< BACK TO GAME
CHANGELOG
What's new in TB Eradicator
v2.4.0
March 20, 2026
ADDED
- About page — the story behind TB Eradicator, the science in the game, global reach stats, and who built it.
- RECORDS section — leaderboard now shows Highest Score, Highest Wave, and Total Eradicators at a glance.
- MOST DEDICATED section — leaderboard highlights the top 15 players by games played (minimum 3 games to qualify).
- Stop TB Partnership donate link — /donate page now features both Stop TB USA and the global Stop TB Partnership.
FIXED
- Hit flash animation — enemy hit effect now tints the actual sprite shape using composite rendering instead of drawing a white rectangle over the bounding box.
- Double submit prevention — initials submission button disables after first click to prevent duplicate leaderboard entries.
- Leaderboard diversity — all players trimmed to max 3 entries to keep the board competitive.
v2.3.0
March 18, 2026
ADDED
- Extra life power-up — pink heart capsule, 2% drop rate when you've lost a life. Caps at 5 lives.
- Personalized greeting URLs — special links with custom greetings for top players.
- Multi-platform share modal — LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Twitter/X, and Copy Link options when sharing on desktop.
- Challenge deep links with score — shared links now show your score on the challenge page: "Can you beat 303,300?"
- TB facts in share text — every challenge message leads with a verified "Did you know?" TB fact.
- Gold donate buttons — donate CTA now stands out in gold across all screens.
- Boss wave narrative — "Drug-resistant strain detected" and "Budget cuts threaten progress" subtitles on boss waves.
- Map CTA — "Join the Fight" and "Donate" buttons appear when the eradicator map timelapse ends.
- Leaderboard loading states — "LOADING..." placeholder while data fetches.
- Live TB deaths counter — /facts page now shows deaths since you opened the page, incrementing every 26 seconds.
- Hourly email reports — admin receives game stats, top scores, and city breakdown every hour.
- New country alerts — instant email notification when a player from a new country plays for the first time.
- Referrers tab — admin dashboard shows traffic sources aggregated by domain.
- Cities tab — admin dashboard shows player locations with state/province.
- Analytics single sign-on — click ANALYTICS in admin, no second login required.
FIXED
- Mobile initials picker — tap anywhere on a slot to cycle letters. Swipe up/down supported. Much easier on mobile.
- Today's Top 10 qualification — players qualifying for today's top 10 now get prompted for initials, not just all-time top 100.
- Congrats flow — "TOP 100! AMAZING!" (gold) or "TODAY'S TOP 10!" (red) replaces generic heading. Auto-prompts share after submit.
- Desktop controls — wave 1 hint and briefing correctly show auto-fire (F to toggle).
- Pause button — moved to bottom center on mobile so it doesn't cover the wave number.
- Game duration format — shows "4m 24s" instead of "4.4 minutes".
- Duration cap — game sessions capped at 1 hour to prevent tab-left-open inflation.
- Geo labels in admin — fixed HTTPS mixed-content block via server-side proxy.
v2.2.0
March 15, 2026
ADDED
- OG preview image — links to tberadicator.com now show a designed retro arcade preview on LinkedIn, Slack, Twitter, and iMessage.
- Country flags on leaderboard — flag emojis (🇺🇸 🇮🇳 🇬🇧 🇦🇺) now appear next to player initials on both Today's Top 10 and All-Time Top 100.
FIXED
- Desktop controls — wave 1 hint and mission briefing now correctly show "AUTO-FIRE IS ON (F to toggle)" instead of "HOLD SPACE TO FIRE".
v2.1.0
March 14, 2026
ADDED
- TB facts between waves — 3-second breather with a verified WHO statistic between each wave. 48 facts covering mortality, incidence, drug resistance, funding gaps, and more.
- Desktop auto-fire — auto-fire ON by default on desktop. Press F to toggle. No more holding spacebar.
- World TB Day countdown — title screen shows live countdown to March 24.
- Share modal — LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Twitter/X, and Copy Link options when sharing. LinkedIn is now a first-class share path.
