# On-Call Survivor: A night shift of bugs. Your tools fire on their own. Last until dawn.

> A free survivor-like browser game about a developer's night on call. Bugs pour in from every side; your code shots, linter, garbage collector and unit tests fight on their own while you move. Level up, pick one of three upgrades, beat three AI-model bosses and survive ten minutes until dawn. Pixel art, no install, no sign-up.

- URL: https://oliverz.dev/products/on-call-survivor
- Author: Oliver Zhang (https://oliverz.dev)
- Language: en
- Platform: Browser game
- Status: live
- Price: Free
- First released: 2026-10-30
- Requirements: Any modern browser

You are on call, and it is going to be a long night. Bugs come in from every direction. You only move: your tools fire on their own.

## How a shift goes

- **Move** to stay out of the crowd and to steer it. Every bug you fix drops an XP gem; walk over it to collect it.
- **Level up** and the game pauses on three cards. Pick a new tool or a level for one you have. Each tool goes up to level 5.
- **AI models** turn up as elites and as bosses at 2:00, 5:00 and 8:00. The last one is the frontier model.
- **Survive until 10:00** and the shift is over. If your health runs out first, prod is down.

## Your tools

| Tool | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| Code shot | Fires at the nearest bug. Levels add speed, damage, extra shots and pierce. |
| Linter | Blocks orbit you and hit whatever they touch. |
| Garbage collector | A pulse every few seconds that hurts and pushes back everything near you. |
| Unit tests | A shield that absorbs one hit, then recharges. Levels add charges. |
| Caffeine | Move faster. |
| Monitoring | Pull XP gems in from further away. |

Coffee heals. Elites and bosses drop it.

## What comes for you

Plain bugs, tanky null pointers, race conditions that weave as they fly, and memory leaks. Elite models: the **Repeater**, a chat bubble that splits in two when it dies, and **Context Overflow**, slow and heavy. Then the bosses: the **Hallucinator**, half of whose spawn isn't real; the **Token Eater**, which heals while you hesitate; and the **Frontier Model**, which spawns faster once it is below half health. Twice a night, a traffic spike closes a ring of bugs around you.

All the art is original pixel art. The models are generic chips and bubbles, not any real product.

The same world runs as a one-lane runner at the foot of the [home page](https://oliverz.dev/).

## FAQ

### Do I need to install anything or sign up?

No. It runs on this page, in any modern browser, on a computer or a phone. Your best run is kept in your browser only.

### How do I play on a phone?

Press anywhere on the game and drag: it works like a joystick. Tap a card to pick an upgrade. **Fullscreen** gives you the biggest field.

### Is there sound?

Yes, small synthesized blips with no audio files. It starts muted; press **♪** to turn it on, and the choice is remembered.