Interactive Graveyard Whack-a-Mole Game Built Entirely in RiveInteractive Graveyard Whack-a-Mole Game Built Entirely in Rive
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Graveyard Shift: a spooky whack-a-mole, built entirely in Rive
It’s midnight in the cemetery and the dead won’t stay down. Zombies and skeletons claw out of nine graves: whack them with a shovel for candy before they slip away. But spare Grandpa Ghost and the Jack-o’-lantern, because hitting a friend snuffs out one of your three candles. Survive until the clock strikes twelve and bring home the biggest haul.
Features used: Rive CLI + GPU Canvas
Rive CLI: the whole game was built from the terminal, with Claude Code writing the scene in RML and a live preview for every iteration.
GPU Canvas: custom WGSL shaders for Grandpa Ghost’s misty, drifting tail, rolling ground fog, living candle flames and smoke curling from snuffed wicks.
Also used:
- State Machines run the game logic. A small Luau script only adds randomness and the midnight rush.
- Data Binding + layouts make it one responsive file. The title, game, HUD and three endings (win, champion, lose) adapt from desktop to a phone held sideways.
- Bone rigs drive the characters: zombies, a self-assembling skeleton, a ghost and a pumpkin, each with its own rise and hit reactions.
  - Audio adds an eerie title ambience and rustling earth, with a sound toggle.
I designed and drew every character and all the artwork myself, then fine-tuned timing and motion by hand in the Rive Editor. I also added the small touches: spiders peeking out from under buttons, bats casting soft moonlit shadows, and a juicy shovel strike with an impact flash.
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