STARFALL — fast arcade space shooter (Pygame)

Starfall is a tiny, punchy space arcade where you dodge meteors, grab stars, stack combos, and survive long enough to take down minibosses. Tight controls, clean visuals, juicy particles, and a score-attack loop that gets harder the better you play.

Features

• ⚡ Fast pace at 60 FPS+ with smooth movement, friction, and boost.

• ⭐ Combos – chain star pickups to multiply score (popup feedback).

• 💥 Shooting & Ammo – precise bullets, limited ammo (manage it!).

• 🎁 Power-ups – Double Points, Slow, Shield.

• 🌠 Particles & trails – clean glow and impact bursts.

• 🪨 Miniboss with HP bar.

• 🏆 Trophies/Achievements – First Star, Collector 25, Survivor 60s, Speedster 5s, Flawless 10.

• 💾 High score save (checksummed).

• 🖥️ Fullscreen / windowed toggle, volume & mute controls, FPS counter.

• 🎮 Zero assets – everything is drawn & synthesized in code (Pygame + NumPy tones).

Controls

• WASD / Arrows – Move

• Space – Shoot (uses ammo)

• Shift – Boost

• Q – Short slow-mo burst (cooldown)

• P – Pause

• Esc – Back / Quit

• [ / ] – Volume down / up

• M – Mute

How to play

1. Move through the starfield, collect stars, avoid meteors.

2. Shoot when you need space, but watch your ammo.

3. Chain star pickups quickly to build Combo ×2…×5.

4. Use power-ups smartly (Shield to tank a hit, Slow to stabilize, Double to cash in).

5. Beat the miniboss to bank a big score bonus.

6. Survive 60s for the Survivor trophy!

Pro tip: Boost diagonally to correct position fast; grab stars in arcs to keep the combo timer alive.

Download & Run (Windows)

1. Download the ZIP and extract.

2. Run Starfall.exe. No Python needed (packed with PyInstaller).

3. Your high score saves to highscore.txt next to the game but its encrypted with 4 layers.

If Windows SmartScreen warns you, choose More info → Run anyway (small indie build).  ( I dont know why )

Minimum Requirements

• Windows 10/11, GPU with basic 2D acceleration

• Keyboard; ~50–150 MB free

Status

This is the first public build. Feedback welcome! I plan small, focused updates (balance, new power-up, visual polish) and to put it on github open source. If you enjoyed it, consider leaving a rating or a comment ⭐