OnePixel
There is one pixel. Click it.
OnePixel is a retro dot-matrix incremental game about destroying a single pixel. Then a few more. Then rather a lot of them.
It opens on an empty screen with exactly one pixel and a hand-drawn arrow that says click me!. Pop it and you get a pixel. It comes back. Pop it again. Before long the arena is full of drones, bombs, orbital lasers, storms of falling pixels and, eventually, a nuke.
How it plays
- Click (or tap) pixels. Each one explodes and pays out pixels and XP.
- Level up. Every level unlocks a new mechanic rather than a bigger number: crits, combos, explosive taps, chain reactions, drones, bombs, lasers, pixel rain, the nuke.
- Buy upgrades. Every new mechanic does nothing until you buy its first level, so you choose what to switch on and when.
- Automate. Drones, bombs and lasers keep destroying pixels while you watch, or while you are away.
- Fight what surfaces. Past level 20, something starts climbing out of the grid. Destroy it before it burrows back down.
Features
- Chunky pixel-particle explosions, screen shake, hit-stop on crits and floating reward numbers
- Golden pixels worth x25, blue pixels worth x10 XP, and rainbow mode, where every pixel pays x10 or more and the screen lights up like an RGB keyboard
- A dot-matrix landscape that grows in behind the arena as you level
- Bosses, a final boss, and a REBOOT that starts you over with everything worth more
- 28 achievements, each worth +2% pixel value
- Synthesised chiptune sound effects and music
- Plays well on phones as well as desktops
- Autosaves in your browser, with offline progress and save codes you can export
Controls
Click or tap pixels. Tap a bomb to set it off early. Tap an upgrade to buy one level, hold it to keep buying, or hit MAX to buy every level you can afford.
Credits
Made by Alex (alex.codes). Fonts: Press Start 2P by CodeMan38, VT323 by Peter Hull and Caveat by Impallari Type, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. Icons from game-icons.net by Lorc, Delapouite and contributors, under CC BY 3.0. Sound and music are synthesised live in your browser.
Source code
OnePixel is open source under the MIT License: github.com/byalex33/OnePixel. Fork it, mod it, make your own version.
Development log
- OnePixel 0.2.2: faster, smaller, and a few fixes43 minutes ago
- OnePixel 0.2.1: turn off the screen flash2 days ago
- OnePixel 0.2.0: eight bug fixes, and the rebalance is live3 days ago
- Boss countdown and a better welcome back3 days ago
- Late-game rebalance: no more slog to 40B3 days ago
Comments
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Make it possible for people to add this game to their own websites as an element or something similar. Good game
Thanks, glad you’re enjoying it! Good idea. I’ll look into turning on itch.io’s embed option so people can put OnePixel on their own sites.
Made a short review of OnePixel: that "click me!" arrow is the best cold open I've seen in a clicker, and ending on a blue screen with "Stop code: PIXEL_ZERO_DESTROYED" got a real laugh 😄
8/10, vibe check passed. I also gave you a shout-out for turning the late-game feedback into a rebalance within a day.
Thanks for making it!
Thanks for the AI video review and the shout-out! Even if it was AI-made, it’s cool to see OnePixel get a review. Glad the opening and the PIXEL_ZERO_DESTROYED ending got a laugh.
AI-assisted review for an AI-assisted game sounds like a good match :)
But I genuinely loved the game, and I hope the video brought you some new players
Very fun!
Thank you!
drones are ignoring golden pixles. Is that intentional?
Yep, that’s on purpose! Golden pixels are yours to catch: drones (and chain reactions) leave them alone so there’s always something worth tapping yourself, even once the automation takes over. They’re worth x25 but only stick around for about 5 seconds, so keep an eye out for them. Thanks for playing!
The dot-matrix look and the 'click me!' arrow made the opening so inviting, and watching the arena fill with drones and lasers while the numbers climb into the billions was really satisfying. Lovely work on OnePixel!
Thank you, this made my day! The “click me!” arrow is the only tutorial in the game, so I’m really glad the opening worked for you. Thanks for playing all the way into the billions.
I don't see the REBOOT option, is that only after defeating the final boss? The slog to 40B is a pain.
it sure becomes nasty ocne you ar elike level 17 or 18 and basically just make like 100k a second but need already 200 million for one upgrade.
let alone wait till you got enough experience for the next level.
currently literally need 2 billion and 15 billion for the already unlocked rainbow mode and overclockupgrade that I cant remotely afford it without letting game run for few hours or so O_o
Thanks, this is really useful. You’ve found the weakest part of the game: from around 17-18 your income stops keeping up with prices, and RAINBOW MODE at 2B and OVERCLOCK at 15B feel out of reach. Leaving it running for hours isn’t how it’s meant to play. I’m going to look at the late-game pacing so that stretch keeps moving.
well got past that but now I basically only have the boss damage and pixel worth upgrades left to be maxed.
which each take many billions.
killed only 2 bosses so far and it doesnt exactly feel like there is anything to do than let the game run, buy a boss damage upgrade every few hours and wait for stuff to end.
also pretty much a mystery if or when a boss appears or respawns or something, so planning is kind of impossible.
is it a cooldown, is it once you have collected that much experience again? who knows.
also, I previously let the game run idle a lot too (it's an idle game after all, duh) and while it told me how muh money I got, I also had crissed many levels, so the usual "yeah, youa re level X, you unlocked Y" popups never appeared.
which is no huge problem but it had me look into the upgrade section to see what new stuff apparently exists that can now be upgraded.
currently level 25 and it feels like letting it run idle, but in the foreground (cause otherwise the 50% feels even slower than it already is), is the only way too go.
I dont even wanna imagine what the other comment meant by beating the final boss.
Thanks for coming back with this, it’s exactly the feedback I needed. Answers to the mysteries first:
None of that was on screen, which is on me. The update fixes that:
I’ve noted the 50% background speed too.
Details here: https://alexdotcodes.itch.io/onepixel/devlog/1718621/boss-countdown-and-a-better-welcome-back
Yes, REBOOT unlocks after you beat the final boss. Once bosses start at level 20, every 5 DEAD PIXEL kills brings up PIXEL ZERO. Beat it and you get the choice between REBOOT and CONTINUE, and after that REBOOT stays in the SYSTEM tab too.
You’re right about the slog, though. Saving up 40B for ARMOR PIERCING is a wall at the moment, and that’s the wrong place for it, right before the best part. Thanks for flagging it.