Invaders of a different kind

These invaders aren't from space, they're right in your backyard. Try your hand at a new challenge that combines several arcade classics.

Use your smoke to freeze honeycombs and then destroy them with your blaster. But be careful, laying on the trigger will reduce your power and slow you down.

Collect power-ups for quick boosts to battle back the endless army of bees. Play through 5 levels of insect-blasting action and you'll unlock endless mode for another challenge.

Instructions

Left/right arrows controls player
Z shoots. Hold for auto-fire.
X blows smoke

Gamepad support is enabled, try it!

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About the game

BuzzKill combines aspects of two of my favorite arcade games: Space Invaders and Arkanoid. This was also one of the first games I developed on the Pico-8 fantasy console.

Tips and hints

You can only destroy honeycombs when they're frozen
Blowing smoke blocks small bee fire and also slows them down.
You'll gain an extra life when you reach 200 kills
Stop firing to let your power regenerate
A bee hive won't spawn bumble bees while it's being attacked

Credits

Code & art: Brian Vaughn
Music: Robby Duguay

Try these other games

More information

Status	Released
Platforms	Windows, macOS, Linux, HTML5
Rating	Rated 4.7 out of 5 stars (13 total ratings)
Author	Brian Vaughn / MorningToast
Genre	Shooter
Made with	PICO-8
Tags	8-Bit, PICO-8, Retro, Shoot 'Em Up
Average session	A few minutes
Inputs	Keyboard
Links	Community

Download

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

BuzzKill for Windows 956 kB

BuzzKill for Linux 713 kB

BuzzKill for Mac 3 MB

Comments

Elnu5 years ago

What's your guys' high? Mine is 17440 so far.

Brian Vaughn / MorningToast5 years ago(+1)

My high score 40,780...but in some ways, the score isn't a real fair comparison because you can just sit on the early levels and rank up points without advancing. Since the honeycombs regenerate, there's always more bees. But...if you play like a normal person that's trying to get to the end of the game, then score is definitely a decent way to see how well you're doing. Hope you continue to play and have fun!

insurgentgames5 years ago

We take on the honeycombs!

Brian Vaughn / MorningToast5 years ago (1 edit)

Thanks for the play through and review. Glad you had fun and continue to play. It has a retro style but also has a retro challenge level...it's not easy. Managing the smoke to freeze honeycombs is definitely key to advancing. Worth noting too that the smoke acts as a shield against bee bullets and also slows them down if they fly through it.

And I hope you check out some of my other games...they're all arcade play styles. If you like Invaders, check out Invader Overload, it's a trip.

atari7 years ago

neat!