A post-apocalyptic platformer built entirely with Phaser by a solo developer. Winner of the Gamedev.js Jam 2026 Phaser Challenge.
Out of all the Phaser entries in the Gamedev.js Jam 2026, It Was the Robots took first place in the Phaser Challenge. The game was built solo by Richard using Phaser as the sole framework, in just 13 days.
What Is It Was the Robots?
It Was the Robots is a post-apocalyptic action platformer. You play as a robot that awakens in a ruined world, stripped of its memory and barely functional. As you progress, you rebuild your own body by scavenging modules from the environment, while uncovering scattered clues about what happened to the world's inhabitants.
The gameplay combines platforming, exploration, and light combat. You crawl through tight spaces, pick up modules to restore abilities, and eventually unlock the ability to fire. The story unfolds through dialogue and environmental storytelling, with robot voice effects generated in real time using the Web Speech JavaScript API. No pre-recorded audio, no external voice files.
The entire game weighs just 4.9 MB, of which 3.4 MB is music and sound effects. No external assets were used except the font. Everything else is generated or hand-coded.
How It Was the Robots Was Built: Phaser, Web Speech API and 13 Days
The tech stack is deliberately minimal. Phaser handles all rendering and game logic. Audacity was used for audio editing. Music and sound effects are sourced from Pixabay and Freesound under free-use licenses, including the main theme Under The Bleak Sky by kaazoom. The robot voice system uses the Web Speech JavaScript API to generate voice effects procedurally at runtime.
Richard used AI assistance for parts of the code, as disclosed in the game's credits. The source code is open and available on GitHub under MIT license.
How Players Responded
The game ranked #8 in Theme across the entire jam, its strongest category and the one that reflects best how Richard's storytelling landed with players. The comparison that came up most in comments was Detroit: Become Human: "This game reminded me of a chapter of Detroit Becomes Human. I underestimated it at the beginning for the simple graphics, but it just slapped me with this masterpiece." One player predicted the outcome before results were announced: "Solid music, good graphics, great with the theme, and a lot of fun to play. I found the winner!"
The narrative depth was a consistent highlight in the feedback. Players praised the storytelling, the progression of gaining abilities, and the atmosphere created with relatively few resources. The surveillance camera mechanic, a stealth element that several players found genuinely challenging, became one of the most discussed features in the comments.
Play It Was the Robots
A robot with no memory. A ruined world. Find out what happened.