Star Command (Titanium Helix Games)

Star Command (SSI, 1988) in the browser

A faithful rebuild of Star Command (Strategic Simulations, Inc., 1988; written by Winston Douglas Wood) that runs in a web browser. It was made from a full decode of the original QuickBASIC 3 program: every module of the original was turned into readable pseudocode, verified, and translated into a JavaScript engine. Status: alpha (v0.1.0-alpha), ready for community testing.

Bring your own copy. This repository contains none of the game's files: no program, data, graphics or sound. You need your own copy of Star Command; the browser checks it and builds the game from it on your machine. The engine was built from an analysis of the original program, not clean-room; all rights to Star Command stay with its author and publisher.

• Play · Modify · Decode · Credits and licence

Play

What you need

• Your own Star Command folder (the STARCOMA folder of the original release: STARCOMM.EXE, BRUN30.EXE, the .EXE modules, the .BAS / .EGA sprite banks and the data files). The importer knows exactly one release (docs/byoc/manifest.json: 123 files, 115 required, checked by size and SHA-256). Other releases are untested; if yours is refused, please open an issue with the importer's list of mismatched files (names only, never the files).
• A current Chrome or Edge (tested in Chrome). Other browsers may work through the folder or .zip fallback.
• Python 3 for the small local web server (or any static web server). The game cannot run from a double-clicked index.html, because browsers block ES modules on file://.

Start

1. Get the game: git clone https://github.com/DrEvil-TitaniumHelix/star-command-remake, or download the release zip from the repository's Releases page and unpack it.
2. In that folder, start the server: python -I tools/serve.py 8088 (it prints serving ... at http://localhost:8088/; leave it open while you play).
3. Open http://localhost:8088/index.html in Chrome. Press F11 for fullscreen.
4. First start only: the import page says "Star Command needs your copy of the game". Choose your STARCOMA folder (Choose folder, the alternative picker, or drop a .zip of the folder). The files are checked, converted in the browser (a few seconds) and stored; then Play Star Command. From then on the game starts directly.

On Windows, Play Star Command.cmd does steps 2 and 3 for you (it expects python on the PATH and Chrome in its usual place). Play Star Command (Veteran Crew).cmd starts a ready-made strong crew in a separate browser storage.

Where your saves live

Everything stays in your browser, for the address you use (localhost:8088): your imported copy (converted, in the browser's private file storage), the game's original save file CHARINFO.BAS, save slots, autosave and log book. Nothing is uploaded. You lose them if you clear the site data for localhost, play in a private window, or use a different port, so always use the same address.

Controls

Keyboard, mouse and gamepad work at the same time; F1 (gamepad View / Back) shows the keys the current screen accepts.

• Keyboard as in the original: the letters shown in menus, Y / N, Enter, Space, digits 1-6 for crew pickers, arrow keys to move. Extra: Esc = pause menu (save & quit, load, settings), F1 = help, F2 = game speed.
• Mouse: click any key the screen shows, click a map spot to move towards it, wheel to zoom maps, tooltips on items and enemies.
• Gamepad (standard layout): d-pad / left stick = arrows, LB / RB move a box over the letter menu, A = choose / Enter, B = No or the pause menu, X = Space, Y = Yes, Start = pause menu. Crew pickers and typed answers need a keyboard or the mouse.

All additions to the 1988 game (mouse, pause menu, help, zoom, tooltips, save slots, crew panel, log book, combat aids, speed, mission marker) can be switched off one by one in Esc, T-Settings; Classic mode switches them all off for the original game as the acceptance screens checked it. The full player guide is game/README.md.

Known alpha limitations

• The Manual button is off: the rule book is not distributed with this repository.
• Two behaviours still wait for a check against the real game (game/README.md, Known gaps): the esper V-View inside a station (D-IN-3) and single-shield facing in ship battles (D-MX-2). Ground-battle beam flashes follow the program but were not compared with a DOSBox picture.
• The floppy "insert disk" prompts are not shown (the port behaves like a hard-disk install).
• Colours: text is light grey until your first ground battle and white afterwards, as on an EGA original.

