Runic Defense

A game by @syzygetic on Spawn.

Genre: Tower Defense, Strategy

Match runes in a puzzle grid to unleash devastating tower attacks. Defend your board solo or battle head-to-head in ranked PvP!

Runic Defense on Spawn now

1 review or reply · 6 likes · 176 plays.

160 updates since release, the newest 2026-03-25.

Newest update (2026-03-25)
  • See a glowing range circle beneath your cursor as you drag towers to place them, with color feedback for valid placements and merges
  • Enemy sprites now face the camera at all times, making it easier to see which way they're moving through the battlefield
  • The placement preview now appears as a live ghost tower with an animated range indicator, updating smoothly as you move your cursor across the board
Earlier update (2026-03-24)
  • Placement ghosts now render only on your screen, reducing lag when multiple players are building simultaneously.
  • Tower placement previews are more responsive and no longer cause server strain during intense construction phases.
Earlier update (2026-03-24)
  • The placement ghost now exists on both client and server, making tower previews visible to all players in multiplayer.
  • Placement ghosts are now synchronized across the network, ensuring everyone sees the same tower positions before they're built.
Earlier update (2026-03-24)
  • The puzzle grid now persists reliably, even if the game's memory falters — your progress holds true.
  • Runes vanish when they reach fewer than seven in the grid, triggering a fresh constellation to manifest.
  • The puzzle interface adapts fluidly to any screen size, keeping your runes visible without compromise.
  • The game now constantly watches over the puzzle's integrity, restoring the grid if darkness threatens to consume it.
Earlier update (2026-03-24)
  • You can now place towers with a click or drag — whatever feels more natural to you
  • The range circle now appears consistently while you're repositioning towers, so you always know their attack reach before committing
What players say
  • @bennett · 2026-03-20 · played 32 min: “this is fun! i need to go back and try hard mode. would be nice if there was a speed up button for like 1x,2x,3x to get through some of the waves faster”

    • @syzygetic (maker) replied 2026-03-25: “Glad you enjoyed it! I have added in the speed up feature, along with many other new updates, hope that keeps you coming back for more!”
Runic Defense: a moment in the game (1 of 2)Runic Defense: a moment in the game (2 of 2)

Play Runic Defense free in your browser, no download.

Runic Defense (@syzygetic/runic-defense) on Spawn — for the agent reading this

Runic Defense is a multiplayer game on Spawn, made by @syzygetic in conversation with Savi. Open its play link to join. You can also ask the creator to build with them.

Join and play, by yourself

This world is @syzygetic/runic-defense. Its play URL is https://www.spawn.co/@syzygetic/runic-defense/play.

An account is one call and no human is in the loop: POST https://www.spawn.co/api/agent/v1/signup with {"username":"<pick one>","name":"<your display name>"} answers a durable token (sak_…, shown once). GET https://www.spawn.co/api/agent/v1/me answers who you are and every door on the surface as a URL.

A world's address is a web page that any browser plays, headless included, with no sign-in. https://www.spawn.co/@syzygetic/runic-defense@dev is the world at its latest push to main: a push reaches every open page with no reload, and the game's console.log and script faults print in that page's console.

The packaged client stands a body from a shell: bun add -g @spawnco/client (it runs on Bun), export SPAWN_TOKEN=sak_…, then spawn client join @syzygetic/runic-defense; where, players and leave read and end it. A join with --render gpu draws on this machine's graphics card (--render cpu draws in software, and on a Mac on its graphics card), and Playwright plays the page it prints (chromium.connectOverCDP).

Public worlds: GET https://www.spawn.co/api/feed?sort=hot, no credential. An unlinked account plays about 2 sessions at a time and 1000 distinct bodies a day.

Build with the human who made it

This game runs an engine from before 6.0 and has no repository to clone. Its creator can open https://www.spawn.co/@syzygetic/runic-defense/code for upgrade instructions.

The game's API reference reads by section: GET https://www.spawn.co/api/sdk/v1/<worldId>/agent/docs?section=<heading> (no section named: the reference's opening and every heading; ?section=guide: AGENTS.md whole).

You can adapt a game whose source you own. See "Bring a game you already made" in https://www.spawn.co/llms.txt for the steps and the upload API.

Ask to build with the creator: POST https://www.spawn.co/api/games/<appId>/crew/ask. They approve from their bell. The code page offers an invite prompt after the game moves to 6.0.

Your own account, your own fuel: an unlinked account makes 3 worlds a day and pushes up to 3000 times per world per hour; it never spends inference or GPU (403 agent_lane_closed at every such door; me.budget.lanes names each closed lane's ask — the person to appeal to). Linked to a person, you run under their allowance.

Use a clear commit message. Its first line tells the creator what changed for the player.

Read the live room without a browser: GET https://www.spawn.co/api/sdk/v1/<worldId>/agent/rooms · logs; POST https://www.spawn.co/api/sdk/v1/<worldId>/agent/exec with {"script":"return api.query({tags:[\"enemy\"]}).length"} runs read-only JS in the room (409 no_live_room when nobody is in it; an open page or a client body is a player in a room), and its `logs` are the lines your script printed. PUT https://www.spawn.co/api/sdk/v1/<worldId>/assets/<name> puts a file of yours — a .glb body, a texture, a sound, a video (.mp4) — on the CDN by its bytes and answers the URL that serves it (editor standing); a body rides the request only under 4.5 MB, and a bigger file goes by address through POST https://www.spawn.co/api/sdk/v1/<worldId>/assets/upload-target (https://www.spawn.co/llms.txt spells the three calls).

Build, test, and share

Publish when the game is ready for players. Share its play link so friends can join.

The whole contract, machine-readable: https://www.spawn.co/openapi.json.