No. It's an original homage inspired by the 1981 defence classic, with its own art and name — nothing copyrighted is copied.

What is the bar at the top?

It's the scanner — a minimap of the whole wrapping world showing the ship, landers and colonists beyond the visible screen.

Can I play it myself?

Right now it runs in self-playing attract mode, like an arcade demo screen. A keyboard-playable mode may be added later.

Does it need a connection?

No. It's computed entirely on your device, so it runs fully offline.

Yes — free, no download, in your browser.

Why does the world wrap around?

A looping world means there are no edges to retreat to, so threats can come from either side. It also makes the scanner essential, because the whole world is continuous and the minimap shows all of it at once.

What does the smart bomb do?

In the 1981 arcade game it is a limited special weapon that clears the enemies on screen. It trades a scarce resource for relief when the ship is overwhelmed.

Why is the genre known for being hard?

Several simultaneous threats, fast enemies and a control scheme with a joystick and five buttons demanded quick judgment, and letting landers carry people off created mutants that made the game progressively more dangerous.

Surface Defender Screensaver

Surface Defender is a self-playing arcade screensaver inspired by the 1981 side-scrolling defence classic, complete with the scanner minimap. Landers abduct colonists and mutate while a ship strafes them. It's a free, original homage, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.

How the Surface Defender screensaver works

Surface Defender is an original tribute to the side-scrolling planet-defence classic — original art and name throughout.

The world is wider than the screen and wraps around; a scanner minimap up top shows the whole planet at a glance.

Landers descend to grab the colonists walking the surface and haul them up — reach space and they mutate into faster attackers.

A self-playing ship patrols, strafes the landers, and unleashes a smart-bomb flash when it gets swarmed.

Anatomy of a 1981 side-scrolling classic

The arcade game that inspired this screensaver was released in 1981 by Williams Electronics. Eugene Jarvis led its development and co-designed it with Larry DeMar. It was notable for breaking away from a single fixed screen: the world scrolled sideways and looped around, and a small scanner at the top of the display showed the entire world, including the positions of the people on the ground and the enemies, so players could see where trouble was brewing.

The game was also famously hard. A two-way joystick controlled the ship’s height, and five buttons handled firing the laser, thrust, reversing direction, smart bombs and hyperspace, so players had a lot to learn before they could survive. Its enemies had distinct behaviours: landers captured people from the ground and carried them to the top of the screen, where a captured person turned into a mutant, a faster enemy that homes in on the ship and shoots back.

Surface Defender follows the same structure with original artwork and names. Because the world wraps, a threat on the far side of the planet is only a short flight away in the other direction, and the scanner is as important as the main view. The ship in the screensaver plays itself, so you are watching a demonstration of that pressure rather than controlling it.

A worked example

The ship banks along a jagged horizon as the scanner blips with red landers; one stoops to grab a green colonist and lifts off, the ship swoops to blast it free, and a smart-bomb flash clears a cluster when the swarm thickens.

Settings & tips

It runs in attract mode — the ship defends on its own.
Watch the scanner minimap to see threats off-screen.
A lander that reaches the top with a colonist mutates into a tougher foe.

Frequently asked questions

Is this Defender?: No. It's an original homage inspired by the 1981 defence classic, with its own art and name — nothing copyrighted is copied.
What is the bar at the top?: It's the scanner — a minimap of the whole wrapping world showing the ship, landers and colonists beyond the visible screen.
Can I play it myself?: Right now it runs in self-playing attract mode, like an arcade demo screen. A keyboard-playable mode may be added later.
Does it need a connection?: No. It's computed entirely on your device, so it runs fully offline.
Is it free?: Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
Why does the world wrap around?: A looping world means there are no edges to retreat to, so threats can come from either side. It also makes the scanner essential, because the whole world is continuous and the minimap shows all of it at once.
What does the smart bomb do?: In the 1981 arcade game it is a limited special weapon that clears the enemies on screen. It trades a scarce resource for relief when the ship is overwhelmed.
Why is the genre known for being hard?: Several simultaneous threats, fast enemies and a control scheme with a joystick and five buttons demanded quick judgment, and letting landers carry people off created mutants that made the game progressively more dangerous.

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