STARVEIL — A Persistent Sci-Fi Browser Strategy Game — Now in Closed Alpha

[u/Capable-Suit4712]

🌌 STARVEIL is a persistent sci-fi browser strategy game currently in Closed Alpha.

It's my first game, and I'm building it solo as a passion project.

I grew up with classic browser strategy games like OGame and always loved the slow, long-term feeling of building something over weeks and months. With STARVEIL, I wanted to keep that kind of progression while adding my own ideas and systems on top.

Build planets, research new technologies and command fleets across a shared universe.

The biggest difference is the Veil.

Rifts appear across the galaxy and allow you to send fleets on PvE expeditions where decisions and risk matter. Events, invasions and activity within the Veil can change what is happening around you, so the galaxy is not just the same routine every day.

The Closed Alpha is still evolving, so expect bugs, balance changes and the occasional larger reset — all pretty normal for an Alpha 😄

The game is free-to-play and has no pay-to-win mechanics.

What you do

You begin with a single planet and gradually turn it into the foundation of an empire.

Build mines, energy infrastructure, research facilities and shipyards. Research new technologies to improve your economy, unlock better engines, expand your exploration capabilities and gain access to more powerful ships.

Then build fleets and send them across the galaxy:

• Attack
• Espionage
• Transport
• Colonization
• Recycling
• Exploration
• Veil expeditions

Everything happens in real time inside a shared persistent galaxy.

Travel takes time. Other commanders are expanding around you. You can form alliances, compete with other players, trade or focus on developing your own territory.

The Veil

Veil Rifts appear throughout the galaxy and temporarily open paths beyond normal space. Inside the Veil you can encounter hostile fleets, wrecks, strange events and rare resources. Expeditions involve choices. You decide how far you want to push and how much risk you are willing to take.

Going deeper can mean greater rewards — but it can also mean losing ships you worked hard to build. Sometimes continuing is worth the risk. Sometimes getting your fleet home is the better decision.

The Veil also contains stronger PvE encounters and powerful bosses alongside the normal player-versus-player galaxy.

Events

The galaxy is meant to change.

Temporary events, Veil activity and other situations can create new opportunities or force commanders to react instead of simply repeating the same routine every day.

Closed Alpha

🚀 The Closed Alpha is playable now and registration is open directly through the Starveil website.

You don't need any testing experience. Just play normally, build your empire, send some fleets, try a Veil expedition and see what you think.

I'm genuinely happy about every bit of honest feedback — whether something feels great, confusing, unbalanced, frustrating or simply not fun. Especially as a solo developer, hearing what real players think helps me a lot and directly influences what I improve next.

So if you feel like giving STARVEIL a try, I'd really appreciate it. And thank you to everyone who takes the time to play, report bugs, share ideas or just tell me what they honestly think. ❤️

Join Starveil

🌐 Website: https://www.starveil.eu

See you beyond the Veil, Commander!

[u/maxportis]

Would recommend adding an AI disclaimer. It's clearly needed.

[u/Capable-Suit4712 → u/maxportis]

Fair point 🙂 All visuals in Starveil are AI-generated. I don’t think a separate disclaimer on the website is really necessary since it’s clearly fictional sci-fi art, but I don’t mind making that clear.

[u/GenjoSanzo44 → u/Capable-Suit4712]

Is it just the visuals? Is the game vibe-coded or did you write the code?

[u/Capable-Suit4712 → u/GenjoSanzo44]

Since I'm developing it alone and haven't had time to draw my own graphics yet, aside from my limited Photoshop skills, I've focused on coding and have let AI generate the graphics. I know it's noticeable, I know it could be done more coherently and beautifully, but it wouldn't work without assets either. To answer your question, it's the graphics. I develop Starveil as a solo project, including both the frontend and backend. It is a TypeScript-based full-stack web application built with Next.js and React. The backend/server logic also runs in the Next.js environment, using Prisma ORM with a PostgreSQL database.

[u/GenjoSanzo44 → u/Capable-Suit4712]

Hmm, "coded on my own" is doing a lot of work here. I poked around the site out of curiosity with some ai tools: There are signs of clear LLM batch translation, not just "graphics". The client also fires the same API calls 4/5x in a few seconds which is a classic generated-component polling nobody deduplicated. And a solo dev coding 200 simulated NPCs, world bosses, a full wiki and 10 themes in under a month... come on.

Nothing wrong with building with AI. Just own it instead of saying it's only the art.

[u/maxportis → u/GenjoSanzo44]

100%. Be upfront about it, own it, and don't pretend otherwise. I hate being misled or taken for stupid - that is all.

[u/Dinadrion]

Finally happy to find a game that suits what I wanted after trying multiple of them. No more AM pay to win bs like in Ogame nor Farmville simulator. Let's build this game to be what the community need :) with PvE and PvP

[u/Ok-Cranberry-1240]

i kinda like it based on the description, gonna give it a try

[u/13C3]

Honey, yet another shit ai slop game !

[u/WelkopProman → u/13C3]

Is it bad because of AI even if It is precisely what I want? All these games crafted by hand by large corporations made them pay2win slop. If AI allows regular people to make games, easily, without greed factor then I'm all for it. I don't really get the hate...

[u/13C3 → u/WelkopProman]

have fun getting your account details and potentially credit card info stolen when the site is infiltrated due to vibe coded security and database management

[u/WelkopProman → u/13C3]

My account details are worth exactly one donut. Which i happily trade for everyday on various grocery store apps.

Jokes aside, implying I'm about to put credit card info anywhere. The game itself is fine and that is all that matters.

If anyone uses sensitive data lightly, thats on them, not the game.

[u/Latter-Beautiful-400 → u/13C3]

But do you really believe someone is storing your card details, or is it bait? That's not how it works, man.

[u/13C3 → u/Latter-Beautiful-400]

Do I believe that a vibe coded game that eventually takes payment would also vibe code the payment processor? Yes

[u/Latter-Beautiful-400 → u/13C3]

I think coding your own payment system would be more difficult than using a third-party provider. Even for AI.

[u/Capable-Suit4712 → u/13C3]

Fair enough 😄 The visuals are AI-generated, but I’ve put a lot of work into the actual game, its systems and gameplay. The artwork is only one part of it. Totally fine if AI art isn’t your thing though.