First Light

Before the first dawn there was only the Dark. Then, a spark.

FIRST LIGHT is a horizontal shooter roguelike made in 48 hours for Nimble Game Jam 2026 (theme: FIRST LIGHT). You are the primordial spark. The Dark attacks; repel it, grow brighter, and reach the true sunrise.

HOW TO PLAY

- Move: WASD / arrow keys, or the mouse

- Focus (slow, precise): hold Shift

- Shoot: automatic, never stops

- First Ray (laser, limited charges): Space or Right Mouse

- Pause: Esc

Fallen shadows drop sparks. Collect them to level up and choose how your light grows (9 upgrades). The Dark grows over time and whenever you are hit: it makes shadows tougher and the world darker. You cannot die: when your Light runs out you shrink to a spark and lose one upgrade.

4 acts, 3 bosses: The Maw, The Night, and what lies beyond. Keep the Dark at 75% or lower when the Night falls to see the true ending.

A run takes about 5-7 minutes. English / Japanese. Settings include volume, mute, reduced motion and language. The Compendium in Settings shows every shadow, boss and upgrade.

REQUIREMENTS

Desktop browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, latest). Mouse and keyboard. Best at 960x540 or fullscreen.

MADE WITH

Godot 4.6 (no addons). AI tools used, as allowed by the jam: Claude Code (design, code, QA), PixelLab (pixel art), Suno (music). Font: DotGothic16 (SIL Open Font License, The DotGothic16 Project Authors). All game code, art and music were created during the jam.

Credits: tsgamestudio