Stellar Barrage

Coming Soon

Stellar Barrage is currently in development. Check back soon!

What You’ll Build

Fixed-screen space shooter. Player ship versus descending enemy waves. Space Invaders territory.

Control your ship. Fire at descending alien formations. Dodge their return fire. Classic arcade action that teaches you how to push the NES sprite system to its limits — and what to do when you hit them.

Why This Game?

After Crate Escape’s physics, Stellar Barrage teaches you to manage many sprites at once. The NES has a hard limit: 8 sprites per scanline. You’ll learn:

• Spawn and manage projectiles efficiently
• Create enemy formations and movement patterns
• Handle multiple collision types (bullet-enemy, enemy-player)
• Design wave progression with increasing difficulty
• Implement score tracking and display
• Work within the 8-per-scanline limit
• Use sprite flickering when you can’t avoid the limit

By the end, you’ll know how to build any shooter on the NES.

Skills You’ll Master

• Projectile spawning — bullet pools and management
• Enemy formations — patterns and movement
• Multiple collisions — different collision types
• Wave progression — difficulty curves
• Score tracking — display and persistence
• Sprite limits — the 8-per-scanline rule
• Sprite flickering — when limits are exceeded

Prerequisites

Complete Game 2: Crate Escape first. You’ll need the physics and collision skills from that game.

Time Investment

64 units at 60-90 minutes each. Roughly 64-96 hours total, spread across 4 phases.