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  • [Early Access available] Space shooter with realistic Zero-G physics

Steam Early Access link


I've been working on this project for about eight months now. I think it's taking shape, although it still needs a lot of gameplay refinements and content.

The drill is simple: you fly a spaceship equipped with weapons and fight rogue machines in asteroid mines.
Although other games have already used the idea (Descent, Overload), I have never played those games, only tested a bit Overload. The graphics and gameplay style are quite different from the ones I'm targeting.
My game has a more hard science tone, and I used rigid bodies and forces to simulate the ship realistically.
Learning to fly the ship can be challenging for this reason (I will add a proper tutorial), but I found it to be fun on its own.

Asteroids can be pretty big (2 to 10 km in diameter), and you can explore them freely.
Every mission is a different asteroid, and has its own objectives.

I post quite regular updates on my Twitter (https://twitter.com/Game_Fabric) and the official Godot Facebook group.

I had a few technical challenges to overcome, especially performance-wise, and I had to write lots of code for various systems that don't come with Godot, like persistence and behavior trees.
I'm aiming now to go Early Access on Steam and Itch.io in a few months.
Any feedback is welcome.

a month later

I made a lot of progress, and I thought it was time to have some presence in some stores. So, I finally have a Steam and an itch.io page for the project! Steam:https://store.steampowered.com/app/1715040/Outer_Space_War_Gears/ Itch.io: https://game-fabric.itch.io/outer-space-wg Here are a few up-to-date screenshots: I'm planning to release the game in early access first. It will support Windows and Linux on launch date, and MacOS later.

10 days later

I created this short gameplay trailer:

Which is partially out-of-date already :)

@m4nu3lf Heyyy!!! It's nice to see you on the forums, I see your fb posts all the time. You have made a ton of progress and the game is looking really slick m8. The only thing that REALLY (I mean really)bothers me is how much screen space the tools/weapons take up on the sides of the vessel.

Perhaps it's because you have tools on all four sides of the screen. I really feel boxed in. Perhaps if there was just one it wouldn't seem so crowded. Who knows I might be the only person who feels this way.

@Erich_L said: @m4nu3lf Heyyy!!! It's nice to see you on the forums, I see your fb posts all the time. You have made a ton of progress and the game is looking really slick m8. The only thing that REALLY (I mean really)bothers me is how much screen space the tools/weapons take up on the sides of the vessel.

Perhaps it's because you have tools on all four sides of the screen. I really feel boxed in. Perhaps if there was just one it wouldn't seem so crowded. Who knows I might be the only person who feels this way.

Hi, thanks for the feedback! I think this is easy to fix. I can move the camera forward a bit. I will add an option in the settings to move the camera forward or backwards to adjust that to your likings.

@Erich_L I implemented the option :)

@m4nu3lf said: @Erich_L I implemented the option :) You just secured a customer <3 I still wonder if I was the only one who felt that way about it feeling boxed in? Anyway I think that looks way cleaner.

@Erich_L It's well possible I would have felt the same if I had seen the game for the first time like it is now. It's hard to notice these issues sometimes when the game slowly evolves, and you play it over and over. That's why I really value this kind of feedback!

10 days later

In the last week or so, I have improved visuals: I added and improved normal maps, and reworked some models. I also fixed many bugs (some in Godot too). Here is a short clip of a high G manoeuver performed to hit an enemy in its weak spot. <center> </center> Higher quality here.

10 days later

I made a new gameplay trailer. This one is more focused on the action.

23 days later

Here is an up-to-date clip. I improved the visuals and more. <center> </center>

Looking awesome!

Wow this would be amazing as underwater exploration type of game too! ps. I like water

@Gowydot said: Wow this would be amazing as underwater exploration type of game too! ps. I like water

See AquaNox & AquaNox 2.

@Gowydot said: Wow this would be amazing as underwater exploration type of game too! ps. I like water

Changing from space to water would be a huge change to make, haha. Right now, the exploration factor is limited, but I'm considering adding more exploration elements.

21 days later

Here is a collection of more or less "explosive" screenshots I managed to capture today.

11 days later

Here is an updated GIF. I have made a lot of small and big improvements to the overall looks, but there is still a lot of work to go.

<center> </center>

3 months later

As always, the development is taking longer than initially planned, but in the last few months, I have changed and improved a lot of things in the game. I'm now working on a new procedural system to generate rooms and place objects/enemies.

The system is based on CSG, but rooms are also aligned so that I can use portal culling. Objects are placed in 2D grids defined on flat surfaces. The algorithm automatically detected these surfaces.

<center> </center>