Star Billions
Star Billions is an indie adventure video game by Catch & Release, LLC, an independent development team consisting of game designers James Tillman and Matthew Taylor. The game's first season was released on December 8, 2015, for iOS devices and later ported to Android. In Star Billions, players observe a hopelessly lost spaceship that is piloted by four unique artificial intelligences represented by anthropomorphic animal characters.
Star Billions
- Date
- 2015
- Genre
- adventure video game
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
wikidata · Q26964699 · wikipedia · Star Billions
In this article
The object
The object
After each character presents its plan for resolving a given situation, the player must select the ideal AI to solve the problem. Billions takes place in real-time as players wait to see how their decision will affect the story. Players may also reduce the wait time by playing Game Boy style minigames.
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Star Billions • Developer — Catch & Release, LLC • Designer — Matthew Taylor, James Tillman • Writer — Matthew Taylor, James Tillman • Artist — Juan J. Lopez, Christian Vázquez, Kevin Campbell • Platforms — iOS, Android • Released — * iOS • December 8, 2015 • Android • April 7, 2016 • Genre — Adventure • Modes — Single-player
Plot
Plot
Star Billions takes place in the distant future. Humanity is forced to flee Earth aboard the "Big Brother" spacecraft after a series of disasters. The humans attempt to find a new planet suitable for organic life, but soon realize that their food and fuel stores will be depleted before an ideal planet is found. An advanced artificial intelligence known as EIN is placed in charge of finding a new planet while all of humanity is put into a state of cryogenic sleep. EIN constructs a small scouting vessel known as the "Little Brother" and programs three additional AIs with unique, human-like personalities designed to balance one another. These AIs are SARGE, ROSIE and LACIE.
Development
Development
The game's initial design was created by James Tillman just before he graduated from college in 2015. Co-designer Matthew Taylor visited James and found a crudely drawn design document for Star Billions. In this early phase, the artificial intelligences were not yet anthropomorphic animals and some characters featured different names that would later change.
History of the object
Dated record
History of the object
The full dated record · 2 entries
2015
Star Billions published.
2015
Star Billions is recorded as published in 2015.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United States
Named but not plotted · 1
Star Billions is associated with United States.
Country
Reception
The game received generally positive reviews with VentureBeat praising the game's "presentation" and "charm" while Pocket Tactics described the game as "cute, funny [and] well-written." AppUnwrapper criticized the game's real-time elements, saying "In theory, it works. It makes it feel like the story is happening in real time, as you have to wait for the crew to travel to each destination. But it also interrupted the story every time I was getting into it."
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Star Billions, revision 1328855290 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Huff, Andrew. Catch & Release bring their unique and humorous game Star Billions to Android. Droid Gamers.
- 2.Clyde, Ruby. Guide animals through a dangerous mission in Star Billions. Indie Game Magazine. 20 January 2020.
- 3.McElroy, Justin. Star Billions is an iOS game that doesn't always want you around. Polygon. 8 December 2015.
- 4.Diaz, Justin. Top 10 Android Games – April 2016. Android Headlines. 14 April 2016.
- 5.Star Billions.
- 6.Mateo, Jose. A Thanksgiving Ode To Mobile Games.
- 7.An Interview With 'Star Billions' Creators James Tillman and Matthew Taylor. AppUnwrapper. 7 April 2016.
- 8.Campbell, Nissa. Star Billions lets you choose the best animal for the job of saving humankind. VentureBeat. 10 December 2015.
- 9.Eklund, Tof. Act Now And Save Humankind For Free In Star Billions. Pocket Tactics. 13 October 2023.
- 10.Star Billions: Review. AppUnwrapper. 7 April 2016.
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
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