@defenestrantor

I gave the water moving light patterns and ripples

Fish now grow and change forms when you feed them + tank has memory now.
A goldfish can become a koi, then a dragon koi.

I also replaced the dock with little objects sitting in the sand. Notes opens from a treehouse, Calculator from a treasure chest, and Music from a shell. Minimized apps go to sleep until you click them again.

I wanted the cursor to feel like something in the water. When it gets close, fish peel away instead of swimming through it, and the water keeps a little ripple.
Notes now say when they’re saved, windows remember where you left them, and Esc closes the focused one.

Cursor ripples in the water, and nearby fish peel away
Notes show “Saved in this tank”
Windows remember where you dragged them
Esc closes the focused window
A first run hint: “Move around — the fish notice you.”

STARLING build 2:
The default sky has a Coding mini system now GitHub, Hack Club, and ChatGPT sharing an orbit.
YouTube is Entertainment, Wikipedia is School, both loners. Wikipedia is 8 visits so it still looks young. YouTube is 23 and already has rings. hover either one and the card says its status: “Atmosphere forming” vs “Surface growing more complex.”
you can tell what websites you actually live on without opening anything.
worlds snap to discrete orbit lanes, the nearest world lights up as a “Join system” merge target, and they lerp into place instead of teleporting. drop a grouped world onto empty space and it ungroups. Customize –> “Lone orbit” actually leaves a system now.
new worlds spiral in from outside then pop with a particle burst. nothing lives on a server. localStorage + IndexedDB, no accounts.
grouping still needs a feel pass. you kind of have to start dragging before the snap and merge targets show up,

Draggable, stackable windows with click-to-focus and close
Notes: autosaves to locally
Calculator — + − × ÷, decimals, clear, equals
Music:play/pause, progress, volume, royalty free loop
Tide Lights
About: short Stardance / WebOS 1 writeup
Fish cursor interaction: nearby fish peel away slightly (the extra feature)

What’s in Build 1

Tab solar system: STARLING text at the top, center search, orbiting planets (GitHub, YouTube, Wikipedia, Hack Club, ChatGPT)

Procedural planets from the domain, orbital motion, hover card, click to open

Add / customize worlds, constellations, shortcuts,

Local save (localStorage + IndexedDB), import/export JSON

Time-of-day sky, NASA APOD telescope easter eggEverything stays in the browser — no accounts, no backend