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Moving out of the vaporware phase - StarGrid's alpha release for PalmOS is here!


I started developing StarGrid in January of this year, after many intermittent evenings of planning and working on the game, I'm happy to say that a playable alpha version is now available for download!

Download

StarGrid v0.2.0-alpha download


You'll need a Palm OS device running OS 3.5 or higher to play the game.

If you don't have one, I recommend giving CloudPilot a try, this can emulate Palm OS directly in your browser.

CloudPilot

What is StarGrid?

StarGrid is a turn based strategy game in space where you try to capture the flag of your enemy bases or destroy all enemy ships. It is made exclusively for the hottest platform in town, Palm OS.

It was inspired by an other Palm OS game called 'Space War', I thought it would be cool if I could extend the gameplay of that game. Unfortunately there is no source is available (and I tried to find the original developer) so I just decided to give it a go myself. The lessons learned from making Captain's MiniGolf in 2024 saved me a lot of time and effort in getting this game off the ground.

Space War on PalmDB Captain's MiniGolf on PalmDB


Some of StarGrid's code will be used to enhance Captain's MiniGolf in the future so that one can finally reach v1.0.0

What can you expect?

This alpha will allow you to give the game a spin, when you launch the game you'll be brought directly into the action and you can play one single mission.


There are only two objectives:

- Destroy all enemy ships

- Capture the flag of you enemy bases and bring it back to your base

System Requirements

- Palm OS 3.5 or higher

- Both grayscale and color devices (current build is not fully optimized for grayscale)

- Hi-Res support on OS5 devices

- Full screen support on 320x480 devices like the Tungsten T3, T5, TX, Lifedrive

Future plans

Many more features are on their way, most notably:

- Improved contrast for grayscale devices

- CPU play style enhancements

- Resuming game when reopening the app

- Level generator (including config screens with difficulty levels)

- Let your base create new ships

- Replenishing your torpedo's/health when visiting your home base

- Scoring system

- Start screen

Feedback

I would love to hear your feedback on the game, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for improvement. You can get in touch via the PalmDB discord or by contacting me on Mastodon.

PalmDB Discord Captain on Mastodon

Development blog

All development updates can be found here:

StarGrid development posts

Tags

RetroGames, PalmOS, Development, StarGrid


You can get in touch through Mastodon:

@rxpz@social.linux.pizza

Moving out of the vaporware phase - StarGrid's alpha release for PalmOS is here! was published on 2025-05-06


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