Report a problem

Open an issue in this repository (templates are provided): name the screen (what it shows, or its id from ACCEPTANCE.md such as SP-04), attach your save if you can (Esc menu, or the browser storage export), and say which browser and version. If you find that the original game does the same thing, say so: such reports get the "original did this too" label and are just as useful.

Modify

• Engine (game/engine/): display, input, the QuickBASIC runtime semantics (basic.js, number formatting transcribed from the BRUN30 runtime), files, overlays and every addition. Hand-written modules: game/modules/.
• Game logic: the original's program modules (SPACE, INSIDE, STARPORT, SPBATTLE, PLBATTLE) are translated in your browser from your own copy at import, by the translators in game/byoc/ (qbdis.js disassembler, qb2bas.js pseudocode renderer, bas2js.js JavaScript generator) with the names and annotations of this repository. The result is readable JavaScript with the original offsets as labels, stored in the browser.
• Change a rule or a screen: a module file placed in game/modules/ is served before the imported one (service worker game/byoc-sw.js: network first, the imported copy only when the file is absent). To get the generated modules as files, run python -I tools/byoc/rebuild_all.py --originals <your STARCOMA folder> --out <dir> --keep: it writes space.js, starport.js (= starport/flow.js), inside.js, spbattle.js, plbattle.js and the *.banks.js files to <dir>/js/ (lines BUILT). Copy the one you want to its path under game/modules/, edit, reload. Engine-level changes are ordinary edits in game/engine/.
• Acceptance: ACCEPTANCE.md lists 90 screens; each has a build check and an independent review (90/90 pass). 64 were compared pixel by pixel with the original running in DOSBox-X: 62 match apart from test data (crew names, dice rolls), none differ, 2 cannot be shown in the original. Tools: acceptance/ (screenshot driver acceptance/ref/scripts/shoot_all.mjs, comparer compare.py, verdict files). Screenshots are not committed (they show the original's art); you regenerate them from your own copy. Engine unit tests: node game/engine/*.test.mjs.
• Developer jump to one screen: index.html?screen=SP-04 (ids in decode/pseudo/SCREENS_INDEX.md).

Decode

• decode/pseudo/ — the decoded program: one BASIC-style pseudocode file per original module (<MODULE>.bas.md), its screens (_SCREENS.md), names and the independent verification reports (_VERIFY.md, _GLMVERIFY.md).
• decode/brun30/ — the QuickBASIC 3 runtime, named once: ledger of the 140 routines the game uses, review, the number-output and CIRCLE algorithms.
• decode/data/ — data-format specs (sprite banks, data files, module constants as offsets).
• DECODE_GATE.md — the gate that had to be met (with evidence) before building; BUILD_PLAN.md; docs/BYOC.md, docs/byoc/ — how the public tree stays free of original bytes (path policy, leak scan, B6/B7 reports).
• Evidence rules: every claim cites a module and offset or is marked unknown; quoted game text is short and serves as evidence. The working logs (FOREMAN.md, STATUS.md, RULINGS.md, herdr/) are kept as the record of how the decode was run.

Built with Remaster DOS Games (https://github.com/DrEvil-TitaniumHelix/remaster-dos-games), method version v0.1.0: the method, tools and templates this decode followed.

Credits and licence

• Star Command © 1988 Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI); game by Winston Douglas Wood. All rights to the game stay with its author and publisher. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
• Rebuild, decode and tools: DrEvil (DrEvil and Titanium Helix LLC).
• Code: MIT (LICENSE-MIT); documentation: CC BY 4.0 (LICENSE-DOCS); see LICENSE.
• Bring your own copy: this repository contains no original game files; the engine was derived from analysis of the original program, not clean-room.

Disclaimer: all or part of this repository may have been written or edited by super intelligence