Not my Neighbor Hidden Stars

Not My Neighbor Hidden Stars is a point-and-click hidden object game developed by independent studio Lazy Turtle Games, released in 2023 for Windows and macOS platforms. The game is set in a fictional suburban neighborhood where the player assumes the role of a resident tasked with locating a series of concealed star-shaped objects. The narrative premise involves a mysterious event that has scattered these stars across various domestic and outdoor environments, including houses, gardens, garages, and streets. Each level presents a static, hand-drawn scene filled with numerous everyday items, characters, and architectural details. The objective is to find all hidden stars within a given time limit, with the number of stars per level ranging from ten to twenty. The game features a total of fifty levels, each with a unique layout and color palette. No explicit story progression or character development occurs; the focus remains solely on visual search mechanics. The difficulty increases through more cluttered compositions, smaller star sizes, and partial occlusion by other objects. A hint system is available, but its use reduces the final score. The game includes a scoring mechanism based on completion time and hint usage, with a leaderboard for local high scores. The soundtrack consists of ambient background music with no voice acting.

Gameplay is controlled entirely through mouse or touch input. The player moves the cursor over the displayed scene and clicks on any star-shaped object to collect it. A counter in the upper-left corner of the screen displays the number of stars remaining. A timer is shown in the upper-right corner, counting down from a preset limit for each level. The player can zoom in on specific areas by scrolling the mouse wheel or using a pinch gesture on touchscreens. Panning across the scene is achieved by clicking and dragging the cursor. A hint button, represented by a lightbulb icon, is located in the lower-right corner. Clicking it briefly highlights the location of one random remaining star with a glowing outline. Each hint consumes one of three available hint charges per level; unused hints carry over to subsequent levels. The player can pause the game at any time by pressing the Escape key or clicking a pause icon, which freezes the timer. Upon finding all stars, the level ends, and a results screen shows the elapsed time, hints used, and a star rating from one to three. Failure to find all stars before the timer expires results in a level failure, requiring a restart. No keyboard shortcuts are required beyond the pause function. The game does not support controller input.