A faithful recreation of the classic 1980 arcade game Star Castle, built with modern web technologies for high performance and smooth gameplay.

• WebGPU Rendering: Built on Three.js WebGPURenderer — real WebGPU on supporting browsers, automatic WebGL2 fallback everywhere else (current backend shown in the HUD)
• Shader Post-Processing: Bloom for the neon vector-glow look, plus a CRT treatment (scanlines + vignette) written in Three.js TSL
• Spatial Audio: Web Audio sound stage — stereo panning by world position, procedural convolution reverb, a compressor bus, noise-based explosions, a looping engine rumble, and a lock-on warning when the cannon gets a bead on you
• Arcade-Authentic Background Hum: synthesized from the circuit descriptions in the original 1980 Cinematronics service manual — two beating square waves (the audio board's VCO divided by 126 and 128) that glide lower through the manual's four DAC pitch steps as the castle takes damage
• BFG-Grade Blasts: cannon fire, ship death, and castle kills use a sustained energy-blast synth (attack–hold–release envelope, detuned saw stack through waveshaper distortion, amplitude-modulation throb, sub-bass foundation down to ~22Hz) — the 60Hz hum from the arcade's fireball circuit is woven into the cannon's body
• Authentic Star Castle Gameplay:
  • Three rotating, destructible shield rings (12 segments each) protect the central cannon
  • Shield regeneration: destroy an entire ring and the surviving rings shift outward while a fresh ring grows back — punch a hole through instead!
  • The cannon tracks your ship and only fires when it has a clear line of sight through the shield gaps
  • Homing mines spawn from the shield perimeter and chase you down
  • Vector-style graphics reminiscent of the original
  • Screen wrapping player movement
  • Precise collision detection
• Visual Polish:
  • Starfield background and particle effects for explosions and thrust
  • Ship explosion, respawn delay, and invulnerability blink on death
  • Glowing retro-style text and UI
• Complete Game Experience:
  • Start screen, pause functionality, game over screen
  • Lives system, level display, and persistent high score (saved locally)
  • Level progression with faster, more aggressive castles
  • Mute toggle

Destroy the rotating shield segments to create an opening, then shoot the central cannon to advance to the next level.

• Arrow Keys:
  • Left/Right: Rotate your ship
  • Up: Thrust forward
• Spacebar: Fire bullets
• ESC: Pause/Resume game
• M: Toggle sound

• You start with 3 lives
• Destroy shield segments for 10 points each
• Destroy the central cannon for 1000 points and earn an extra ship
• Careful: wiping out a whole ring makes the shields regenerate — open a channel through all three rings instead
• The cannon aims at you and fires through gaps in its own shields — avoid the red bullets!
• Shoot the homing mines (or the cannon's shots) to defend yourself
• Your ship wraps around screen edges
• Each level spawns a faster, more aggressive castle

• Engine: Three.js WebGPURenderer (WebGPU with automatic WebGL2 fallback), loaded via ES modules + import map from CDN
• Effects: TSL node-based post-processing — bloom, scanlines, vignette — plus screen shake
• Graphics: Vector-style line rendering with GPU acceleration
• Audio: Web Audio API, no audio files — stereo panners, ConvolverNode reverb with a procedurally generated impulse response, DynamicsCompressorNode master bus, filtered-noise synthesis, WaveShaperNode distortion, and an attack–hold–release blast synth with AM throb
• Physics: Custom 2D physics for authentic arcade feel
• Performance: Optimized for 60fps on modern browsers

ES modules require a web server (opening index.html directly via file:// won't work):

git clone <this repo>
cd starc
python3 -m http.server 8000

Then open http://localhost:8000 and press Spacebar to play. No build step required.

This repository includes a Pages deployment workflow at .github/workflows/pages.yml.

To enable it:

1. Open your repo Settings -> Pages.
2. Under "Build and deployment", set Source to "GitHub Actions".
3. Push to main (or run the workflow manually).
4. Your game will be available at:
   • https://msitarzewski.github.io/starc/

• Chrome/Edge (recommended — full WebGPU rendering)
• Firefox and Safari (automatic WebGL2 fallback)

The HUD shows which backend you're running on.

• Original game: Cinematronics (1980) — sound design informed by the original arcade service manual
• Web edition: Michael Sitarzewski
• Co-author: Claude Fable 5 (Anthropic) — WebGPU migration, shader effects, arcade-authentic sound stage, and gameplay mechanics

Recreated with ❤️ for retro gaming enthusiasts