https://1buttonwonder.itch.io/stargrid-reborn

Hello,

I've worked for over 3 years on the "original" Stargrid, I made my own engine supported by the Monogame framework. The game never got attention. It failed, possibly due to lack of accessibilty, the game was only playable if you downloaded it and installed the prerequisites.

I've been working in unity now for a few years, made some games, did some gamejams, and 2 weeks ago I decided I was ready to remake stargrid, but this time, in unity.

This is where I am now.

Stargrid is a Sci-Fi Physics-Based Builder/Autobattler still in active development. The game consists out of 2 phases, A build- and a battle phase. During build phase you will be able to build up to 32x32 ships consisting out of blocks with different stats and properties. when you build your ship(s) they will battle it out as in any autobattler without players interference. The game is an early prototype with a basic gameloop but very limited choice of blocks for now. I'm actively developing this and adding more content, doing bug fixes and balancing the game. 

I'm here because I wanted to bring some attention to the game, It's hard to get noticed :)

I'm eager for any feedback, ideas and bugs!

Thanks,

1ButtonWonder.

I did some updates:

New weapons:

* Shotgun: Fires 3 Pellets, short range.

* Rocket Launcher: Fires rockets which speed up towards the target, slight AOE effect.

* Missile Laucnher: Fires a volley of 2 homing missiles, slight AOE effect.

Utility Blocks:

* Battery: Restores power to the most damages shield every second.

Performance:

* Removed shadowcasting for the time being as they seem to have a big performance impact.

* Simplified and improved many functions in C#.

Asteroids:

A few asteroids are spawned between both zones, this is experimental.

Graphic Updates:

* Added Post-Processing effects

    * Bloom

* Spinning planets on the background layer

Balancing:

* A lot, this is not my primary concern but it will grow of more importance later on. (let me know if something is really broken, ..., please!)

Bug fixes:

* Fixed a bug in healing rate of the repair unit.

* Corrected the Physics2D matrix

* Fixed a bug where a laser would hit but not damage a block

Bugs NOT fixed:

* UI sound playing to loud sometimes

* Explosion effects not appearing

* Random lasers out of nowhere :)

I will continue to work on this, I appreciate all feedback on the game, it'll help me a lot.

Thanks,

1ButtonWonder.

Yet another update:

Performance improvements:

* Added object pooling for most objects.

* Removed Rigidbodies from bullets.

* Tweaked Physics settings.

Asteroids:

* Asteroids are gone again, they might be implemented again if the ships use better AI.

Upgrades:

* There is an upgrade window now covering 5 tiers of upgrades for every block/weapon.

* Upgrades contains: Damage/Range/Area of effect/Reload Time/Rate of Fire/Repair and shield repair amount/Magazine size

To come:

* I'm planning to make an item system, Items will be chosen out of 3-4 possible items each round. an item wil be attached to a ship and provide unique modification for that ship only.

* Items can have an upside and a downside to create a risk/reward system.

* Many new blocks and weapons will be added when the base problems are solved, mostly performace issues will be fixed first.

Bug Fixes:

* sound playing too loud should be fixed in most cases.

* object pooling was cleaned up and should no longer make random entities :)

* explosion effects should now animate and show for each impact, laser effect is not added yet.

Bugs NOT Fixed:

* Trail renderer of rocket launcher draws large lines sometimes.

Please let me know what you think, tell me what you think would be cool to add and I might add your ideas, I'm eager for feedback on this.

Thanks,

1ButtonWonder.

Update 3:

Performance:

* improved performance even more, wil keep working on this cause i want to be able to show huge battles, the bottleneck seems to be my bad scripting, so there is hope :)

Block Tiling:

* Nearby blocks of the same type will use tiling to show a more smooth and interesting surface for ships.

Tooltips:

* Added more tooltips with even more explanation how blocks work and what their stats are, this is influenced by the upgrade system

Bug Fixes:

* Fixed a bug where the copy function didn't receive the correct ship data and failed to complete and still use your scrap.

* Fixed many bugs created by optimizing performance.

* Fixed sounds being too loud, they were being played as 3D but the position was the same on all sounds :)

Possibly Planned:

* Blocks will get a bonus to a specific stat when they have neighbouring blocks of the same type: e.g. a hull block with 4 neighbouring hull blocks would get increased hitpoints.

