Bug Hunter: I Turned Every Website Into A Debugging Horror Game

April Fools Challenge Submission ☕️🤡

This is a submission for the DEV April Fools Challenge

What I Built

I built Bug Hunter, a Chrome extension that spawns crawling bugs on top of real websites so you can "debug" them by smashing them.

It solves absolutely nothing in real life, which makes it perfect for this challenge.

Open any page, start Bug Hunter, pick a tool, and hunt.

Smash bugs to lower your stress meter and boost score.

Miss too many and the page becomes a full-blown infestation.

Delightfully useless? Yes.

Strangely therapeutic? Also yes.

Demo

Code

Nudgen-Marketing

/ bug-hunter

Bug Hunter is a Chrome Extension game that overlays crawling bugs on real web pages. You pick a tool, squash bugs, reduce stress, and chase a high score.

Bug Hunter

Bug Hunter is a Chrome Extension game that overlays crawling bugs on real web pages. You pick a tool, squash bugs, reduce stress, and chase a high score.

Features

• Real-page bug crawling and interaction

• Weapon/tool selection from popup UI

• Stress meter game loop and score feedback

• Local progression storage (best score + achievements)

• Manifest V3 extension architecture

Tech Stack

• TypeScript

• Preact (popup UI)

• Esbuild

• Chrome Extension Manifest V3

• Vitest

Project Structure

• src/content/ : game runtime injected into web pages

• src/popup/ : extension popup UI

• src/background/ : service worker bridge for tab injection/actions

• src/shared/ : progression and storage helpers

• assets/ : icons and static assets

• dist/ : build output used by Chrome

Requirements

• Node.js 18+

• npm 9+

• Chrome 120+

Local Development

• Install dependencies:

npm install

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Exit fullscreen mode

• Build extension:

npm run build

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• Load in Chrome:

Open chrome://extensions

Enable Developer mode Click Load unpacked

Select the dist/ directory

For watch mode during…

How I Built It

• Chrome Extension Manifest V3

• and TypeScript that's it

Key features:

• Bug crawling behavior over live page elements

• Tool/weapon interactions and score feedback

• Stress-meter game loop with win/lose states

• Session-based overlay effects (no permanent page modifications)

Prize Category

Community Favorite

I built Bug Hunter to be immediately funny, fast to try, and fun enough to replay for a "higher score + lower stress" run.

Team Submissions: toannhu96

If this made you laugh, react/comment so more people can discover this beautifully unnecessary extension.