I Built a Cozy Winter Survival Game Called Warm Up: Free to Play

I’ve got a new game to share, and this one’s a little different from the puzzles: it’s a cozy winter survival game called Warm Up. Living in Wisconsin, I figured I might as well make a game out of the thing we spend half the year doing anyway: trying to stay warm. The whole idea is simple: it’s a cold night out in the north woods, you’ve got a campfire, and your job is to keep it (and yourself) going until the sun comes up. Like my other games, I built it from scratch with the help of AI, it’s completely free, it runs right in your browser, and there’s no signup. Just open it and go.

Here’s how it works. You’ve got a warmth meter, and the cold is always nibbling away at it. Your fire is what keeps it up: a big roaring fire warms you fast, a dying one lets the chill creep back in. So you stoke the fire by tossing on logs to keep it strong. The catch is that a bigger fire burns through wood quicker, and your woodpile doesn’t last forever, so every so often you have to head out and gather more. And that’s the heart of it: when you leave the fire to fetch wood, you’re away from the heat and you start to cool down. Stay too long and you’ll come back shivering. It’s a constant little tug-of-war between “I need more wood” and “I can’t leave the fire that long.”

When things get dicey, there’s a thermos of cocoa for an instant warm-up that keeps the chill off for a little while: save it for when you really need it. And you’ll want to, because the night isn’t calm: cold fronts blow in (you get a heads-up before each one) that bite harder and eat away at your fire, with the deepest cold hitting right around three in the morning, just like real life. Keep an eye on the snow too: stray branches and thermoses drift by now and then, and a quick tap grabs you some extra wood or cocoa.

There are three ways to play. Survive the Night is the main one: make it from dusk all the way to sunrise and you’ve won (and then you can keep going into the storm if you’re feeling brave). Endless Blizzard drops the sunrise entirely and just keeps getting colder: it’s a pure how-long-can-you-last high-score chase. And Daily Cold Snap gives everybody the exact same weather each day, with a leaderboard and a streak to build, so you can see how your night stacked up against everyone else’s.

It plays great on a phone (you can even add it to your home screen like a real app) and just as well on a desktop with the keyboard. It’s turned into a nice little wind-down for me, oddly relaxing for a game where you’re technically freezing to death. See if you can make it to morning:

Like everything else in my little arcade, this is something I’ll keep tinkering with, so if you run into a bug or have an idea to make it better, I’d love to hear it: leave a comment or use the contact form. Now go keep that fire alive!

How to Last Until Morning

You’ll get the hang of it in about ten seconds, but here’s the quick version:

• Watch your warmth. The meter at the top is you. If it empties out, the cold wins and the night’s over, so don’t let it get there.
• Feed the fire. Tap Stoke to add a log. A strong fire keeps you warm, but it burns wood faster: you’re always balancing how big to build it.
• Gather before you’re desperate. Tap Gather to fetch wood, but remember you’ll cool down while you’re away from the fire. Top off your warmth and your fire first, then make the trip.
• Save the cocoa. A cup gives you an instant warm-up and shrugs off the cold for a few seconds. It’s perfect for riding out a cold front: don’t waste it early.
• Brace for cold fronts. When you see the warning, stack up: build the fire high and keep some wood in reserve. They hit hard and they pull at the flames.
• Grab what drifts by. Tap any branches or thermoses that float across the snow for free wood and cocoa. Little bonuses, but they add up on a long night.

That’s really all there is to it. The trick is just not getting greedy: tend the fire, time your trips, and you’ll be watching the sunrise before you know it.