* Player and Enemy will each have a base to defend in the future, the aim is to take down the enemies base. possibly the base will be a big static ship (without engines)

* Drones, new weapon, drones are single blocks that are propulsion driven and can be equipped with shields/lasers/weapons or even be deadly proximity mines

* A lot of new blocks and weapons will come when the current version stabilizes.

Thanks,

1ButtonWonder.

Small Update:

* Added a short tutorial which tells the player step by step how to play the game.

* Tutorial can be skipped at start.

Hopefully this helps new players get into the game! :)

1ButtonWonder.

Bug Fixes:

* Fixed enter battle/stop battle button having the wrong text sometimes.

* Fixed visualizing placing the core.

* Fixed placement of player ships after battle, they would sometimes spawn in the same spot.

Added:

* Ship linking, click the link tool below your ship (in build mode) to link the ship to another one, it will try to follow that ship instead of tracking down enemies.

* Range, click the range tool below your ship to set that ship's optimal range.

I created a new block, the drone bay, it can be placed on your ship as any other block, it isn't a weapon though.

A drone bay holds 1 drone that takes 5 seconds to launch.

When launched the drone will approach an enemy and take a shot at it.

After firing a shot the drone returns to its respective drone bay.

Have fun!

I did a small update with mostly bug fixes.

* Fixed battle timer getting stuck

* Fixed shields receiving too much damage

* Linking and Range is now persistent between rounds

* Made drones faster

* Fixed a building bug where placing a block over a weapon attached to a hardpoint would not work correct

* Many other small bugs fixed

Enjoy :)

Hello,

I did an update implementing a save & load system.

There's 16 save slots.

Players are able to save/load/delete ships with this system.

This was implemented to reduce building time by letting players load existing ships or bases for ships.

Enjoy!

Small update where I added the first melee weapon, the mauler.

The mauler is attached to a hardpoint like any other weapon.

It provides spinning blades which deal damage on contact.

Did some other bug fixes.

Enjoy!

Hello, Stargrid Players,

It's been a while since the last update, and I’m excited to finally share the biggest update yet for Stargrid. This release brings a complete overhaul of the graphics and several core mechanics. I had hoped to release this sooner, but I ran into a few unexpected challenges along the way. Keep in mind, this build is still experimental.

Let’s get into what’s new:

Graphics Overhaul:

I’ve spent a lot of time improving the visual aspects of Stargrid, including:

• Redesigned shaders for a more polished look.
• Updated lighting and shadows to improve depth and realism.
• Reworked post-processing.
• Added anti-aliasing for smoother visuals.

UI Improvements:

• The UI has been cleaned up to make navigation easier.
• Fixed multiple bugs where overlapping UI elements would trigger unintended actions.

New Resource System:

During battles, earning scrap has been replaced with a new resource system. Now, resources collected in battle will go into an inventory that persists across sessions.

Base Resources:

• Iron
• Carbon
• Quartz
• Gold
• Copper

Inventory and Crafting:

• Added an inventory system to store resources, blocks, and weapons. This data is saved between sessions.
• You can now craft blocks and weapons from raw resources directly within the inventory.
• Added the ability to disassemble blocks and weapons for a full resource refund.

New Levels:

There are now 7 levels to play, with more planned for future updates. These levels introduce the core mechanics, blocks, and weapons in a more structured way.

• To complete a level, you’ll need to destroy at least half of the enemy ship’s blocks.
• If you fail a level or the timer runs out, you can retry.
• Between levels, you can save up resources, craft new blocks and weapons, and improve your ship for the next challenge.

I’m aware the levels aren’t perfectly balanced yet, but they serve as a foundation for what's coming.

Longer-Term Progression:

One of the main goals with these changes is to introduce a longer-term progression system. While Stargrid attracted players, I felt there wasn’t much to keep them coming back. This update lays the groundwork for more engaging progression across sessions.

Bug Fixes:

I’ve fixed a lot of bugs—really, quite a few—but there are probably still some lurking around. Thanks in advance for your patience!

Tutorial Overhaul:

I’ve also updated the tutorial to reflect the changes to the core mechanics. This update feels like the first step toward creating a "vertical slice" of what Stargrid will become, and it provides a solid framework for future updates.

Thanks for sticking with Stargrid, and I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this new direction!