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Starfling: A one-tap endless orbital slingshot game in a single HTML file

playstarfling.com

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Re: Starfling: A one-tap endless orbital slingshot game in a single HTML file

#51

Post by jonwinstanley »

iceberger2001 wrote: post #2

Hey HN, I built STARFLING, a simple hyper-casual space game you can play right in your browser. You orbit a star with a ball. Tap anywhere to release and sling it through space. Catch the next star to lock in orbit and keep going. Miss and it's game over. The whole thing is just one HTML file with vanilla JS, Canvas, and Web Audio. No frameworks, no build step. Loads in under 2 seconds on phone or desktop. There's a…

Really like this game. A few bits of feedback:

- Can you add a keyboard key that also launches, rather than always have to be a click - Can you make it so it restarts without having to click the play again button? Maybe use the same keyboard button as above? - When fail, why does the ship fall to the floor? Maybe a gentle curve away would be more "realistic" - Why is the bg squares? Maybe it should be more of a subtle space bg

Thanks for making it!

Re: Starfling: A one-tap endless orbital slingshot game in a single HTML file

#52

Post by jonwinstanley »

iceberger2001 wrote: post #2

Hey HN, I built STARFLING, a simple hyper-casual space game you can play right in your browser. You orbit a star with a ball. Tap anywhere to release and sling it through space. Catch the next star to lock in orbit and keep going. Miss and it's game over. The whole thing is just one HTML file with vanilla JS, Canvas, and Web Audio. No frameworks, no build step. Loads in under 2 seconds on phone or desktop. There's a…

Oh, and it’s completely different on mobile. Game is slower and much easier to score well.

My feedback above was on desktop.

Re: Starfling: A one-tap endless orbital slingshot game in a single HTML file

#53

Post by tux3 »

muti wrote: post #6

Fun. Not sure if this applies on desktop, but on mobile the quick/fast/blazing/skip text often blocks vision of the ball making it harder than it should be to make combos

Very much applies on desktop. The restart button is also strange on desktop, it plays animations instead of restarting. I recommend pressing pause and restarting from the pause menu, which is instant.

Re: Starfling: A one-tap endless orbital slingshot game in a single HTML file

#54

Post by rkagerer »

Neat, and nice audio, but I wish it were a little more forgiving. Eg. Combos or surviving several jumps might collect "lives" that recover your last orbit if you screw up.

Might also be fun if you encountered powerups as you explore deeper into the map (eg. gravity attraction, project path, etc), or even got to pick between forks in the route. The trail art reminds me of Out There.

Re: Starfling: A one-tap endless orbital slingshot game in a single HTML file

#55

Post by tuyiown »

iceberger2001 wrote: post #2

Hey HN, I built STARFLING, a simple hyper-casual space game you can play right in your browser. You orbit a star with a ball. Tap anywhere to release and sling it through space. Catch the next star to lock in orbit and keep going. Miss and it's game over. The whole thing is just one HTML file with vanilla JS, Canvas, and Web Audio. No frameworks, no build step. Loads in under 2 seconds on phone or desktop. There's a…

It’s great but the animations when catching a new orbit (sparks and combo announcements) is making hard to follow the ball, I realized I missed many shots due to this after some games.

Re: Starfling: A one-tap endless orbital slingshot game in a single HTML file

#56

Post by metalrain »

iceberger2001 wrote: post #2

Hey HN, I built STARFLING, a simple hyper-casual space game you can play right in your browser. You orbit a star with a ball. Tap anywhere to release and sling it through space. Catch the next star to lock in orbit and keep going. Miss and it's game over. The whole thing is just one HTML file with vanilla JS, Canvas, and Web Audio. No frameworks, no build step. Loads in under 2 seconds on phone or desktop. There's a…

I noticed that gameplay speed depends on the window size. I'm assuming that larger canvas takes longer to render. It seems too fast at small window sizes and maybe too slow at 4K, not sure what is the intended speed.

Re: Starfling: A one-tap endless orbital slingshot game in a single HTML file

#57

Post by hirako2000 »

I don't get the gameplay.

Ok on touch gravity of the orbiting takes off. And if I don't land the next I start again and get prompted for my email each time.

It reminds me of certain games on NES which could be played for hours, once you lose your 3rd life you start all the way from the beginning.

Here it's the same. With one life.

Re: Starfling: A one-tap endless orbital slingshot game in a single HTML file

#59

Post by cheschire »

iceberger2001 wrote: post #2

Hey HN, I built STARFLING, a simple hyper-casual space game you can play right in your browser. You orbit a star with a ball. Tap anywhere to release and sling it through space. Catch the next star to lock in orbit and keep going. Miss and it's game over. The whole thing is just one HTML file with vanilla JS, Canvas, and Web Audio. No frameworks, no build step. Loads in under 2 seconds on phone or desktop. There's a…

The "better than X%" of players seems way off. If I get zero, somehow still better than 32% of players? and 25 planets is >99% of players?

The dotted line starting wide and slowly shrinking to the real orbit is a great touch. It makes the quick/fast/blazing/insane moves harder and more satisfying when they work. The angles encourage skips frequently enough to feel good.

I think the only improvement I would make to the look is perhaps the background. I still think the cyberwave aesthetic works and isn't played out quite yet, especially on mobile. But maybe instead of a boring flat grid, some very faint parallax points moving across the background might work better to give the game a bit more depth.

The pause->restart flow is way faster than clicking the restart button at the bottom of the screen. If your intent is to capture the end of every game to advertise the upcoming mobile game, then you might want to capture that method of restart as well.

Great game, thanks!

Re: Starfling: A one-tap endless orbital slingshot game in a single HTML file

#60

Post by wafflemaker »

andai wrote: post #50
cpcallen wrote: post #41

I am completely confused about the orbital mechanics in this game. They seem completely broken; at any rate they do not work remotely like any other simulation I've played with (e.g. Gravitation or Kerbal Space Program). The bodies other than the first body appear to actively deflect the spacecraft away!

You have elucidated a real gap in the marketplace: physically accurate mindless tapping orbital mechanics sandbox.

Not really. Flight of Nova fills that gap, and I think I know how I'm going to spend this afternoon now.
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