Heyzap’s Amazing 404 Page, Created In A Day

Gaming startup Heyzap has found a way to take some of the pain out of stumbling on a 404 error message on its website.

Now, Heyzap’s 404 page comes with a little bonus — a simple spaceship combat game, where you move your mouse to shoot off a flood of enemies. Co-founder Jude Gomila says this was actually built by an engineer named Micah during one of the company’s monthly hack days.

Gomila says the game is designed to resemble Heyzap’s new web pages, but there’s no direct tie to any of the other products. For now, the 404 page works best on a non-mobile browser. That’s a bit strange, since the startup, whose investors include Union Square Ventures and incubator Y Combinator, is now focused on adding social discovery features to mobile games. Gomila says Heyzap will be launching a mobile version soon.

However, if you’re looking to the game as an easy way to relieve stress, you may want to think twice — I, at least, keep getting killed. Asked why the game is so difficult, Gomila (who should probably just blame it on my crappy hand-eye coordination) quotes the page’s creator Micah: “Because 404 should be a frustrating experience.”