A space exploration game I've been working on

[DanGovier]

Hey everyone, it's been such a long time since I last posted here. With life, work, covid and various other things I just haven't had the time to keep up with my Refit project. (She's not dead, just resting for now)

I really needed to turn my hobby into something more productive, so I've taken that same love for 1:1 scale starships and insane engineering detail and turned it into a space exploration game. I hope the mods don't mind me sharing this here, but check it out if you're interested

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I felt the gaming world was really lacking a space exploration game that features fully explorable, fully simulated, multi-deck ships in which you can explore an entire galaxy. A game where everything is built using real world science and astrophysics. So, I went ahead and started making one.

This is truly a playground for all my childhood dreams of living and working in space!

 

[Ronald Held]

What will your game run on?

 

[DanGovier]

PC only for now, it will be (free) on Steam. The minimum spec will be around an i5 with 16GB RAM and a GTX980 with at least 4GB VRAM.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

It looks like a very good start but I just wonder if it would have been easier to adapt SpaceEngine. I don't know if that software is moddable, however.

 

[DanGovier]

It looks like a very good start but I just wonder if it would have been easier to adapt SpaceEngine. I don't know if that software is moddable, however.

Space Engine is incredible, but it's designed for a specific task and its engine really doesn't have the scope for what it is I want to achieve. For example, every aspect of the starship is fully simulated, right down to the electrical wiring. It's not just a bridge simulator, it's an entire starship with 200+ rooms over 7 decks You can see some of that here;

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In the last week I've pretty much finished writing the code for the procedural galaxy. It's not as good as Space Engine yet in terms of detail, but that's definitely the benchmark I'm aiming for

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Yes, you could well beat SpaceEngine into a cocked hat if you can get volumetric clouds, life forms (a la No Man's Sky but less garish and more believable, whatever that means) and similar working. It'll be a lot of work, though. I look forward to seeing it on Steam.

 

[Ronald Held]

PC only for now, it will be (free) on Steam. The minimum spec will be around an i5 with 16GB RAM and a GTX980 with at least 4GB VRAM.

Can it be made just to run under Windows?

 

[Owain Taggart]

I think you could have something there. It sounds quite ambitious, but I wish you well! I think I'm currently out-specced, so I'll be sitting it out in drydock.

 

[DanGovier]

Can it be made just to run under Windows?

Yeah you can just run the executable from its folder if you want to play offline. The only thing that won't work is multiplayer & achievements, because that's all built on the Steam subsystem.

 

[Ronald Held]

Do have anything we can try?

 

[XCV330]

Yeah you can just run the executable from its folder if you want to play offline. The only thing that won't work is multiplayer & achievements, because that's all built on the Steam subsystem.

I'm not sure my potato computer can handle it. I will check specs again, but if so I'll give it a try on linux under Proton Experimental in Steam.

 

[DanGovier]

Do have anything we can try?

I'm working on a demo at the moment. Hopefully I'll get it into a releasable state shortly after Christmas, but there's a looooong list of things I need to get done. I did manage to get the autopilot flying between star systems today though, so progress is being made!

In the demo you should be able to perform a full cold start of the fusion reactor, which will charge the ship's battery arrays and allow you to turn on all the lighting and bridge systems. I love the idea of having to walk down to engineering in complete darkness with only a torch (flashlight) to light your way to get the ship started up properly. You'll then be able to pilot the ship to any star system using the various bridge stations.