How Vampire Survivors Was Built in Phaser: Beginner Breakdown

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Learning how to build a Vampire Survivors style game starts with a surprising fact: the original was a free browser game. Luca Galante, working as indie studio poncle, coded the first version in HTML5 and put it on itch.io on 31 March 2021. It ran on Phaser, an open-source HTML5 engine, and it only moved to Unity from version 1.6 onward. The loop was tiny: you move, weapons fire themselves, enemies swarm. Here is what a beginner can steal from that story.

Play the loop above. Arrow keys or WASD to move (drag on mobile) · weapons fire automatically at the nearest enemy · pick an upgrade with a click or the 1/2/3 keys when you level up. This is a small companion demo built for this post, not the original game.

How This Was Researched

This breakdown is based on the official poncle itch.io page, the Vampire Survivors wiki, and a Game Developer interview with Luca Galante. Facts were checked on 11 September 2026. To be clear: we did not play-test or benchmark the game. Everything below comes from documentation and published interviews.

How Vampire Survivors Was Built in Phaser: The Origin Story

Galante released the first build as a free browser game on itch.io on 31 March 2021, written in HTML5. He built the basics with default engine assets, then grabbed a Castlevania-themed sprite pack. Those sprites, per the Game Developer interview, “were not getting rendered at the right size” — so the crowded, chaotic screen that defines the game was partly an accident of mismatched art.

The design inspiration was LEME’s mobile game Magic Survival, which already mixed swarming enemies with automatic attacks. Galante’s previous work programming gambling apps shaped the feel of the treasure-chest openings, which borrow the anticipation and reveal rhythm of slot machines. One developer, free tools, and a borrowed idea, reshaped into something new.

The Phaser to Unity Engine History

Versions up to 1.5 ran on Phaser, the open-source HTML5 engine, per the game wiki. From version 1.6 onward, development moved to Unity. Steam early access began 17 December 2021 at $2.99, the price rose to $4.99 on 21 September 2022, and the 1.0 release landed on 20 October 2022.

Phaser was the right first choice because it is free, browser-native, and lets you prototype instantly in a browser tab with no build pipeline. That speed matters when you are testing one mechanic. A growing project eventually outgrows it once you need heavier tooling, console targets, and larger content pipelines. If you are weighing options, see our overview of AI game dev frameworks.

The Core Innovation: The Auto-Attack Reverse Bullet Hell Loop

The player never aims or fires manually. Weapons fire on their own, and the game becomes pure movement and positioning. That inversion is why the genre gets called “reverse bullet hell” — instead of dodging a screen of enemy bullets, you become the source of the screen-filling projectiles. The wiki notes poncle coined the term “Survivaton” for the genre.

Here is illustrative demo code, not original Vampire Survivors source, showing the auto-fire idea in Phaser 3:

// Illustrative demo only - not original game source
update(time) {
  if (time < this.nextShot) return;
  const enemies = this.enemies.getChildren();
  if (!enemies.length) return;

  let nearest = enemies[0];
  let best = Phaser.Math.Distance.Between(
    this.player.x, this.player.y, nearest.x, nearest.y
  );

  enemies.forEach((e) => {
    const d = Phaser.Math.Distance.Between(
      this.player.x, this.player.y, e.x, e.y
    );
    if (d < best) { best = d; nearest = e; }
  });

  const shot = this.projectiles.get(this.player.x, this.player.y);
  this.physics.moveToObject(shot, nearest, 400);
  this.nextShot = time + 250;
}

Find the nearest enemy in a physics group, aim a pooled projectile at it, repeat on a timer. That is the whole trick.

How do you build a Vampire Survivors style game?

You build a Vampire Survivors style game by starting with a free browser engine, prototyping the auto-attack loop before anything else, and shipping a playable web build early. Luca Galante proved that path works solo — he built the first version with open-source tools and free sprite packs, per the Game Developer interview with Galante. A direct beginner checklist:

  1. Pick Phaser 3 or a similar browser engine. Free, instant reload, no install friction.
  2. Use AI coding assistants for boilerplate and fast iteration. Scene setup, pooling, and input handling are ideal assistant tasks.
  3. Grab free sprite and asset packs. Galante shipped with free packs and mismatched sizes.
  4. Prototype the auto-attack loop first, before menus, upgrades, or art polish. If moving and dodging is not fun with placeholder squares, nothing else saves it.
  5. Ship a web build early. A public URL forces you to finish and gives real feedback.

If you want a gentler first project, our Phaser breakout tutorial walks through the basics of scenes, sprites, and collision before you take on a horde.

What Beginners Can Steal From Vampire Survivors Today

Beginners can steal four things from Vampire Survivors: start with a free engine plus free assets, scope the project browser-first, polish one core mechanic before adding more, and use AI coding tools to compress the solo-dev timeline. The original was playable in a browser tab long before it was a commercial product, per the Vampire Survivors wiki. Four lessons hold up:

  • Start with a free engine plus free assets. Cost is not the barrier; finishing is.
  • Scope browser-first. The original was playable in a tab long before it was a commercial product.
  • One core mechanic polished beats ten rough ones. Auto-attack plus movement carried an entire genre.
  • AI tools can compress the solo-dev timeline further. What took Galante months of manual iteration in 2021 is faster to prototype in 2026.

Worth noting as context, not judgment: the itch.io page carries the disclosure “No generative AI was used”, and per the wiki, poncle reportedly put an Epic Games / Fortnite crossover on hold, citing Epic’s use of generative AI for assets. Different developers draw that line differently. You can see where we landed by browsing the playable browser games we have built.

FAQ

What engine does Vampire Survivors use now?

Phaser up to version 1.5, then Unity from version 1.6 onward, per the game wiki.

Is the original Vampire Survivors still free to play?

Yes. The itch.io web build is free and presented as a demo with 7 characters, 22 weapons, 12 power-ups, 10 pickups, 23 achievements, and 1 stage, with keyboard, mouse, gamepad, and touch support.

Can I make a game like Vampire Survivors as a solo beginner?

Yes. Galante built the first version solo with free tools, and Phaser plus AI coding assistants lower the barrier further in 2026.

What You Learned

This breakdown traced how one solo developer turned a free Phaser browser game into a genre-defining hit, and which of those choices a beginner can copy in 2026. No budget and no team were required then, and AI coding tools remove even more friction now. The short version:

  • The original was a free Phaser browser game from 31 March 2021.
  • Phaser carried it to version 1.5; Unity took over from 1.6.
  • The core mechanic is auto-attack plus movement, a “reverse bullet hell”.
  • Free engines and free assets are enough to start.
  • Prototype the loop first, ship a web build early.

Ready to see the approach in action? Try the playable games we have built.