Shapes are closing in on the core. Your laser never stops firing. The crank is the only thing that decides where it points. Sweep, grab what upgrades you can, and see how long you last.
An early browser build with no mods, no glitches and no leaderboard. The Playdate version has all three, and a crank.
“Diamonds don’t kill themselves!”
How it plays
One crank, one core, one hell of a time.
Crank to aim
The beam is always on, so aiming is really choosing what you’re not shooting. Turn too far and something reaches the core behind you.
Shoot mods to build a run
Amplify, Spread, Echo, Pulse, Nova Shield, Stasis Shield. Three levels each, stacking into a build you didn’t plan and can’t repeat.
Don’t shoot the glitches
Glitch tokens sit in the same lane as the good ones. Hit one and you get Dampen, Drag, Narrow, Trim, Void or Burst: weaker laser, slower turn, upgrades wiped.
Community watch
How long have we defended the core.
Every second survived since launch, stacked against the Star Wars movies running time.
Live scores
Who’s winning right now.
Pulled straight from the same leaderboard the game writes to.
Loading the board…
Look at it
400 × 240, one bit, no mercy.
In the wild
Actual hardware. Actual grass.
Someone took it outside on a sunny day and sent me the picture. There is no better argument for a handheld than that.
Photograph by Matthew P., with thanks
Press kit
Take whatever you need.
Covering the game? Everything here is free to use, no permission needed. Want a review key or a build early? Email me and it’s yours.
- Title
- RotoCore
- Developer
- RoboDwyer
- Platform
- Playdate
- Genre
- Arcade high-score chaser with roguelite upgrades
- Price
- $3 USD
- Released
- August 18 2026
- Version
- 1.3.9
- Notes
- Online leaderboards need Playdate OS 2.7 or later
- Contact
- dwyergamedesign@gmail.com
- Website
- dwyergamedesign.github.io/RotoCore