---
title: "Wave Jump"
description: "Wave Jump: Two players, one keyboard, and a wave that won't hold still."
url: https://www.joekarlsson.com/work/wave-jump/
---

# Wave Jump

Two players, one keyboard, and a wave that won't hold still.

2018 · with Cal Carlson, Daniel Olson and Lisa Mabley

[See it live →](https://wavejump.joekarlsson.com/) · [View on GitHub →](https://github.com/JoeKarlsson/wave-jump)

## Artist statement

Wave Jump is a race for two people sharing one keyboard. You each ride a white wave across an 80s sunset grid, and whoever dives through the checkered gate first gets the point.

The wave never holds still, and you never get the same one twice, so nobody gets to learn the course.

## Play it

Click the game to start. Player 1 uses W A S D, player 2 the arrow keys. It starts muted here; the buttons in the corner turn sound on and go full screen. [Open it full screen →](https://wavejump.joekarlsson.com/)

[![Wave Jump: the sunset title screen, then two players riding a rolling white wave over a blue grid, and a big "Player 1 Wins" screen each time one reaches the checkered gate](https://www.joekarlsson.com/images/projects/wave-jump-poster.webp)](https://wavejump.joekarlsson.com/)

## How it's made

JavaScript · Phaser · Arcade physics · Vite

The wave is 964 small sprites, and every frame each one gets a new up-and-down speed from a sine curve, with a random strength rolled for the whole wave. We built it in Phaser over the weekend of January 26 to 28, 2018. In 2025 I moved it to a modern build so it still runs in a browser, and in November 2026 I tuned it again: it plays the same in any size window, the wave holds you up even on a slow computer, and it goes full screen.

_Diagram: How Wave Jump's wave works: 964 small sprites across the screen, each given a new up-and-down speed every frame from a sine curve with a random strength, which both players ride, dive through and race to the gate for a point_

## Lineage

Before it

[Go Home Tanuki](https://www.joekarlsson.com/work/go-home-tanuki/): A tanuki who works, drinks and goes home, every night. Fly him home through the dark and grab sake on the way. The drunker he gets, the higher you score, and the faster everything comes at you. 2016 · 2 stars · JavaScript, Phaser, Arcade physics

[Project page](https://www.joekarlsson.com/work/go-home-tanuki/) · [Source](https://github.com/JoeKarlsson/go-home-tanuki) · [Demo](https://tanuki.joekarlsson.com/)

[See it live →](https://wavejump.joekarlsson.com/) · [Get the code on GitHub →](https://github.com/JoeKarlsson/wave-jump)

[← All works](https://www.joekarlsson.com/work/)