This Ludum Dare’s theme was “Keep it alive”. I typed it into Google Image Search for inspiration, and got lots of houseplants, relationships, and TCP/IP connections. So naturally I based a game on that last one, and made a Space Invaders hacking game about ping-pong balls.

Arrow keys or WASD to move around. If you’re near a ping-pong ball, press Space to shoot it.

Your aim is to stay connected to all the computers for long enough to hack into the network. When a ping-pong ball hits a computer, it “pings” the computer and keeps the connection alive. If computers stay disconnected for too long, they will alert the authorities and you will lose the game.

The log text to the right will fill up over time. The level is complete when it reaches the bottom of the screen. There are seven levels, each with a new type of device. Good luck!

Downloads:
Windows
Source – Love2D archive. To run this on Linux, install Love2D, then run “love keepalive.love”.