- Challenge deep links — shared links include your score. Recipients see "Can you beat 303,300?" on the challenge page.
- TB facts in shares — every challenge message leads with a verified "Did you know?" TB fact.
- TB Facts page — 15 verified statistics with WHO source links and a live deaths counter.
- OG meta tags — link previews now show title and description on LinkedIn, Slack, iMessage.
- Boss wave narrative — "Drug-resistant strain detected" and "Budget cuts threaten progress" subtitles on boss waves.
- Map CTA — "Join the Fight" and "Donate to Stop TB" buttons appear when the eradicator map timelapse ends.
- Gold donate button — donate CTA now stands out in gold across all screens.
- Leaderboard loading state — "LOADING..." placeholder while data fetches.
FIXED
- Post-game TB facts — all statistics verified against WHO Global TB Report 2024/2025. Duration-based facts use 2024 death rate.
- Wave 1 controls — desktop correctly shows "HOLD SPACE TO FIRE" (not auto-fire).
v2.0.0
March 14, 2026
ADDED
- Desktop auto-fire — auto-fire is now ON by default on desktop too (not just mobile). Press F to toggle. No more holding spacebar!
- World TB Day countdown — title screen shows a live countdown to March 24 in gold text.
- Post-game TB facts — game over screen now shows a real WHO-sourced TB statistic. Some facts are contextualized to your game duration (e.g., "Your game lasted 3 minutes. In that time, ~7 people died from TB.").
- Mission briefing — first-time players see a briefing screen with controls, enemy types, and power-ups before their first game.
- Wave 1 control hints — "ARROW KEYS TO MOVE / HOLD SPACE TO FIRE" flashes on desktop; "TAP & DRAG TO MOVE / AUTO-FIRE IS ON" on mobile.
- Eradicator Map timelapse — the /map page is now an animated timelapse showing players appearing chronologically worldwide with playback controls.
- Today's Top 10 — daily leaderboard section above the all-time top 100.
- Challenge a Friend — share buttons renamed and rewired with a dedicated /challenge landing page with OG tags.
- Community stats ticker — title screen shows live games played and bacteria eradicated counts.
- Donate to Stop TB — prominent donate button on title and game over screens.
- Inbound email — letters@tberadicator.com inbox with auto-reply and admin dashboard integration.
- Analytics dashboard — pace charts, geo map, and epidemiological timelapse at /analytics.
- Admin reply — reply to inbound letters directly from the admin dashboard.
- Pageview tracking — conversion rate (page views → games) in admin stats.
FIXED
- Mobile HUD — sound and auto-fire buttons moved to bottom corners during gameplay; footer hidden during play.
- Leaderboard buttons — PLAY and CHALLENGE buttons no longer blocked by footer on mobile.
- Map accuracy — pins now use known city coordinates instead of imprecise IP geolocation.
v1.3.0
March 14, 2026
ADDED
- Global Outbreak Map — new /map page showing every game played worldwide on a dark epidemiology-style world map. Each game session appears as a red dot sized by score, with pulsing ping animations for games played in the last hour. Click any dot for an “Outbreak Report” popup with score, wave, bacteria killed, and duration.
- Map stats bar — live counters for total games played, countries reached, total bacteria killed, and active players in the last hour.
- IP geolocation API — server-side batch geocoding of game session IPs via ip-api.com. IP addresses are stripped from the response for privacy.
v1.2.1
March 9, 2026
ADDED
- Pause button on mobile — a dedicated pause button now appears top-center during gameplay on touch devices, so you can intentionally pause without needing a keyboard.
- Resume button on pause screen — a prominent RESUME button on the pause overlay makes it clear how to get back into the action.
FIXED
- Mobile pause/resume bug — the game could not be resumed on mobile after pausing (e.g. switching apps). The pause overlay was blocking touch events from reaching the canvas. Tapping anywhere on the pause screen now properly resumes gameplay.
v1.2.0
March 8, 2026
ADDED
- Server-side score submission — scores now submitted through a secure server endpoint with IP address logging for anti-cheat.
