Browser-native · Deterministic · Multiplayer-ready · Mobile-bound
A clean-room remake of the classic space 4X. No emulators. No Windows 3.1. No DOSBox tricks. Just open a tab and conquer the galaxy.
STARS 2026 is an open-source, IP-clean, modern reimagining of Stars! — the cult-classic 4X turn-based strategy game by Jeff Johnson and Jeff McBride (Empire Interactive, 1995). Considered by many veterans to be the deepest 4X ever made, the original has been trapped on 16-bit Windows for three decades. We're freeing it.
💡 Same legendary gameplay. All-original code. Every PRT, every LRT, every formula faithfully recreated from public documentation. Designed to run anywhere a browser lives.
- 🚫 The original Stars! is abandonware that won't run on modern 64-bit Windows without arcane hacks
- 📱 No mobile version exists — anywhere
- 💀 Every existing clone (craig-stars, Stars Nova, FreeStars, Thousand Parsec) is incomplete or stalled
- ⏳ The classic PBEM async multiplayer model takes weeks per game in 2026
- 🎯 The Stars! community has been waiting 30 years for a proper remake
STARS 2026 fixes all of it.
- 🌠 Procedural galaxy generation — Tiny to Huge, deterministic seeds
- 🧬 Race designer — Primary Racial Traits + Lesser Racial Traits, point-balanced
- 🪐 Planet colonization — habitability, terraforming, mining, production queues
- 🔬 6-field tech tree — Energy, Weapons, Propulsion, Construction, Electronics, Biotech
- 🚢 Ship designer — hull + components → derived stats
- ⚔️ Tactical combat — beams, torpedoes, shields, armor, the canonical Stars! battle resolution
- 🎯 AI opponents — rule-based, faithful, never cheats
- 💾 Browser saves — IndexedDB, instant load
- 👥 Hotseat multiplayer — local, no server needed
- 🎮 Faithful 1995 pixel art at modern resolution
- 🌐 1–16 players per game (any mix human + AI)
- ⚡ Speed modes: Blitz (5 min) · Daily (24 hr) · Marathon (72 hr)
- 🤖 AI takeover on missed deadlines — you never get booted from a game
- 🏖️ Vacation mode — pause your empire safely, immune to attack
- 🔄 Substitute players — drop-in replacement for abandoned empires
- 📲 Push notifications — Web Push, FCM, APNs
- 🔐 Determinism gate — server and client produce byte-identical state, every turn
- 📱 iOS & Android via Capacitor
- 🖥️ Native desktop via Tauri (Windows · macOS · Linux)
- ☁️ Offline-first single-player
- 🎭 All 10 Primary Racial Traits + complete LRT roster
- 💣 Minefields & 🚀 Mass Driver Packets
- 🏆 Balance pass verified across 1000 AI matches
- 🎨 Final art by hand, in Aseprite
- 📦 DLC framework — new races, hulls, scenarios ship as
data/*.json+ sprite packs. Engine never forks.
One Rust engine. Two compile targets. Identical bits.
