shown at the top of the screen.

FAQ

Is this an official Sprig game? It comes from the public Sprig game gallery, where anyone can send in a game. This one was sent in by its author, D.M.R, and it runs here unchanged.

What is a Sprig? A small console with a 160×128 screen and eight buttons, made by Hack Club to teach programming by making games. Its games are plain JavaScript programs, and the engine that runs them is open source.

Who made the music? The title screen credits it to X.H.R, and it is written as short tunes inside the game file itself, in the Sprig's own music format.

Is it violent? It is cartoon fantasy: the story mentions a king being killed, and monsters fight each other with no blood on screen.

Does it save my progress? No.