Star Fable

About this game

Latest news

• Announcements·22 Jun 2026Official

  Why Star Fable doesn't have a combat loop, instead it has a narrative loop

  Most adventure games are built around a threat you can see. A villain unleashing hordes of monsters, or an ancient evil terrorizing a kingdom, and it would be your job to physically stop it. The damage is visible and the solution is to fight your way through it.Star Fable’s antagonist doesn’t work that way. She’s not marching anywhere. Her damage is quieter than that, and it’s everywhere. Every person you meet in this world is living with a wish that was twisted as it came true. No destruction or war, just a world stuck with strange, sad, and sometimes funny aftermath of getting exactly what they asked for.That allowed me to move away from the combat loop that many games build around. If the threat isn’t a monster you fight, fighting isn’t what drives the game forward. So instead of building the world around what you defeat, I built it around what you notice.Every area in Star Fable exists because something went wrong there. Puzzles are tied to a specific person and a specific broken wish. You can solve the puzzle, unlock the door, and move on. You can also understand why the door is locked, see the change in wish dialog, and learn why something existed in that way. Solving it will help someone. In place of a combat loop it’s a narrative loop where you check wish dialog and get a short poetic update on what the characters truly desire.This is why the antagonist can remain a mystery to the end. Her presence is felt through the use of localized narrative loops, which let me give more activities to the player, replacing the usual combat loop with characters whose dialog changes based on your actions, items, and the solved state of nearby puzzles.
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• Announcements·1 Jun 2026Official

  Star Fable: How It All Started

  Almost 4 years ago I sat down and played the Link’s Awakening remake with my daughter. She loved the goofy characters, the cartoon style, and she loved solving puzzles across the island. The combat was something she was not interested in, especially when it got stressful with low hearts or hard bosses. Near the end of the game she gave up and I asked her if she wanted to make a game and she could decide exactly what was in it.So the idea of Star Fable was born.We planned abilities with a focus on non-combat, exploration powers. The first ability was using sparkly magic instead of a sword, it helps drive home that we aren’t combat focused. Then transforming into Stardust was born because my preK son wanted to run away from everything, escape enemies and keep exploring. A year after starting out my daughter was bolder and asked for some tools to fight back, so fire based abilities were added with Starfire, a straight forward projectile and Supernova our explosive ability. Over the years we’ve locked it down to 7 abilities and 3 companions.What’s coming next? I’m preparing the demo and wrapping up the final areas and bosses. We are also working on the game map. All areas are locked in and I just sketched out the layout of our overworld for an artist. Here is some terrible art to help tide you over.It’s been a rewarding journey building something for them and with them. So many times I thought I had some cool idea and their feedback changed it for the better. I’m excited to share more with everyone. A big thank you to everyone that has wishlisted, you are amazing!
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