INTRODUCING PROJECT STARLIGHT
Hollow Moon Studios’ first game is now in Alpha. Here’s a closer look at what we’re building, where development stands, and what we’ll be sharing as Project Starlight takes shape.
Project Starlight is the first game from Hollow Moon Studios, a small independent studio based in Ireland.
It is a 2D Cyberpunk Action Roguelite set in Starlight City, a place shaped by status, surveillance and rigid social divisions.
At the centre of it is Blitz Mathers, a detective being questioned about incidents from his past. His recall is damaged, details conflict, and he is trying to piece together what actually happened.
The game is playable in development, but systems, environments, animation and presentation are still being built and refined. Some of what we show during Alpha will change as we work toward a public demo.
THE FIRST CASE
The opening episode takes Blitz to Serenity Mall after an urgent, off-the-books call from his partner, Detective Traker.
Serenity Mall is one of The Heart’s clearest monuments to comfort, status and order. Like the district around it, everything is polished, secure and designed to make control feel reassuring.
When Blitz arrives after hours, that carefully maintained order is already beginning to come apart.
Our current work is focused on building the opening stretch of this case, establishing Serenity Mall, introducing its threats, and giving players their first real look at how investigation and combat fit together.
BUILDING THE COMBAT
Combat is being built around grounded, responsive movement and free aiming.
Rather than locking Blitz’s shots to a simple horizontal line, the player aims directly with the mouse, making precision part of every firefight. Exposed areas can provide critical opportunities, while cybernetic protection can make poorly aimed shots far less effective.
But the enemies themselves are not always fixed. As Blitz’s recollection of a case changes, enemy behaviour can change with it, altering the pressure they put on him and the openings the player has to exploit.
The Filthrunners are one of the enemy groups we are currently using to develop these ideas.
A melee Filthrunner is built around pressure. It can rush Blitz at speed, raise augmented arms to protect vulnerable areas, and force the player to look for short openings rather than simply keep firing. A well-timed shot can stop the threat quickly. A mistimed or poorly aimed shot may barely slow it down, giving the Filthrunner more time to close the distance.
Animation is especially important here. The player needs to recognise when an attack is coming, when a weak point is exposed, and when an enemy is closing in or preparing its next move.
There is still plenty to refine around timing, feedback, balance and animation, but this is the foundation we are building from.
FINDING THE LOOK OF STARLIGHT CITY
Project Starlight combines cyberpunk technology and Neo Art Deco architecture with character design inspired by 1980s action cartoons.
The world is built around monumental geometry, deep shadows, strong silhouettes and technology integrated directly into the architecture, all presented through a hand-drawn 2D style.
Starlight City’s districts are not just different backgrounds. Architecture, clothing, technology and augmentation all help communicate where a character belongs and what kind of life the city has decided they should have.
Serenity Mall is one of the first places where those ideas need to work together. It has to feel expensive and desirable while still carrying the sense that every part of the environment has been designed, monitored and controlled.
The backgrounds shown during Alpha are still being developed and are not representative of the final level of detail. Right now, they give us the space we need to develop gameplay, composition and the overall visual language of Serenity Mall before later art passes.
WHAT WE’RE WORKING TOWARD
Our current development goal is a playable demo built around the opening of the Serenity Mall case.
The demo is intended to introduce Blitz, the first case, combat, investigation and the broader structure of Project Starlight.
There is no release date to announce yet.
For now, the focus is on making the opening section work as a convincing piece of the game. That means continuing to develop the environments, enemy behaviour, animation, combat, investigation and the systems that shape how Blitz experiences each case.
FOLLOWING DEVELOPMENT
The easiest way to keep up with Project Starlight is to join the mailing list.
This blog is where we’ll take a closer look at the development of Project Starlight, including design decisions, behind-the-scenes work and deeper dives into individual parts of the game.
For shorter updates, gameplay clips, artwork and animation, you can also follow Hollow Moon Studios across our social channels.