Star Battle - Play Free Online | Wipzu

About Star Battle

Star Battle is a browser space shooter built in vanilla JavaScript and HTML5 Canvas by developer gd4Ark, created in 2018 as a practice implementation of a WorldSkills 2017 Web Technologies competition specification. You pilot a spacecraft through an endless field of enemies, firing to score points while managing a fuel gauge that constantly drains — reach zero fuel and the game is over.

What makes Star Battle different from typical space shooters is the fuel-as-health mechanic. There are no hit points. Fuel starts at 15 and decreases by 1 every second regardless of what you're doing. The only way to recover it is by collecting fuel bottles that appear when enemies are destroyed. This creates persistent time pressure that exists even when you're not being hit — the clock is always running.

Scattered among the enemies are friendly units — allied spacecraft that must not be shot. Destroying a friendly costs 10 points, adding an accuracy challenge alongside combat decisions. Standard enemy ships are worth 5 points per kill. Planets require two hits and award 10 points — the highest-value targets in the game. With collisions costing 15 fuel and friendly fire costing score, every shot and movement decision carries real weight.

The game is built in pure JavaScript with no framework — no Phaser, no Three.js, just the Canvas API and ES6. For developers, it is a clean reference implementation of a canvas shooter. For players, it is a tight survival game where fuel management determines run length as much as combat skill does.

Key Features

  • Fuel-as-health mechanic: fuel drains at 1 unit per second continuously — survival is a resource management problem, not just a dodging problem
  • Three target categories: enemy ships (1 hit, +5 pts), planets (2 hits, +10 pts), and friendly units that must be avoided (−10 pts if destroyed)
  • Fuel bottles are the only recovery item — each restores 15 fuel up to a hard cap of 30
  • Enemy collisions cost 15 fuel (a full bottle's worth), making positioning as critical as shooting accuracy
  • Negative scores are possible if friendly-fire losses exceed enemy kills
  • Built in pure ES6 + HTML5 Canvas with no game framework — MIT open source, instant browser load

Controls

W — move up
A — move left
S — move down
D — move right
Space — fire
P — pause / resume
M — toggle sound on/off
MobileNot designed for mobile — keyboard controls only.

How to Play

  1. 1The game starts immediately. Your ship appears and fuel begins draining at 1 unit per second from the moment you load the page.
  2. 2Use WASD to maneuver your ship. Press Space to fire. You have unlimited ammunition.
  3. 3Destroy enemy ships (1 hit, +5 pts) and planets (2 hits required, +10 pts). Identify and avoid friendly units — they look different from enemies.
  4. 4Collect fuel bottles when they appear — each restores 15 fuel up to a cap of 30. Prioritize fuel over score chasing.
  5. 5Avoid all collisions. Hitting an enemy costs 15 fuel — equivalent to a full bottle — with no point gain.
  6. 6The game ends when fuel reaches zero. Survive as long as possible for the highest score.

Tips & Tricks

  • Treat fuel collection as your primary objective. Collecting every bottle the moment it appears — even when fuel is relatively high — is more important than maximizing score. A run ends when fuel hits zero, not when you get hit too many times.
  • Planets are the best score targets: 10 points for two hits, double what ships give. Commit to finishing a planet once you start firing at it — a half-damaged planet gives you nothing, and the time spent still cost fuel.
  • Collisions are catastrophically expensive. A single collision with an enemy costs 15 fuel — the full value of a bottle you may have just collected. Stay mobile and maintain distance from all objects at all times.
  • Learn to identify friendly units visually before firing. Develop the habit of confirming a target as enemy before squeezing the trigger, especially in crowded situations where everything is moving fast.
  • Use P to pause when the screen gets chaotic. Taking a moment to spot fuel bottle locations and plan a path through them costs nothing and can add minutes to a run.

Game Info

Developergd4Ark
Release Year2018
PlatformBrowser
TechnologyHTML5 Canvas / JavaScript (ES6)

FAQ

No — Star Battle is an endless survival game. Enemies generate indefinitely until your fuel reaches zero. The goal is to survive as long as possible.

Fuel starts at 15 and drains at 1 unit per second continuously. Fuel bottles dropped by destroyed enemies restore 15 fuel each, capped at a maximum of 30. When fuel hits 0, the game ends regardless of score.

Destroying friendly units subtracts 10 points per kill. If you are hitting friendlies frequently — especially early when enemy kills are low — your losses can exceed your gains and produce a negative total.

Planets. They require 2 hits but award 10 points — double what standard enemy ships give. Farming planets efficiently while avoiding collisions is the best strategy for high scores.

It was built in 2018 by developer gd4Ark as a practice implementation of the WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 Web Technologies competition specification, which described the game's mechanics as a coding challenge prompt.