Belt Breaker: Free Space Rock Shooter Game

What is Belt Breaker?

Belt Breaker is a free space rock shooter you play right here in the browser. You fly a small ship with real inertia through a field that wraps at every edge, breaking big rocks into smaller ones until the wave is clear.

It takes the classic space rock shooter idea of turn, thrust and fire, and builds a full run on top of it. There are five kinds of rock, drones that hunt you, a hyper-dash, crystals to mine and an upgrade bay after every wave.

Each sector is four waves and a boss. Beat the boss and the belt gets denser, faster and stranger. Play a full Belt Run, the Daily Sector that is the same for everyone, or share a keyboard in two-player co-op.

It works with a keyboard, a mouse or two thumbs on a phone. There is no download and no sign-up, and your run is saved between waves.

How to play Belt Breaker

1. 

   1Pick a mode and launch

   Choose Belt Run for the full game, then press Launch or hit Space. Daily Sector and two-player co-op sit beside it, and How to play lists the controls.

2. 

   2Thrust, then drift

   Turn with the left and right arrows and hold the up arrow to thrust. Let go and the ship keeps sliding the way it was going, so point the nose where you want to shoot and coast.

3. 

   3Break rocks down

   Hold Space to fire. A large rock splits into medium rocks and those split into small ones. Finish one rock completely before you open the next, and the field stays manageable.

4. 

   4Chain kills and scoop crystals

   Every rock you destroy adds to the chain next to your score, and the chain lifts the multiplier as high as ×8. Fly over crystals to bank them. A kill or a crystal every couple of seconds keeps the chain alive.

5. 

   5Dash out of trouble

   Press Shift to hyper-dash. Nothing can hurt you during the burst and small rocks in the way are smashed. Watch the ring around the ship: when it closes, the dash is ready again.

6. 

   6Refit after every wave

   Clear the wave and the refit bay opens with three upgrades. The first is free. Spend crystals to take a second, or to reroll the offer, then press Launch for the next wave.

7. 

   7Beat the sector boss

   The fifth fight of each sector is its boss. The Foreman hides behind armour slabs and throws rocks, so shoot the slabs away, keep moving and hit the core. Win and you fly on to the next sector.

The rules in full

1. Press Launch, or hit Space or Enter, to start a Belt Run.
2. Turn with the left and right arrows (or A and D). Hold the up arrow (or W) to thrust.
3. Let go and the ship keeps drifting. Hold the down arrow (or S) to brake.
4. Hold Space to fire. Shots fly the way the nose points, not the way you are drifting.
5. Shoot a large rock and it splits into medium rocks, which split into small ones. Clear every rock to finish the wave.
6. Fly off one edge and you come back on the opposite side. Rocks and shots do the same.
7. Press Shift to hyper-dash, a short burst that passes through anything. The ring around the ship shows when it is ready again.
8. Pick up the crystals that rocks drop. Each one scores, keeps your chain alive and pays for upgrades.
9. After each wave, pick one upgrade free in the refit bay and buy more with crystals.
10. Survive four waves, then beat the sector boss to move deeper into the belt.
11. On a phone, drag on the left side to steer and thrust, and use the DASH and BRAKE buttons on the right. The ship fires on its own.
12. You have three hull pips. A hit costs one, and the run ends when the last one goes.

Belt Breaker tips and strategy

• Tap the thrust instead of holding it. A slow ship has time to aim, and a fast one is mostly a danger to itself.
• Work one large rock down to nothing before you open the next. Splitting everything at once fills the field with small, fast pieces.
• Shots wrap around the edges too. A rock hugging the far side is often easiest to hit by firing away from it.
• Save the dash for the moment you are boxed in. You cannot be hurt from the start of it to the end.
• Ember rocks explode when they break. Pop one beside a cluster and let the blast do the work, but not while you are sitting next to it.
• A crystal resets the chain timer just like a kill does, so a quick scoop between rocks keeps the multiplier alive.
• Lancer drones flash before they charge. Turn side-on and thrust the moment you see the flash.
• Down to one hull pip before a boss? Take Hull Plate or a Patch Kit. Beating a boss repairs one pip, but only if you get that far.

What is Belt Breaker?

