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I would make restarting much much faster than it is now. That's the most annoying part and it breaks the satisfying chain completely for me. I miss and then have to watch it slowly fall, or struggle to find the reset button. And even if I hit the reset, I have to go through the menu.

At the very least, put the reset and play again buttons in the same spot, so I can just keep tapping/clicking there.

Super Meat Boy is how all games like this should be.



Tampermokey userscript -- <space> to launch and restart <esc> to give up

```javascript

   // ==UserScript==
   // @name         StarFling Spacebar
   // @namespace    https://playstarfling.com/
   // @version      2026-04-11
   // @description  Spacebar to launch and restart StarFling
   // @author       Claude Code
   // @match        https://playstarfling.com/*
   // @icon         https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?sz=64&domain=playstarfling.com
   // @grant        none
   // @run-at       document-idle
   // ==/UserScript==

   (function () {
     'use strict';

     document.addEventListener('keydown', function (e) {
       if (e.code === 'Escape') {
         e.preventDefault();
         // During play, click give-up to trigger the death/restart screen
         const giveup = document.getElementById('giveup-btn');
         if (giveup) giveup.click();
         return;
       }

       if (e.code !== 'Space') return;
       e.preventDefault();

       // If the game-over screen is visible, click retry
       const gameOver = document.getElementById('game-over');
       if (gameOver && !gameOver.classList.contains('hidden')) {
         const retry = document.getElementById('retry-btn');
         if (retry) retry.click();
         return;
       }

       // Otherwise simulate a tap on the canvas (start from menu / release orb)
       const canvas = document.getElementById('c');
       if (canvas) {
         canvas.dispatchEvent(new PointerEvent('pointerdown', {
           bubbles: true,
           clientX: window.innerWidth / 2,
           clientY: window.innerHeight / 2,
         }));
       }
     });
   })();
```


I got so annoyed I fixed the annoyances.

https://orbitup.surge.sh/

- FPS tweak to fix variable speed - Can bounce - Life points instead of sudden death - Levels - A few effects - Better adjusted difficulty


No attribution to the original game?


yes, I should. In case someone outside this thread comes across that 'fork'.

Edit: I added due credit. thanks for pointing that out.


Publish yours un-minified like OP, so we can easily riff w/ or w/o an LLM ;)


The author hasn't complained (yet). I will open source it if he wouldn't mind.

Regarding moat, I doubt the logic behind a server would prevent anyone to copycat game concept and graphics. Games have always been cloned as community remakes, with little recourse to take them down.


I wasn’t suggesting you open source it, for what it’s worth


Nice! Some ideas: Please can you remove the text that hides the main game view. This is the biggest annoyance on both games and slows you down a lot. Also the gravity / physics feels off. Orbit is too slow.


This thread is a perfect showcase of "You NEED a moat".


Also, put your business logic on the backend


you removed the "spacebar" functionality


I nearly stopped playing because of this, before reaching 11. Just leave out the interstitial when clicking restart at the bottom.


I'm not sure if it was added after your comment, but there's a restart button at the bottom center of the screen that you can hit while the ball is falling.


I would add long-press to restart




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