Star Loops

Inspiration

I wanted to create a management game where every decision directly changes the way I play. The idea started with a simple question: what if the entire world was the surface of a cube?

I was inspired by classic resource-management and automation games, but I wanted to make the experience faster and more approachable, with short sessions built around a clear objective: build an economy, expand my railway, and destroy the Alien Core before it becomes too powerful.

What it does

Star Loops is a simulation and management game where I control a train travelling around the outer surface of a cube-shaped planet.

During each loop, the train automatically gathers resources from forests, mines, extractors and healing stations while taking damage from enemy camps and the Alien Core.

I return to my base to spend resources on new rail tiles, buildings and combat wagons. Expanding the railway changes the route and allows me to access new resources, while the Alien Core becomes stronger as more loops are completed.

The ultimate goal is simple: destroy the Alien Core before it destroys my train.

How we built it

I built Star Loops as a prototype, focusing on creating a management experience that feels natural on mobile and immersive when played in a spatial environment.

The railway is built across the faces of a cube rather than on a traditional flat map. This required me to create systems for connecting tracks between different cube faces while keeping the train's movement consistent across the entire surface.

I also implemented resource gathering, a modular shop and building system, enemy spawning, combat, progression, a guided tutorial, and dynamic feedback such as floating numbers, hit effects, screen shake and live health indicators.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest technical challenge was making a railway system work across a three-dimensional cube. A conventional grid works well on a flat surface, but moving from one face of the cube to another requires handling different orientations while maintaining a continuous route.

I also had to balance two opposing progression systems: I become stronger by expanding my railway, while the Alien Core continuously becomes more dangerous. This creates pressure to decide when to stop investing in the economy and make the final push.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I am particularly proud of turning what initially sounds like a simple train-on-a-map concept into a fully playable management loop.

The cube-shaped world is the core of the experience. Expanding the railway is not just about unlocking more tiles; it changes the physical route around the planet and forces me to think about how different faces connect.

I also built a complete playable prototype with resource gathering, construction, upgrades, combat, enemies, progression, tutorialization, and victory and defeat states.

What we learned

I learned that changing one fundamental assumption about a familiar genre can create interesting design problems and opportunities.

By making the map a cube instead of a flat plane, route planning became part of the strategy rather than simply a way to connect points.

I also learned how important immediate feedback is in a short-session management game. Seeing resources increase, damage numbers appear and the train react to danger makes every loop feel meaningful and helps me understand the consequences of my decisions.

What's next for Star Loops

My next step would be to expand Star Loops into a larger single-player management game across multiple cube-shaped planets, each with different layouts, resources, enemies and challenges.

I want to introduce deeper resource chains, more train wagons, additional buildings and a more carefully paced difficulty curve.

With Meta's Early Access Creation Tools, I see an opportunity to evolve the prototype into a richer and more immersive management experience, where building and expanding the railway becomes the foundation for exploring and conquering entire cube-shaped worlds.

Built With

• claudecode
• javascript
• visual-studio