Stardust-Typer

**Stardust Typer** is a fast-paced arcade typing game built with React. Type words on falling stars to blast them into stardust before they collide with the ground. Sharpen your reflexes

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Stardust Typer

Fast-paced typing game (React 19 + Vite): type the words on falling stars before they hit the ground. Difficulty-based pacing, streak combos, perfect-word bonuses, heart pickups, pause/resume, manual target switching, lightweight audio cues, and local highscores.

Status (MVP phase)

  • Game loop: difficulty-tuned spawn/move, progressive scaling over time (spawn rate + speed), keyboard typing, scoring with up to 3x combo, perfect-word bonus, streak-based heart drops, pause/resume, and clean resets on restart/difficulty change.
  • UI/UX: stage + HUD columns, styled menu/gameover panels, target highlighting, combo/perfect badges, active difficulty buttons, live timer/score/lives/combo in HUD, in-play heading/subtitle, manual target switching (arrow keys), Settings modal (difficulty + word packs), Leaderboard modal with player names, and name entry on Game Over.
  • Audio: lightweight Web Audio tones for hits, misses, life gain, life loss, and pause toggles plus on-screen floating score/penalty cues.
  • Persistence: local top-5 highscores (difficulty + time + player name) shown in HUD/GameOver/Leaderboard; stars clear via loopSeed when restarting.
  • Open work (see todo.md): hook word packs into loader, float-score/particle feedback, backend/remote leaderboard, richer settings, and hook-splitting (useStars, useKeyboardInput, useScoring).

Controls and gameplay

  • Start typing to lock the nearest star and advance its word.
  • Finish a word: gain points (with combo and perfect-word bonuses); streaks can drop a heart if lives < 3.
  • Missed key: breaks perfect for the current word and streak.
  • Missed word: costs a life and triggers a blast that clears lower-half stars with a 10% score penalty per cleared star (no extra life loss beyond the missed one).
  • Lives: lose one when a star reaches the ground; game ends at 0.
  • Pause/resume: spacebar or stage click.
  • Manual targeting: Arrow Up/Down cycles the active star.
  • Difficulties: Easy/Normal/Hard adjust spawn interval, fall speed, and score multiplier using difficulty-based word lists.
  • Settings: open Settings for difficulty and word-pack selection; open Leaderboard to view local top scores with player names.

Run it

  • Install: npm install
  • Dev: npm run dev
  • Build: npm run build

Live demo

Project layout (key paths)

stardust-typer/
  public/               # HTML shell, favicon
  src/
    assets/             # Sprites, bg, audio stubs
    components/         # GameContainer, StarField, FallingStar, HUD, GameOverModal, SettingsModal, LeaderboardModal
    hooks/              # useGameLoop, useAudio (planned: useStars, useKeyboardInput, useScoring)
    utils/              # wordLists, scoring/leaderboard helpers (planned)
    styles/             # Global and animation CSS
    App.jsx, main.jsx   # App entry
  package.json, vite.config.js, eslint.config.js

Tech

  • React 19 + Vite
  • CSS (index.css) for layout/visuals; gradients + glow for stage and stars
  • LocalStorage for highscores; future leaderboard/API planned

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Built With

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