Game 1 128 Units

Starfield

Build a single-screen space shooter from scratch in 6510 assembly. 128 units take you from a blank screen to a commercial-quality C64 game.

Starfield after Phase 1 — ship, enemies, stars, score, and full-width movement

Single-screen space shooter. You move a ship, shoot descending enemies, and try to survive. It starts with one sprite on a black screen and grows — unit by unit — into a complete game with sound, scoring, a title screen, and a starfield scrolling behind everything.

This is your first C64 game. Every unit produces working, runnable code. By the end of 128 units, you’ll have built a commercial-quality shooter and learnt the VIC-II sprite system, SID sound chip, CIA input handling, raster interrupts, and the 6510 instruction set that ties it all together.

Unit Roadmap

16 of 128 units available
Phase 1

Ignition

Complete game loop — shoot enemies, score points, die, restart

Units 1–16 ~16-24 hours Complete
1 Ship on Screen 2 Joystick Movement 3 Fire Button Shoots 4 Laser Sound 5 Enemy Appears 6 Direct Hit 7 Explosion 8 Scoring Points 9 Enemy Waves 10 Player Death 11 Game Over 12 Three Lives 13 Life Lost Flash 14 Starfield 15 Title Screen 16 Screen Edges
Phase 2

The Fleet

Multiple enemy types with distinct behaviours

Units 17–32 ~16-24 hours Coming Soon
Unit 17 · Unit 18 · Unit 19 · Unit 20 · Unit 21 · Unit 22 · Unit 23 · Unit 24 · Unit 25 · Unit 26 · Unit 27 · Unit 28 · Unit 29 · Unit 30 · Unit 31 · Unit 32
Phase 3

Firepower

Power-ups make the player stronger

Units 33–48 ~16-24 hours Coming Soon
Unit 33 · Unit 34 · Unit 35 · Unit 36 · Unit 37 · Unit 38 · Unit 39 · Unit 40 · Unit 41 · Unit 42 · Unit 43 · Unit 44 · Unit 45 · Unit 46 · Unit 47 · Unit 48
Phase 4

Incoming

Enemies shoot back with raster interrupt timing

Units 49–64 ~16-24 hours Coming Soon
Unit 49 · Unit 50 · Unit 51 · Unit 52 · Unit 53 · Unit 54 · Unit 55 · Unit 56 · Unit 57 · Unit 58 · Unit 59 · Unit 60 · Unit 61 · Unit 62 · Unit 63 · Unit 64
Phase 5

Stardust

Visual polish — custom characters, multicolour sprites, raster effects

Units 65–80 ~16-24 hours Coming Soon
Unit 65 · Unit 66 · Unit 67 · Unit 68 · Unit 69 · Unit 70 · Unit 71 · Unit 72 · Unit 73 · Unit 74 · Unit 75 · Unit 76 · Unit 77 · Unit 78 · Unit 79 · Unit 80
Phase 6

Waveform

Full SID soundtrack and rich sound design

Units 81–96 ~16-24 hours Coming Soon
Unit 81 · Unit 82 · Unit 83 · Unit 84 · Unit 85 · Unit 86 · Unit 87 · Unit 88 · Unit 89 · Unit 90 · Unit 91 · Unit 92 · Unit 93 · Unit 94 · Unit 95 · Unit 96
Phase 7

Command

Boss fights and sprite multiplexing

Units 97–112 ~16-24 hours Coming Soon
Unit 97 · Unit 98 · Unit 99 · Unit 100 · Unit 101 · Unit 102 · Unit 103 · Unit 104 · Unit 105 · Unit 106 · Unit 107 · Unit 108 · Unit 109 · Unit 110 · Unit 111 · Unit 112
Phase 8

Launch

Commercial release quality — everything a real 1986 C64 game would ship with

Units 113–128 ~16-24 hours Coming Soon
Unit 113 · Unit 114 · Unit 115 · Unit 116 · Unit 117 · Unit 118 · Unit 119 · Unit 120 · Unit 121 · Unit 122 · Unit 123 · Unit 124 · Unit 125 · Unit 126 · Unit 127 · Unit 128