FUSED

DON'T TOUCH. DON'T SNAP.

FUSED is a side-scrolling runner for one or two players. 

Spark is fire that learned to run. Charge is a powder keg that learned to walk. They're tied together by a live fuse, because apparently this is how deliveries work now.

Play alone and control both characters at once, or share one keyboard with another person and split the blame.

The bunker lamp is 5,000 meters away. Between you and it: slag, oil, hot plates and blue water that is very obviously lying. 

They don't get to wander off. They really shouldn't meet in the middle. They just need to get there.

If Spark and Charge touch, the keg goes. If they pull too far apart, the fuse snaps, the fire dies, and the keg never arrives. A win only counts when both characters pass 5,000. If one arrives early, congratulations: now wait without closing the gap.

Three characters, technically

Spark is the gap-runner: fast, light and good at clearing broken ground. Sprinting leaves a short flame trail.

Charge takes the wider route. Heavy, broad, and built to keep moving.

The fuse decides how much freedom either of them gets. Slack is safe. Taut is a warning. Too short means TOO CLOSE. Too long means FUSE SNAPPED.

It is never decoration.

The floor is color-coded

The plant is trying to help. Read the colors.

Iron / soot: Safe slag. Falling is the only problem.

Yellow oil: Slick. Both characters slide, but Charge can use it as a route.

Blue water: Extinguishes Spark. Charge walks straight through.

Red plate: Spark can cross it. Charge BOOMS.

Pick your fuse

The title screen offers three fuse lengths, which is also how it asks how much trouble you want:

[1] CHILLED: 180px fuse. Relaxed.

[2] HOT: 150px fuse. Balanced.

[3] BOOM!: 125px fuse. Faster, closer, and generally less responsible.

A run takes around two to five minutes.

There are no further menus to admire.

Controls

One player may drive both. Two players sit on one keyboard. No remap in v0.1.

CHARGE (Powder Keg) Move A / D · Jump W · Sprint CTRL

SPARK (Fire) Move J / L · Jump I · Sprint SHIFT

1–3 or arrows select mode on the title. ENTER starts. H help. C credits. SPACE or ENTER leaves help, win, or fail.

Features

• Two bodies, one line — a readable tether with contact and snap as the only deaths
• Simultaneous split-keyboard co-op, or two-handed solo
• Authored 5000-unit night plant: tutorial slag, split paths, hot plates, open run to the bunker
• Independent stamina bars; sprint is a spend, not a default
• 320×240 VGA Mode X, 16-color industrial night palette, 16×36 four-frame sprites
• MS-DOS and Win64 through the CyberVGA SDK
• Fail plates you can read from across the room: TOO CLOSE / FUSE SNAPPED. Win plate: SHELTER

What this is (and is not)

Industrial night cartoon. Soot, rust, ember, iron, one strip of ice blue. Slapstick explosion, not gore. Comedy of physics, not dialogue.

This is not a body/mind allegory, a folklore tale, a licensed chase, or a horror slasher. No coyote. No roadrunner. No ACME.

Technical

Version v0.1 — 3 September 2026

Engine CyberVGA SDK 1.1 (C89, Q16.16, software sprites)

Resolution VGA Mode X 320×240, 256-color palette (16 used)

Session 2–5 minutes per attempt

Players 1–2, split keyboard, simultaneous

Status Reskin + rewrite of an existing runner loop

v0.1 includes the retitle, recolored hazards, two fail screens, one win screen, and the same 5000 finish.

Not in v0.1: checkpoints, score attack, online play, extra characters, cutscenes, licensed music.

Credits

Prototype for the CyberVGA SDK. Design, copy, and world rules: FUSED GDD v0.1. Palette as language: soot, rust, ember, warning yellow, ice blue.

Plant hum. Fuse taut raises pitch. Spark sprint crackles. Charge sprint thuds. TOO CLOSE is a short blast. FUSE SNAPPED is a string break. SHELTER is a door and a lamp.

Assets Used

Sound:

• LTINTR.wav: Menu track (https://pixabay.com/music/scary-childrens-tunes-halloween-time-122605)
• CHSLOP.WAV: In-game chase / run track (https://pixabay.com/music/cartoons-chase-me-366064)
• GOVER.WAV: Game over sound (https://pixabay.com/music/video-games-game-over-retro-video-game-1-422479)
• WIN.WAV: Win sound (https://pixabay.com/music/cartoons-slapstick-looney-tunes-cartoon-sfx-music-back...)
• SJUMP.WAV: Retro jump / bounce chirp sound
• SSLIDE.WAV: Oil slick friction slide sound
• SSIZZL.WAV: Water steam sizzle / extinguish sound
• SBOOM.WAV: Detonation blast sound

Font:

https://www.dafont.com/barber-chop.font

License

SDK sample / non-commercial prototype. Not a commercial release.

Stay on the fuse.