{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://serpentsquiggles.neocities.org//posts/games/starmarked/index",
  "description": ">",
  "path": "/posts/games/starmarked/index",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-17T00:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:ivoe7cntxuy6at7uzmxzs2ft/site.standard.publication/3mfk6cpprzt2t",
  "textContent": "Stars wheel above you, and fate is born in their orbits.  Here and\nnow, a contest begins: the Trial by Asterism --- a game of chance\nplayed for the amusement of night everlasting. Shall you test your wit\nwith cards marked by the stars above?\n\nTo win, you must merely play an increasing sequence of cards culminating\nin a high ranking hand. As simple as it sounds, all stumble in the\nascent.\n\n(The stars, of course, are laughing.)\n\n- - -\n\n<details open>\n<summary><h2>How to Play</h2></summary>\n\nFuture versions of this game will include an interactive tutorial and\ntooltips, but for now, you can read this quick primer.\n\nThis is an early build of a game still in development. Brace yourself\nfor bugs, inconsistencies, and simply unfinished mechanics. This game is\ncurrently designed to be played on a desktop's keyboard (the version I\ndo most of my testing on outright runs in a terminal emulator).\n\nUsers of touch screens can use the expandable buttons to deliver input.\nIt is also possible to click certain elements of the game's interface,\nbut this feature needs improvement.\n\nThe Controls\n\nUse WASD or the arrow keys to selection options or cards on the board.\n\"Up\" adds more cards to your selection, while \"down\" removes them.\n\"Left\" and \"Right\" replace the newest card in your selection with the\nunselected card beside it.\n\nThe number keys or the numpad allow you to select options or card\npositions directly. (Zero of course selects the tenth position.)\n\nPressing Space or Enter submits selections and advances the game.\n\nPressing 'f' or any number greater than the cards on the board (e.g.\n'0') will change mode, usually swapping between playing cards normally\nand discarding them.\n\nPressing 'e' or '.' will sort the visible cards on the board. Unless you\nhave cards selected, in which case they are moved to the left side of\nthe board.\n\nPressing 'q' or '+' will bring up a menu with tabs displaying various\nhelpful information. Most importantly, the first tab allows you to see\nwhich cards are in your draw pile.\n\nThe Gameplay\n\nEncounters in Starmarked are called trials, and the most common type of\ntrial is a series of tolls. These tolls demand that you give up a\ncertain number of star points, subtracted from you total. The game is\nover when your star points go negative.\n\nTolls are paid at the end of a round, and thus, the goal of each round\nis to acculate enough star points to survive. You can think of this as\nyour health and offensive power in one. It is how much you are winning.\n\nMost rounds are divided into turns, which come in two types.\n\nThe setup turns center around playing sequences of individual cards to\nfill up the board, and the climax turn involves playing a hand of cards\nranked according to the rules of poker.\n\nThe game currently assumes you know the poker hands (if not, there are\nmany resources explaining this), so I will focus on explaining the\nconcept of \"strikes\", which define the moment to moment gameplay.\n\nWhen you play a card during the setup phase, it it compared to the value\nof the previous card you played. As a general principle, you benefit\nfrom playing a series of ascending cards, but in practice the tactical\nconsiderations can become quite nuanced.\n\n- If you play a card whose value is greater by exactly one, the result\n  is a Strong Hit.\n- If it the value is greater by more than one, the result is a Weak Hit.\n- If the value is equal, the result is a Match.\n- If the value is less, the result is a Miss.\n\nMisses have negative consequences: avoid them!\n\nThese are not the only possibilities; more niche hits can be created by\nedge cases interactions. But one special strike type you will see often\nis the Block.\n\nBlocking happens when the intervention of a rule improves the result of\na Miss, shielding you from negative consequences.\n\nPlaying 'red' or 'orange' (i.e. Hearts suit and Diamonds suit) cards\nwill generate heart points. These points will be spent automatically to\nreduce the damage from a Miss, turning it into a Block if it is reduced\nto zero.\n\nAfter a strike, you draw one card to replace the one just played. If the\nstrike was a hit, you draw another, increasing the the number of cards\non the board. When the board is full, the setup phase ends, and the\nbinding phase begins.\n\nBinding involves playing multiple cards at once, calculating the poker\nthat they contain, and gaining stars according to its ranking. Beware\nthat binding a High Card (the lowest value hand) will instead cost you\nstars! Likewise, the next lowest hand (One Pair) confers no stars by\nitself.\n\nWhile certain interactions can win you stars during setup, it is the\nclimax where you gain most of your stars, but to ensure enough stars are\ngained, you must have a good board going into the climax phase. Thus,\nthoughtful play during your setup phase is key to progressing in\nStarmarked.\n\nMost cards are drawn face down, obscuring their true value, which make\nthe question of what move is best rather complex. Landing hits and\nmatches reveals cards, but the best way to quickly increase the range of\nvisible cards is by discarding.\n\nDiscarding expends the spade points you gain by playing 'blue' or 'cyan'\n(i.e. Spades suit and Clubs Suit). You will draw and reveal however many\ncards you discarded.\n\nNote that, in a certain sense, there is no distinct concept of\n\"discarding\" as a such: you are actually still binding cards. Thus,\n\"discarding\" a hand that contains a poker hand will earn you bonus\nstars.\n\nBecause of this, you cannot discard hands once you reach the climax\nphase --- it would be the same as playing them!\n\nThis primer should be enough to help you make it through your first\ntrial in Starmarked. At the end of a trial, you are offered options for\nimproving your deck, and you can explore different types of trial rooms\non the map.\n\nHowever, because such elements are still under active development, there\nis a risk of any explanation I give becoming outdated.\n\nHave fun exploring what else the game has to offer.\n\nThank you so much for your time.",
  "title": "Starmarked"
}