Starfling: Tap, Release, Sling Between Stars
🎮 Play Starfling (browser, free) · HN Arcade
Starfling is the kind of game that reminds you how far a single HTML file can go. Tap anywhere and your ship launches out of orbit, slingshotting toward the next star. If you hit it, you chain and go again. If you miss, you drift into the void. That’s the whole game, and it works.
By iceberger2001, it landed on Hacker News in April 2026 with 39 points, and the concept was strong enough that people immediately started building their own versions with deeper mechanics.
The Original
Starfling keeps things minimal. You orbit a star, tap to release, and try to land in the next star’s gravity well. A successful catch chains into the next orbit. The score climbs. The pacing is tight. The entire game is a single self-contained HTML file with no dependencies, and it also ships as a mobile app on iOS and Android with native haptics and offline play.
It lives on HN Arcade alongside other browser discoveries. A clean, focused execution.
Orbital Tap
Coezbek’s Orbital Tap takes the same core loop and rebuilds it with actual gravitational physics. Where Starfling is abstract, Orbital Tap simulates real orbital mechanics: gravitational constant, softening radius, well masses, capture radii, and trajectory prediction.
Key differences:
| Feature | Starfling | Orbital Tap |
|---|---|---|
| Physics | Arcade-style slingshot | Simulated gravity with G constant |
| Well types | Single star type | Normal / medium / heavy wells |
| Combo system | Score chains | Combo multiplier with QUICK / FAST / BLAZING tiers |
| Launch bonus | No | Instant / fast / quick release bonuses |
| Visual style | Clean abstract | Rocket ship with fins, exhaust flame, cockpit window |
| Death animation | Instant fade | Astronaut ejection with ragdoll physics |
| Audio | Sound effects | Synthesized notes via Web Audio API |
| Persistence | None mentioned | Best score saved in localStorage |
| Replayability | Restart | Share button with native share / clipboard |
The orbital burn mechanic is the standout: stay in orbit too long and your ship spirals into the star. The game tracks orbit turns, radius compression, and shows a danger indicator before you burn up. It adds genuine tension to the timing decision.
The rocket sprite is rendered in canvas; a triangle body with fins, exhaust flame that flickers with random length, and a glow that intensifies during orbital burn. Small details like the animated gravity field rings and procedural planet surfaces (banded, striped, cratered) give each well its own character.
Orbit Up
A third take on the concept was hosted at orbitup.surge.sh, though that URL now appears to serve a different project. The original Orbit Up was another Starfling-inspired variant that explored the same slingshot mechanic with its own visual and gameplay choices.
The fact that three independent developers took the same seed of an idea in different directions ( one minimal and tight, one physics-rich, one experimental) says something about how good the core concept is; one HTML file, one tap, endless orbits.
References
- Starfling: play in browser
- HN Arcade: Starfling
- Orbital Tap: physics-based clone
- Orbit Up: third variant (now serving Cold Burst)
Crepi il lupo! 🐺