| Layer | Choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Game engine | 🦀 Rust | Determinism, performance, single source of truth |
| Browser delivery | 🕸️ WebAssembly (wasm-bindgen + wasm-pack) | Native browser speed, no plugin |
| Multiplayer server (v0.2) | 🦀 Same Rust crate, native target + Axum | Byte-identical determinism client ↔ server |
| Frontend | ⚡ SvelteKit + TypeScript | Fast, modern, small bundles |
| Styling | 🎨 Tailwind CSS | Rapid iteration |
| Galaxy renderer | 🖼️ HTML5 Canvas | Pixel-perfect 2D |
| Local saves | 💾 IndexedDB | Browser-native, offline |
| Multiplayer DB | 🐘 PostgreSQL + Redis | State + realtime fanout |
| Mobile (v0.3) | 📱 Capacitor | iOS + Android from one codebase |
| Desktop (v0.3) | 🖥️ Tauri | Rust-native shell |
| Build | 📦 Cargo + ⚡ Vite | Standard |
| Test | 🧪 cargo test + Vitest + Playwright | Unit · Component · E2E |
| Art | 🎨 Aseprite | Pixel art standard |
📖 Full technical details: SPEC.md · ARCHITECTURE.md
🌿 Phase 0: Skeleton (complete)
- ✅ 10 governance documents
- ✅ Cargo workspace + engine crate (sentinel test green)
- ✅ SvelteKit frontend scaffold (svelte-check clean)
- ✅ Git history initialized
🌱 Phase 1: Engine Foundation (next)
- ⏳ Type system, RNG, galaxy generator, race system
🛣️ Roadmap
| Version | Scope | ETA |
|---|---|---|
| v0.1 | Single-player + hotseat, core loop, deterministic engine | TBD |
| v0.2 | Networked multiplayer 1–16 players, speed modes, AI takeover | After v0.1 |
| v0.3 | Capacitor mobile + Tauri native desktop | After v0.2 |
| v1.0 | Full 10 PRTs + LRTs + minefields + packets + final art | After v0.3 |
| DLC | New races, hulls, scenarios via data packs | Ongoing |
- Faithful, not slavish — same gameplay, modernized UX, zero changes to combat math
- Determinism is law — same seed + same orders = byte-identical outcome
- Sniff test after every function — no shortcuts, no batching, no "I'll test it later"
- Clean room — formulas sourced from public FAQ/wiki only, never decompiled binaries
- No microtransactions, no AI art, no Web3, no real-time mode — ever
📖 Read the full design doctrine →
We're in Phase 0. Issues, ideas, and Stars! veterans welcome.
- 📋 SPEC.md — full functional spec
- 🏛️ ARCHITECTURE.md — system design
- 🧪 SCENARIOS.md — holdout test scenarios
- 📐 CODEGUIDE.md — Rust + TypeScript conventions
- 🔍 SNIFFTEST.md — the mandatory test protocol
- 🎨 ART.md — pixel art bible
- 👥 AGENTS.md — the specialist council
Stars! veterans: if you remember the canonical formulas, open an issue — we'd love your knowledge.
External references — studied, never copied:
- 🌐 craig-stars — MIT-licensed Go+SvelteKit clone, module-boundary reference
- 📚 starsfaq.com — canonical formula source
- 📖 Stars! Wiki at wiki.starsautohost.org — tech tables, hull specs, historical knowledge
- 💬 Stars! AutoHost — the community that kept the flame alive
Is this legal?
Yes. STARS 2026 is a clean-room implementation. Zero original code is used. All formulas come from publicly documented community sources (FAQ, wiki, manuals, decades of forum discussion). No binaries are decompiled. No assets are extracted.
Will it run on my phone?
That's the goal. v0.1 targets desktop browsers. v0.3 ships iOS + Android via Capacitor.
Why Rust + WASM instead of Go like craig-stars?
Two reasons: (1) the same Rust crate compiles to both browser WASM and native multiplayer server, guaranteeing byte-identical determinism. (2) Rust's type system makes it nearly impossible to accidentally introduce non-determinism into game logic.
How is this different from craig-stars?
craig-stars is excellent and we respect it deeply. Differences: (1) different language stack (Rust vs Go), (2) browser-first architecture, (3) mobile-bound from day one, (4) hard determinism contract from line one of the engine, (5) multiplayer designed around modern async/notifications instead of PBEM.
Will my single-player saves work in multiplayer?
No — they're different game types. But the engine is the same code, so a single-player game has the exact same physics as a multiplayer one.
How can I help right now?
Star the repo. Watch for v0.1. If you played the original and remember a formula, file an issue. If you draw pixel art, watch ART.md.
TBD — will be a permissive open-source license (MIT or Apache 2.0) confirmed before v0.1 release.
STARS 2026 is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or derived from the source code of the original Stars! by Jeff Johnson, Jeff McBride, or Empire Interactive / indiePub Entertainment. It is a clean-room implementation based on publicly documented gameplay mechanics. Stars! is a trademark of its respective owners.
🌟 If you played the original, you know why this matters. 🌟
⭐ Star the repo · 👁️ Watch for v0.1 · 🐦 Share with your old PBEM crew
Built with love by @pnmcguire480 · Powered by Rust 🦀 + SvelteKit ⚡
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