Star Hopper

Goal of the game

Pip, a curious little owl, bounces on its own from platform to platform. Your mission: guide it as high as possible, from dawn to the nebula, collecting stars and avoiding the dangers. The game ends when Pip falls into the void or gets hit.

How to play

• Steering: left and right only, since Pip bounces automatically. Keyboard: ← → or A D. Mouse: Pip follows the pointer. Touchscreen: slide your finger anywhere, or turn on the tilt button (top right) to steer by tilting your device. Whatever leaves one side of the screen reappears on the other.
• Shooting: Space, ↑, W or a mouse click; on a touchscreen, tap where you want to aim. One shot takes out a creature (the big eye needs two). The "Auto-fire" setting aims for you.
• Landing: Pip bounces only when coming down on top of a platform; it passes through platforms from below.
• Pause: P or Esc. The game also pauses when you leave the page.

Platforms and items

• Fixed platform: the basic bounce.
• Moving platform, marked with arrows: it slides from side to side.
• Crumbling platform: it falls apart as soon as Pip touches it, with no bounce. Avoid it.
• Cloud: a single bounce, then it evaporates.
• Spring: a much higher bounce. Trampoline: the biggest jump of all, with stars along the way.
• Propeller jetpack: Pip takes off on its own for a few seconds and fears nothing, then drifts back down with a short grace period.
• Stars: golden ones are worth 10, pink ones 50.

Dangers

• Creatures (jelly, moth, big eye): deadly on contact. Jump on their back to squash them, or shoot them.
• Storm cloud: do not touch it, and do not stay beneath it when it lights up: lightning strikes straight down.
• Black hole: it pulls Pip toward it and swallows it.
• The void: falling too far below your highest altitude ends the game.

Scoring

• Your total: 1 for each metre of altitude, 10 for each star collected and 10 for each creature defeated.
• The sky changes as you climb: Dawn, Blue sky (160 m), Dusk (585 m), Space (1,175 m), then Nebula (1,900 m). The world gets harder with altitude, but every jump always remains possible.

Levels

• Relaxed: wide, close platforms and very few dangers.
• Normal: the classic pace, with moving platforms, clouds and the first creatures.
• Fast: narrower platforms and dangers within the first few hundred metres.
• Intense: storms, black holes and creatures in numbers.
• Infernal: tiny platforms, maximum spacing, a hostile sky from the start.

Game modes

• Solo: chase your personal bests in total and altitude.
• Against the ghost: an autopilot plays the same world at the same time as you. Its position shows as a translucent silhouette and an altitude marker. Five strengths, from Novice to Master. If you fall before it does, it finishes its run in fast-forward and the higher total wins.
• Two players: same device, same world, one after the other. A "Pass the device" screen separates the runs, and player 2 sees player 1’s path as a ghost.
• Online: a simultaneous race in the same world; you see each opponent’s altitude live. The highest total wins.