Every Star is Alive

Oct 30, 2025

Become a little sun. Gather living stars, then lead them through the stargate.

Play in browser ↗▷ Watch

Eight star systems to explore with mouse, keyboard or touch. Choose Classic or relaxed Gentle mode; progress saves in this browser. English and Chinese are available in-game. This browser remake develops the original sun-and-satellites idea.

A little sun gathering colorful stars into orbit in the new browser edition.
Browser edition · Actual gameplay

Gameplay sketch · diagram, not a game screenshot

  1. Move as the sun
  2. Slow down & gather
  3. Reach the stargate

Original project and downloads are also preserved on itch.io.

Original itch.io project ↗

Watch it in motion

Original prototype · Archived physics gameplay · Open on YouTube ↗
Design notes, controls & original archive
Original project documentation, credits, and references are preserved below.

Every Star is Alive

Genre: Physics puzzle · Micro-action · Minimal arcade
Hook: One-finger control with readable, tangible gravity.
Instant feedback loop: Approach → capture → becomes an orbital ally → score. Moving hazards and a portal create a tight collect → exit loop.

Overview

This game is about — steer a living star with your mouse, harness gravity to capture wandering micro-stars into your orbit, dodge moving hazards, and step through the portal once you’ve met the score goal.

  • Core loop: Scout the scene → slow in & capture stars → grow your orbit & score → reach the quota → enter the portal → next level.
  • Platform: PC (Unity 2D).
  • Audience: Players who enjoy physical feedback, light strategy, and short-session challenges.

flowchart TD A[Scout the scene] –> B[Approach a star] B –> C{Capture?} C –>|Yes| D[Becomes orbital ally] C –>|No| B D –> E[Orbit grows & score+1] E –> F{Quota met?} F –>|Yes| G[Enter Portal -> Next Level] F –>|No| A

Download & Trailer

Physics & Gravity (System You Can Feel)

Gravity sources:

  • Player (controllable star): has mass and a circular interaction radius (capture zone).
  • Captor (scene gravity body): static source with its own interaction radius.
  • Affected bodies: Star (free-flying micro-stars).

Gravity model: For each gravity source, apply acceleration with an inverse-square falloff; integrate velocity with clamping by maxVelocity.

  • Accumulate contributions from all active sources each frame.
  • Position clamp inside screen; damping on player acceleration to keep motion readable.
  • Orbiting satellites space out using orbitSpacing; angular speed tuned for circular readability.

Controls (Simple & Intuitive)

  • Mouse move: The player star accelerates toward the cursor with capped speed and soft damping; position is clamped inside the screen.
  • Hotkeys:
    • R — Restart the current level (resets time scale).
    • N — Skip to next level (debug/demo).
    • K / L — Toggle mouse cursor visibility (presentation or immersion).

Gameplay & Mechanics

Orbiting

  • On capture, a star becomes a satellite: enable trail, switch collider to trigger, and add score.
  • Assign an orbit radius; multiple satellites auto-space via orbitSpacing.

Capture test

  • When a Star enters a source’s interaction radius and its relative speed/heading indicates it cannot escape (escape-speed and direction thresholds), it becomes that source’s satellite.

flowchart TD S[Star enters interaction radius] –> V{Relative speed < v_escape?} V –>|Yes| H{Heading within capture cone?} V –>|No| R[Deflect / continue free-fly] H –>|Yes| O[Assign orbit radius & phase] H –>|No| R O –> T[Enable trail, set trigger collider] T –> P[Score +1; add to satellites list]

Level & Difficulty Design

Building Blocks

  • Terrain/Hazards: Barriers moving back-and-forth between endpoints; speed and path editable.
  • Goals: TotalScore (exit threshold), placement of Pickups, number and initial speed range of Stars.
  • Risk knobs: Screen-edge bounces (with damping), hazard collisions, multi-source gravity tug-of-war.
  • Exit: Portal.

Scoring, Win/Loss, Objectives

  • Scoring: Pickups convert into orbiting companions around the player by dynamically adding OrbitAroundTarget; grants Score+1 with immediate visual feedback. Stars captured by the player also score via LevelManager (per level rules).
  • Win: Enter the Portal when Score ≥ totalScore; play win SFX, pause time, and show WinTip.
  • Loss: Colliding Player or Star with Barriers triggers a sprite-based explosion, pauses time, shows LoseTip, and plays the fail SFX.
Intro: Fixed hazards + few Pickups; a handful of slow, nearby Stars. Establish approach → capture → orbit mental model quickly.
Intermediate: Add one or two Captor sources and asynchronous moving Barriers; players must time entries during favorable relative-velocity windows.
Challenge: Faster Stars, narrow corridors of Barriers, and angled Portal placement; emphasizes pacing and route planning.
game scene

Game Scene

UI / UX Design

  • VFX: LevelManager.Explode() plays a multi-frame explosion on the Effect sorting layer.
  • Audio:
    • BGM: started via Game Manager / Audio Manager.
    • SFX: PlayWinSound() / PlayLoseSound(); add a light capture SFX for clarity.
  • Style: Minimal sci-fi; geometric shapes with neon trails. BG.cs loops background sprites as a slow parallax-like frame cycle.
game scene

Game Scene

game scene

Game Scene

game scene

Game Scene

game scene

Game Scene

game scene

Game Scene