Starling Ascent
Rotate, thrust and fight gravity to carry lost power cores out of the caves, in a momentum-driven cave flight game.
Links go to the official store or developer page. Last verified Nov 8, 2026.
Where to play
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- View on SteamSteamReleased$3.99
Download through the Steam app. A free Steam account is required.
Desktop · Steam
- View on the App StoreApp StoreReleased$3.99
Install from Apple's App Store on an iPhone or iPad.
Mobile · Apple App Store
About Starling Ascent
A physics-based cave flight game. You fly FS-266, a small fail-safe robot called Starling, after the planet's civilisation went dark and its power cores scattered into the caves below. The only controls are rotate and thrust: momentum, angles and gravity act all the time, so you plan your flight path to avoid crashing and land cleanly. In each level you find the lost core, carry it to the docks and set it down to open the way up, with limited health and fuel; thrust burns fuel and coasting is free. There are five worlds of nine levels each, every one adding a new hazard such as lava, spikes or lasers, which kill in one touch, then a final ascent to the surface, and a Hardcore mode after the ending that must be finished on a single life. Volare, a scripted companion character, guides and narrates the climb. The developer, Luke Dowding, a UX designer who runs the one-person studio Roamy Games, says it is a game they had wanted to make for almost 15 years, inspired by Fathom, a game on the old Sky TV games service. Built in Flutter with the Flame engine, which the developer says Claude suggested; the developer writes that “Claude did most of the coding”, that AI was used for the voice-over, and that all designs, artwork and levels are their own. Released on 9 Oct 2026 on Steam for Windows and on the App Store, $3.99 on each.
Screenshots and art
Starling Ascent key art · Steam store artwork
How it was built
Partially verifiedIn a post on r/IndieDev (9 Oct 2026, UTC) announcing the release, the developer writes: “I know this sub has rules about disclosing Ai work, so to be clear Claude did most of the coding and I used ai for the voice over, all designs and artwork are done by me”. The post adds that the game is built in Flutter with the Flame engine because of the developer's background in UX and front-end and some Flutter knowledge, “with the suggestion from Ai (Claude)”, and that all levels were hand-made in Tiled. Whether the Claude app or Claude Code was used, and which model, is not stated.
- DeveloperSteam AI disclosure: “Helped with coding the games functionality.” — Steam
Built in Flutter with the Flame game engine, with Claude doing most of the coding, per the developer. All designs, artwork and the levels are the developer's own, with cave layouts and hazards made in Tiled; the voice-over was made with AI. The developer says an earlier attempt with friends about ten years ago was never finished. Volare is a scripted companion character; no live AI system is described.
- Engine / framework
- Flame (Flutter)
- Languages
- Dart
- Team size
- 1 (solo)Developer Reportedroamygames.com
- Initial build time
- Not disclosed
- Development time
- Not disclosed
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- Not disclosed
“Claude did most of the coding and I used ai for the voice over, all designs and artwork are done by me”- Todays the Day! The game I've wanted to make for almost 15 years is out! (r/IndieDev)
- Starling Ascent (Roamy Games)
Verification notes: AI use, inspiration, engine and the split of work from the developer's post on r/IndieDev by u/RoamySpec (9 Oct 2026, 17:17 UTC), read from the Arctic Shift Reddit archive on 8 Nov 2026 (no replies); the post links the Steam, App Store and Google Play pages. Features, price, platform, controller support, languages, developer and publisher, release date and the AI disclosure from the Steam store page and API (app 4909290), read on 8 Nov 2026; the Hardcore mode from the developer's Steam update “Hardcore mode! and performance updates” (31 Oct 2026: “Hardcore drops you back at level one with a single life”), shown on the store page; the one-person studio line from the Roamy Games site, which links Steam; App Store seller (Luke Dowding), price, rating, version 1.0.13 and the absence of ratings from Apple's lookup data, read on 8 Nov 2026. “Claude did most of the coding” is the developer's wording; no share is stated in numbers. The developer names Fathom, a game on the Sky TV games service, as the inspiration and guesses that it was itself inspired by older games such as Thrust; these are the developer's own comparisons. Apple's lookup data gives a release date of 11 Sep 2026, which may be a pre-order date; the developer says the game came out on 9 Oct 2026, so no App Store date is recorded. Dart is assumed from Flutter and not stated. The Android version on Google Play is mentioned only (Google Play is not a platform we list). Steam showed no user reviews and the App Store no ratings on 8 Nov 2026. The game was not played.
Development history
Released on Steam and the App Store; the developer says Claude did most of the coding.
Game performance
Each figure measures something different — concurrent players, owners, downloads and sales are never interchangeable and are never added together. Labels show where each number comes from.
Steam
$3.99 on the Steam store API (cc=us) on 8 Nov 2026. Windows only; full controller support, keyboard-only and mouse-only options.
Not publicly available: All-time peak concurrent players, Concurrent players, Positive Steam reviews, Estimated owners, Copies sold, Gross revenue.
App Store (iOS)
$3.99 for iPhone and iPad (iOS 15 or later), rated 4+, per Apple's lookup data on 8 Nov 2026.
Not publicly available: Gross revenue.
Reviews & rankings
Not yet reviewed by our editors.
Not currently ranked.
Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Todays the Day! The game I've wanted to make for almost 15 years is out! Starling Ascent is a momentum-driven cave-flight game, inspired by a few childhood games. (r/IndieDev) Reddit (u/RoamySpec) | Social post | Oct 9, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Starling Ascent on Steam Steam | Store page | Oct 9, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Starling Ascent on the App Store Apple App Store | Store page | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Starling Ascent · Roamy Games roamygames.com | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
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