After a few years we revisit the fun annual JavaScript Golfing competition. So what's new?

Last time we looked at the competition was in 2020, its inagural year. In "How Much Awesomeness Can You Pack In Just 1K?", I explained

js1024 is a competition that falls into the realm of the Demoscene where you create little games or audio-visual demonstrations using as few resources as possible.

That scope hasn't changed, the rules haven't changed either:

• Your source code mustn't take up more than 1024 bytes

• No malicious/harmful code allowed

• You're not allowed to extract personal data from users

• No external files allowed (external scripts and images will be automatically blocked)

• Do not share your private participant key. You will use it to rate other projects

• Upload a readable version (+ comments) of your code to help people understand it (optional)

The demos however have become more intricate, occupying the following categories. The person with the highest rating in each category gets the fabled #1 place :

1. Classic Canvas/JS mode - with Shim
2. Shader demo (WebGL1 / GLSL ES 1.0 only) - with Shim
3. No shim
   Just an empty HTML file; you start from scratch. Anything is allowed (2d canvas, 3d, etc...)

With the categories in place let's check out what kind of awesomeness have developers manged to fit in just 1024 bytes and in year 2025. And let's begin with the winners.

Ant1k Attack

• winner in: JS/Canvas
• by: KilledByAPixel
• size: 1019/1024 bytes
• scenario:Ants are invading! Click to squish them.

It does what it promises; squash ants with your left mouse click!
Very fun and challenging. The code makes heavy use of Context and Math like:

context.beginPath(context.fill(context.ellipse(
p.x-p.r*Math.sin(p.a)*(i-1.4), p.y+p.r*(Math.cos(p.a)*(i-1.4))-p.r/4, p.r*(i-1?.4:.2), p.r*(i?.8:.4),
p.a, 0, 9)));

Graves

• winner in:Shader
• by: Ahineya
• size:1019/1024 bytes
• scenario:just an animated cemetery landscape at night

Pretty scary...Makes use of SDF functions (Signed Distance Fields)

When the Sun Goes Down

• winner in : html no shim
• by: Calada2
• size:1024/1024 bytes
• scenario:A CSS 3D scene of a minecraft forest with creepers lurking in it. Watch as the camera pans across the forest and see what's inside.

Calada2 maxed it out by consuming the full 1024 bytes spectrum! Pure HTML, DOM manipulation and heavy use of CSS 'transform'.

These were the winners. However there were other honorable entries, such as:

Back Rooms Escape
An actual game, not just a demo; you really can reach the exit.

Through the nebula

Two spaceships are sent to investigate the source of a gravitational anomaly on the far side of the galaxy. Just beautiful...

Slenderman 2D
A survival game made in just 1k

Make sure to check all of the demos. Be aware that you're going to spend a lot of time playing with them. At the end of the day, who said that for making a game addictive you need 100s of Gigabytes of memory, using the latest 3d engine and top notch graphics?

The world acclaimed Undertale has proven the case otherwise. A little game runnable in any available commodity hardware, fostering the greatest gameplay ever. It just makes you appreciate those tiny JS1024 games.

More Information

Js1024 Main Website

2025 results 

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js1024 - How Much Awesomeness Can You Pack In Just 1K?