Belt Breaker is an original arcade shooter built around one idea: your ship has momentum. Thrust pushes you the way you point, and you keep sliding until you thrust the other way or brake.

The field is a single screen with no walls. Leave by the right edge and you return on the left, so there is nowhere to hide and nothing ever really leaves.

Controls on keyboard, mouse and phone

Keyboard: arrows or WASD to turn, thrust and brake, Space to fire and Shift to dash. P or Esc pauses and M mutes. In the refit bay, keys 1 to 3 pick a card, R rerolls and Enter launches.

Mouse: switch on Mouse aim on the title screen or in the pause menu. The ship turns to face the cursor, the left button fires and the right button thrusts.

Phone and tablet: put your left thumb anywhere on the left side of the field and drag. The ship turns to face the way you drag, and pushing further out fires the engine. DASH and BRAKE sit under your right thumb.

Auto-fire is on by default on touch screens so you can concentrate on flying. Turn it off and a FIRE button appears.

The five kinds of rock

Stone is the plain grey rock. It splits in two each time, from large to medium to small.

Ice shatters into three pieces that slide away fast. Ore is veined with gold, and every piece you break sheds crystals.

Ember rocks glow orange and explode when they break, setting off any ember rock nearby. Lodestones pull your ship toward them and bend your shots, so deal with them from a distance.

Each sector leans on one kind: stone in Rubble Reach, ice in Frost Drift, ore in Gilded Seam, ember in Ember Field and lodestones in Lodestone Deep.

Chains, multipliers and scoring

A large rock is worth 20 points, a medium 50 and a small 100, and ore is worth half as much again. Every rock or drone you destroy also adds one to your chain.

The chain lifts a score multiplier step by step, up to ×8 at a chain of 49. It lasts a little under two and a half seconds. A kill or a crystal resets the clock, and taking a hit breaks the chain.

Clearing a wave pays a bonus that grows each sector, with extra if you were not hit. A boss pays the biggest bounty of all, and the multiplier applies to it.

Upgrades and the refit bay

After every wave the refit bay offers three upgrades. The first pick is free. Any others cost crystals, and you can pay to reroll the offer.

There are sixteen upgrades. Rapid Coil, Twin Bore, Piercing Rounds, Long Bore, Heavy Slug and Splinter Rounds change your gun. Hull Plate, Dash Capacitor, Ram Plating and Afterburner change the ship.

Tractor Coil and Prospector bring in more crystals, Chain Keeper holds your multiplier longer, and Tail Gun and Wing Drone add extra guns. A Patch Kit repairs two hull pips on the spot.

Power-ups also drop from large rocks now and then: Overdrive, an Aegis shield, a Nova blast, a crystal Magnet and a hull Repair.

Sectors, drones and bosses

The belt has five sectors, each ending in its own boss: The Foreman in Rubble Reach, Rimeheart in Frost Drift, Motherlode in Gilded Seam, Cinder Maw in Ember Field and Lodestar in Lodestone Deep.

Each boss fights differently. The Foreman hides behind armour slabs and throws rocks. Motherlode keeps its core shielded until you break its three turrets. Lodestar drags you toward it while it launches shards.

Drones join in from the second wave. Gnats wander and take pot-shots, Lancers flash and then charge, Weavers lay mines and Wardens carry a shield on their nose.

Beat all five and the belt loops back to Rubble Reach with everything tougher. The run goes on until your hull gives out.

Daily Sector and two-player co-op

The Daily Sector is one sector that is the same for every player that day: four waves and a boss, with a twist such as Dense Field, Swift Rocks or Drone Raid. It changes at midnight UTC, and your best score of the day is kept.

Co-op puts two ships in the same field on one keyboard. Player one flies with WASD, fires with Space and dashes with Left Shift. Player two uses the arrow keys, Enter and Right Shift.

You share one score. If one ship is lost, it returns with a single hull pip at the start of the next wave, so the run only ends when both ships are down at once.

Saving, sound and pausing

A Belt Run saves a checkpoint every time you reach the refit bay. Close the tab and the title screen offers to continue from that sector and wave, with your score, crystals and upgrades intact.

The game pauses by itself when you switch tabs. All sound is synthesized in the browser, and M or the speaker button mutes it. Everything is drawn in code, so there is nothing to download.

Belt Breaker FAQ