Notebook Fighters
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Draw a fighter in a notebook and watch it fight
Notebook Fighters is a free, open-source fighting game where the fighter is whatever you draw.
Doodle a stick man, a dog, a car, a blob, anything, and it steps off the notebook page and fights. The game finds the head, body, arms and legs in your strokes, builds a rig, and animates your own ink. It also understands four-legged beasts, snakes, blobs, cars that pop wheelies and four-armed fighters, and extra strokes become tails, capes, hats and weapons.
Four ways to play:
• Play with computer: pick one of 10 hand-drawn rivals (skinny kid, dog, boxer, karate guy, ninja, swordsman, a pumpkin-throwing Halloween guy, a bone-scattering Skeleton, a ground-shaking pehelwan and a mega-leaping pencil "Hulk" bodybuilder) on Easy, Normal or Hard. Tap a rival to see its stats, moves and special.
• 2 players: two drawings, one keyboard (WASD vs arrows) or a touch pad each on a tablet. Best of 3 with instant rematches.
• Play nearby with no internet: one phone turns on its hotspot, the other scans a QR code, and you fight.
• Create a room: share a 6-letter code or link and fight a friend online. The host sees your fighter and accepts before the match.
What makes it fun:
• Scrub it darker = stronger. Go over a part again and it hits harder, within a scribble budget, so nothing is best at everything. A neat, detailed drawing earns a small bonus, and the Fighter Card explains every number.
• Draw a power: red zigzag = fireball, blue waves = water wave, gold Z = lightning dash, loops = wings, plus ice, shields and spikes, each with counters.
• Ragdoll knockouts with a slow-mo replay you can save as a clip.
• Keep up to 8 saved fighters on your notebook.
• Works with keyboard, touch (phones and tablets) and gamepads, with a built-in How to play guide. Installs as an offline app. No signup.
Under the hood: Next.js + TypeScript, a deterministic simulation with Rapier2D physics, and lockstep online rooms on Cloudflare Durable Objects, all on Cloudflare's free plan. MIT licensed. Feedback, weird drawings and PRs welcome.
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