Stellar is a vertically scrolling VGA space shooter for period PC hardware:
an Intel 486, MS-DOS, VGA mode 13h, and a PC speaker. It is written in C for
16-bit real mode with Open Watcom. The current DOS executable is about 100 KB;
the release floppy image is exactly 1,474,560 bytes, the standard 1.44 MB FAT12
floppy size. The browser port is included in web/ for local or self-hosted deployment.
- Source repository: github.com/FredApps/Stellar
- MS-DOS release downloads: latest release
- 320x200x256 VGA mode 13h, double-buffered, and paced to about 35 FPS for consistent speed on 33 MHz, 66 MHz, and faster Pentium-class machines.
- Procedural scrolling nebula background, parallax stars, shaded sprites, engine flames, boss core effects, and fading particles.
- Weighted enemy waves, formation spawns, elite variants, and fifteen authored campaign bosses with unique silhouettes, movement bands, and attack patterns.
- Persistent weapon upgrades, homing missiles, smart bombs, Shift boost with a boost bar, graze bonuses, combo multipliers, medals, and risk pickups.
- Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties share one high-score table; harder modes apply higher score multipliers.
- Sixteen PC-speaker chapter themes, changing after every boss, plus priority-mixed sound effects.
- Top-8 high-score table saved to
HISCORE.DAT. - No FPU required; it runs on a 486SX as well as a DX.
Stellar targets IBM PC compatibles from the 486 era onward. The practical baseline is a 33 MHz 486SX or 486DX with VGA and conventional DOS memory. A math coprocessor is not required, and the game does not use XMS, EMS, protected mode, DPMI, or a sound card.
Faster machines are supported. The native DOS build intentionally caps gameplay near 35 FPS by waiting across VGA retraces, so a 486DX2/66, early Pentium, Pentium MMX, or later DOS-capable PC should not make the game run at double speed. Very slow 386/486-class machines may run below the cap if they cannot finish the full update and 64 KB VGA copy in time.
Video requires a VGA-compatible adapter that supports BIOS mode 13h (320x200, 256 colors) and standard VGA DAC/retrace ports. This includes common ISA/VLB/PCI VGA and SVGA cards from the era as well as DOSBox-X. Audio uses the PC speaker only; AdLib, Sound Blaster, and MIDI hardware are not required.
Known-good environments include MS-DOS 3.3 or later, MS-DOS 5/6.x, Windows 9x
DOS mode, FreeDOS, and DOSBox-X. The release package includes both STELLAR.EXE
and a standard 1.44 MB FAT12 floppy image.
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| CPU | 486SX/DX 33 MHz baseline; faster 486/Pentium-class PCs supported |
| RAM | 4 MB nominal target, far less used at runtime |
| OS | MS-DOS 3.3 or later, Windows 9x DOS mode, FreeDOS, or DOSBox-X |
| Video | VGA mode 13h compatible adapter |
| Sound | PC speaker optional |
| Storage | STELLAR.EXE is about 47 KB; release floppy image is exactly 1.44 MB |
The JS/Canvas port lives in web/ and can be run locally or deployed to any static host.
It keeps the same 320x200 framebuffer and frame-locked game feel, while adding
Web Audio, pointer and touch controls, mobile fullscreen controls, and server
leaderboard sync.
Download the current MS-DOS build from the latest release, then run:
A:\> STELLAR
In DOSBox-X, mount the release floppy image or the directory containing the executable:
imgmount a STELLAR.IMG -t floppy
a:
STELLAR
On Windows with Open Watcom V2 available:
build\build.ps1
python build\mkfloppy.py dist\SHOOTER.IMG SHOOTER.EXE dist\README.TXTGitHub Actions builds release artifacts automatically when a v* tag is
pushed. Each release tag must have a matching section in
CHANGELOG.md; the workflow copies that section into the GitHub
Release body and fails the tag build if the section is missing.
See docs/BUILD.md for local and CI details.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| WASD / Arrows | Move in 8 directions |
| Shift | Boost while held |
| Space | Fire main gun |
| Ctrl | Launch homing missile |
| B | Smart bomb |
| P | Pause |
| M | Mute or unmute |
| Up / Down | Change difficulty on title screen |
| Esc | Return to title or quit; quick-save/replay during high-score entry |
During boss fights, flying above the boss turns the ship and all weapons downward automatically.
Full gameplay reference is in docs/GAMEPLAY.md.
src/ C source, one module per subsystem
build/ build, packaging, and verification scripts
docs/ build, architecture, gameplay, and timing notes
dist/ player manual and screenshots; generated binaries are ignored
web/ browser port and leaderboard API source
.github/ release workflow
Local toolchains, DOSBox configs, generated EXEs, floppy images, high-score files, and private deployment settings are intentionally not tracked.
Stellar is released under the GNU General Public License version 3. See LICENSE.
See CONTRIBUTORS.md.