A hidden game · no client · 2026 · free, in the browser

A free space game hidden in this site.

Star Drill is a small arcade space game I built and hid inside this site. It has five levels, a final station to destroy, about two and a half minutes per run, and a world scoreboard. It runs in your browser, phone included.

Play it →franbencosme.com/stardrill

A formation of enemy ships coming in over the asteroid belt, with planets behind and the shield and spiral bars on screen — What it looks like: a wave of enemies coming in over the asteroid belt. There are twenty-six waves.

At a glance

What existed already: The 3D engine behind this website.
What I did: The game design, the flying, the enemies, the final station, the title screen, the logo, the on-screen display, the music, the online scoreboard and the phone controls.
What I did not do: No Nintendo code, art or sound; the gameplay is inspired by Star Fox 64. The final music tracks are remixes: I wrote the melodies, and Suno, an AI music tool, arranged them.
With whom: Nobody else. I used AI tools as help.
For whom: Nobody. No client, no brief, no deadline. I made it for fun.

What’s in there

Five levels, named after the stars you pass while scrolling this site: Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Meissa, Saiph and Rigel. Twenty-six waves of enemies. A final space station with four turrets and two phases. Three lives, and a medal if you finish.

A run takes about two and a half minutes. There are thirteen achievements and a world board with flags. It works on a phone: steering goes wherever your thumb lands.

Inspired by Star Fox 64. No Nintendo code, art or sound.

Why there is a game here at all

This site takes you on a trip through space, but you can’t steer. People reached the end and told me they wanted to fly.

It also has no client. The other five projects here were paid work, with someone else’s brief and deadline. This one had neither, so every decision was mine.

You’ll find it in the asteroid belt you pass on this site.

The first version was not a game

Day one had a ship, a belt of rocks and a speed boost. That was all. Its title said flight test, which was fair.

Flying felt good. There was still no reason to open it twice: nothing to hit, nothing to score, nothing to lose.

What fixed it was simple, unexciting work. Levels that end. Fewer waves, so clearing one feels like something. Enemies that look different from the rocks. A combo streak that breaks when you get hit. A medal at the end.

Flying well turned out to be the easy half.

The first version of the game: one ship among asteroids, a boost bar, and a heading that reads ORION, FLIGHT TEST, THE BELT — Day one. One bar, no score, no enemies.

The hardest part was a piece of plastic

The title screen had to be a Nintendo 64 cartridge. The fat grey one with the arch on top.

Twice it came out looking like a different console’s cartridge, with cut corners and ridges down the front, because it was being drawn from memory. It only worked once we used a photo of a real one: one arch across the top, the label following it, two rails down the sides.

The emblem on it is the four-pointed star from my own logo, because there is no Nintendo logo anywhere in the game.

Three tries for the cartridge. One afternoon for the code.

The Star Drill title screen: an N64-shaped cartridge standing on a table, labelled STAR DRILL, THE BELT, AN ORION EASTER EGG — Third try, and the first one drawn from a photograph.

The special attack, on the third try

A bar fills up as you destroy enemies. When it is full, you fire one giant drill that clears everything in front of you and takes out a third of the final station.

I knew how it should feel before I knew how to build it: it is based on the finishing move from the anime Gurren Lagann. The first version, built from a description, looked wrong. The second was closer. The third is timed shot by shot, the way an animator would, with the drill growing in two steps instead of one.

Four and a half seconds long, and three tries to get there.

The Giga Drill Breaker: an enormous green drill of spiral energy emerging from the tiny ship and reaching the boss station — The third version. Four and a half seconds.

Why a theremin

The game has six music tracks, all mine: I wrote each melody with Claude, turned it into a MIDI file, and remixed it in Suno. One of them, Luliby, is the song this website plays, so the game and the site share a soundtrack.

A theremin, an electronic instrument you play without touching it, leads all six tracks. Old sci-fi films used it whenever they wanted space or aliens. That is the whole reason I chose it.

Zelda, Contra and rock records were on while I wrote them. The remixes are here: suno.com/@franbencosme

What changed

Started as — a flight test: one ship, a belt of rocks, a speed boost.
Dropped — the idea that flying was enough. Flying well is not a game on its own.
Became — five levels, a final station, thirteen achievements and a world scoreboard.
Kept — the theremin. Odd choices usually survive.

Nothing here was negotiated, because there was nobody to negotiate with.

Results

20,008the score at the top of the world board the day this page went up. It should be higher by nowsource · Scoreboard, on the title screen
13achievements, and a time bonus, so a slow perfect run cannot beat a fast onesource · Achievements, on the title screen
0lines of Nintendo code, art or soundsource · the credits, in the game
2:47the fastest gold run on the board. A normal one is about two and a half minutes, plus the stationsource · Scoreboard, on the title screen

The board is open and the scores are real. Go and put your initials on it →

The Star Drill world scoreboard: ten entries with initials, country flags, scores, times and gold medals — The world board. I don’t know any of these people.

A personal project by Fran BencosmeA personal project by Fran Bencosme