- Admin dashboard — password-protected dashboard at /admin with stats, filtering, sorting, and CSV export.
- Email notifications — opted-in players now receive an email when their score is surpassed on the leaderboard. One email per address per 24 hours, with one-click unsubscribe.
- Add to Home Screen — mobile install banner with platform-specific instructions (iOS Share menu, Android menu). PWA manifest so the game looks like a native app on your home screen.
- Lungs favicon — custom red lungs icon replaces the default Vercel favicon in browser tabs.
- Field Guide links — prominent links to the Field Guide on the title screen and game over screen.
- Game session logging — every game played is now recorded (score, wave, duration, device) for analytics. Admin dashboard shows total games, repeat players, and session history.
- Donate CTA on game over — "FIGHT TB FOR REAL — DONATE" button now appears on the game over screen, linking to Stop TB USA.
CHANGED
- Leaderboard expanded to top 100 — was top 10. Scrollable container on the leaderboard screen.
- Player ship is now lungs — replaced the syringe with anatomical lungs featuring breathing animation, bronchi, and specular highlights.
- Lives indicator — mini lungs replace the old syringe icons in the HUD.
- "Basic TB" renamed to "Drug Susceptible TB" — more accurate terminology throughout the game, guide, and changelog.
- Demo chase scene — lungs chase bacteria on the title screen. After 5 seconds, a spotlight highlights the chase with scale-up animation.
- Text legibility overhaul — body text switched to Courier New, all UI text sizes increased for readability on mobile.
- Admin dashboard upgraded — tabbed interface with Leaderboard, Game Sessions, and Repeat Players views. New stats: total games, unique players, repeat players, games today.
FIXED
- Power-ups persist between waves — waves no longer end until all falling power-ups have left the screen, giving players time to collect them.
- Score submission — fixed a bug where score submission could fail on mobile due to a stale client-side check.
v1.1.0
March 7, 2026
ADDED
- GOVT FUNDING PULLED superboss — appears every 10th wave (10, 20, 30...). A bureaucratic nightmare with 30+ HP, teleportation, three cycling attack patterns, red tape ribbons, and a "DENIED" stamp. Worth 5,000 points.
- Field Guide — new /guide page with detailed info on all enemies and power-ups.
- Changelog — you're reading it.
- Screen clear between waves — projectiles, particles, and power-ups are cleared when a new wave begins for a clean start.
CHANGED
- Difficulty ramp after wave 5 — enemy speeds, dive frequency, formation sizes, and boss fire rates all increase more steeply after wave 5. MDR-TB gets 3 HP after wave 8.
- Bacilli visuals — Drug Susceptible TB and MDR-TB now drawn as proper rod shapes with hemispherical endcaps, cell wall outlines, and specular highlights instead of ellipses.
- Granuloma visuals — Dormant TB now looks like a layered granuloma with fibrous rim, macrophage ring, immune cell bumps, and caseous necrotic center.
- Power-up visuals — All four power-ups redesigned as two-tone capsule pills with center bands, specular highlights, and type-identifying icons.
- XDR Boss scaling — HP now increases by 5 per cycle (was 3). Lateral speed scales faster.
FIXED
- Footer legibility on mobile — increased font size, improved contrast, added semi-transparent background and safe-area-inset padding.
v1.0.0
March 7, 2026
ADDED
- Core arcade shooter gameplay with lungs player ship
- 4 enemy types: Drug Susceptible TB, MDR-TB, Dormant TB (Granuloma), XDR Boss
- 4 power-ups: Rapid Fire, Triple Shot, Shield, Antibiotic Bomb
- Wave-based progression with boss every 5th wave
- Global top-10 leaderboard via Supabase
- Score displacement email notifications via Resend (opt-in)
- One-click signed unsubscribe
- "Help This Go Viral" share mechanic (Web Share API + fallbacks)
- Mobile + desktop responsive with touch controls and auto-fire
- Web Audio API synthesized sound effects
- Retro pixel aesthetic with Press Start 2P font
- Privacy Policy and Terms pages
- Deployed to tberadicator.com via Vercel