Stargazer Islands — a Three.js 3D portfolio
Stargazer Islands is an interactive, open-source Three.js portfolio by Emanuel Pfeifer (Ryhox). It's a cozy 3D world you explore right in your browser, and every GitHub stargazer of the repository gets their own permanent island in it.
What is this Three.js project?
Most developer portfolios are a scrolling page. This one is a place. You land on a small island, walk up a hill, find a cat keeping watch, read the project board at the end of the west path, sit on a bench by the campfire, and watch the sky turn from sunset to a starry night. When you're done, board the boat and sail out into the archipelago.
Everything is rendered in real time with Three.js and WebGL through React Three Fiber — no game engine, no plugins, no install.
Features
- Explorable 3D island — third-person walking, a hilltop shrine, forest, flowers and a campfire.
- Sailable boat — press E to board and row across one continuous ocean world.
- Swimming & underwater — dive under the waves to fish, manta rays and a sea floor.
- Day / night cycle — a custom sky-dome shader, light shafts and a starry night.
- Custom GLSL water — waves, an interactive ripple simulation and a far-horizon ocean.
- An island for every stargazer — procedurally generated from each GitHub username.
- World map — press M to search a GitHub username and travel straight to their island.
- Desktop & mobile — keyboard + mouse or touch controls, with Low / Medium / High graphics.
- 10 languages — English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, Português, Русский, 中文, 日本語, 한국어.
GitHub stargazers get their own island
Star the Stargazer Islands repository on GitHub and a permanent island appears for you in the archipelago — usually within about five minutes. A GitHub Actions workflow publishes the ordered list of stargazers as a static JSON file, and every visitor's browser builds the same world from it.
How your island is made
Where it is comes from your star order, so your island never moves. What it looks like and how big it is come from a hash of your GitHub username — the same name always gives the same island, and nothing is stored on a server.
| Region | Rarity | Chance | Looks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🌳 Wildwood Reach | Common | ~30% | Oakwood, Pinehaven |
| 🪨 Bleakshoal Keys | Common | ~27% | Stoneshoal, Greywaste |
| 🍂 Ember Hollow | Uncommon | ~14% | Emberwood, Hollowwood |
| 🏜️ Sunscorch Reach | Uncommon | ~13% | Sunscorch Dunes, Redrock Mesa |
| ❄️ Frostfell Isles | Uncommon | ~11% | Snowdrift, Frostpine |
| 🌸 Bloomtide Vale | Rare | ~5% | Sakura Grove |
Size is rolled separately: Small ~50%, Medium ~32%, Large ~14%, Huge ~4%. A Huge Sakura Grove is the jackpot.
Tech stack
Built as a single-page app with a component-per-system architecture: terrain, scatter, ocean, sky, boat, player and UI each live in their own module.
Other projects by Ryhox
- Pokyh — a clean, modern TypeScript web app (source).
- Wieland-AI — a personal AI assistant (source).
- Minesweeper — the classic game rebuilt for the web (source).
FAQ
How do I get my own island?
Star Ryhox/Stargazer-Islands on GitHub. Within about five minutes it shows up on the world map. Press M in the game and search your username.
Can I use this as a template for my own Three.js portfolio?
The code is MIT-licensed, so yes — read it, learn from it, fork it. Third-party 3D models keep their own licenses, listed in the in-game credits.
Does it run on phones?
Yes. Touch controls appear automatically, and the graphics setting scales the scene down for weaker devices.
Why does it take a moment to load?
It streams 3D models, textures and audio for a whole world. After the first visit most of it is cached.