I’m making TRAPPIST-1, a colony and logistics strategy game set in the real seven-planet system. I spent last week making this trailer to explain what you actually do.

You establish a colony, build industry, manage scarce resources, and plan flights between planets using realistic orbital mechanics. Choosing where to settle means balancing what you can produce locally against what you’ll need to transport across space.

Development stage: an early playable prototype. Colony construction, production, logistics, population management, research, and interplanetary flight are implemented. There’s still substantial development ahead.

Other expeditions, diplomacy, and conflict are planned, but AI colonies aren’t implemented yet. The intention is for cooperation to be a viable path alongside competition: conflict should be an option, not the default.

I’d particularly appreciate feedback on the trailer: after watching it, is the connection between building your colony and planning interplanetary flights clear? What would you need to see more of to understand how it plays?

My indie studio is starting development on a spooky space simulation game. I'm responsible for marketing and market research.

I've been trying to find examples of games similar to ours that flopped or were just not well received. We're looking at other games like ours to assess what worked and what didn't.

It's been challenging to find examples of what not to do! I'm specifically looking for first person multiplayer games, but I would be grateful for any ideas.

I’m specifically looking to float around in 0 g (not only in a ship though) i hate when space games primarily take place on a space station with artificial gravity or planets/astral bodies. I want to be in space dammit!

recently played Outer wilds and loved it but i finished it a few weeks ago and i’m desperate for new recs.

I loved the movement physics of Heavenly bodies and getting sucked out into the void and carefully venturing out with only a rope attaching me to the ship.

I also have Xbox game pass ultimate if you have any suggestions on there!

Hi everyone! I’m a solo developer working on X4 Foundations Online, a mod aimed at bringing full multiplayer to X4.

A quick heads-up: I’m Russian, so the video is narrated in Russian. It includes gameplay footage showing the current progress.

Here’s what I’ve implemented so far:

- A shared galaxy with synchronized ships, stations and players.

- Flying together aboard the same ship: one player pilots while another walks around inside, including during carrier flights.

- Meeting on stations, using different onboard terminals and flying together in spacesuits.

- Replicated gunfire and projectiles.

- Personal organizations, money and property, alongside trading, ship purchases and refits.

- Station construction, exploration, satellites, ship orders and alliances.

Players can join without downloading the host’s save - the necessary world data is sent over the network. I’m keeping ordinary gameplay actions in X4’s familiar menus wherever possible.

The video also covers the development process, including how I’m using Codex as an AI coding assistant, and some current problems - character animations still need work!

This is an early development build. Implementing these systems doesn’t mean every interaction has been fully tested. Local tests have shown promising results, and I now need help checking everything between different PCs.

If you own X4 Foundations on Steam and would like to help test, leave a comment or send me a DM. I’d appreciate the help!

Grav Drive jumping gameplay for my game Cold Runner (prototype). The grav drive lets you jump to different destinations within a planetary system. To jump between planets you need to hitch a ride on a transit frigate which acts like a train, you buy a ticket, dock and then it'll take you to another world.

I am (also) working on a space game. I made this one for myself and my son. What we wanted was a an easy-to-setup and not too complex space ship simulator game where my 6yo can shoot laser in space using my full thrustmaster boeing yoke kit. I made the game based on Freelancer with a diablo style loot system. It can be played with any kind of inputs you would like and easy to customize (in theory).
Here is the trailer (turns out making these marketing videos is hard for me).
https://youtu.be/8wbPa1wpfMg

The physics is "realism light" where the ship can be flown with flight assist where it will orient your vector into the ships nose automatically or you can point the ship and apply RCS/thrusters manually to accelerate or stop (but that is quite hard to manage).

I found that adding a "space brake" button helps a lot with the dog fighting.

I think the game might have an appeal for people that have a nice HOTAS setup and are looking for games where every button can be mapped to a ship's function. I play tested mostly with my thrustmaster boeing kit so the default mapping is probably nicer for this one.

I am a solo dev and have been working on this one for about 1 year now. I think the main story campaign and side missions are done, the gameplay loop is established and I really like the dogfight action so far. I am currently in the alpha playtest process trying to iron all the kinks out and make the tutorial a good experience for non-pilots (which is proving hard so far).

Looking for feedback on the esthetique and concept, what do you NEED to have in such a game and do you absolutly do not want to see?

Thank you!

I'll admit it. I'm weird. There was something just so spellbinding about those early 80's computer screens and their use in movies. Text-Heavy, Wireframes and blocky graphics on a curved CRT screen just looked so cool to me. So I decided to make a game around that, based on some fond memories of a text-only multiplayer space-trading game from the '80s. Easy to play, but with a great depth to the systems and trying my best to make a Dwarf-Fortress-esque game in space. And here we are, it's been several months since the demo and early access were released and been covered favorably by some notable YouTubers, and the game is just a few weeks away from 1.0 and am happy that there are gamers out there that this graphically niche game appeals to.

Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4382310/Warp_to_Sector_One/

A Sector Darkly is a 2-d real-time space exploration sandbox RPG. Explore, trade, scavenge, research, craft and survive a sector in chaos. Interact and dialogue with more than 10 alien races. Imagine a 4x-LITE universe, where instead of being in command of the faction, you are in command of a single ship and crew just trying to survive. An open world exploration, with an underlying mystery: sectors are going dark one by one and no one knows why.

• Full galaxy simulation
• Research and craft items and ships. Salvage and upgrade your own ships
• 11 Unique Alien Faction
• Deep hand-crafted and procedural exploration elements
• Real time space combat
• ... more much

Current stage of development is beta, with a release upcoming November 25th (next month!).

A demo is playable now on Steam, looking for any and all feedback. Particularly on flight controls, QOL, exploration, interactions, combat. Trading.

Aaron

In Solar Explorers you fly a courier out of a quiet system on the rim and make your own way from there: trade lanes between stations, jump holes hidden in nebulas, asteroid fields and gas-giant rings to mine, and a 30-mission story about why the stars on the rim are going dim.

It plays with keyboard and mouse, or touch on phones and tablets. I recommend keyboard and mouse for the best experience. You have to register to play, because your universe is saved on the server.

https://explorers.orrery.games

Let me know what you think!

A story-driven, first-person grounded sci-fi horror game inspired by astrophysics and speculative science.

Trapped on an asteroid outpost orbiting a black hole, survive physics-based threats and impossible phenomena where every choice leads to 5 distinct endings.

If it looks like your kind of thing, the Steam page is here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4886980/Dense_Void

Hey guys! Justin Here.

a real human. not an AI. just a dude learning to code video games. I am building what I think is a pretty rad colonysim/RTS where space really wants you dead. Colonize and industrialize the solar system, and defend your outposts. Currently combat exists in tower defense stage. Walls, Turrets, Marines and Tanks are available military units. if you develop poor relations with another faction they start to raid your colonies.

So if the whole lack of oxygen, lack of gravity, lack of stable temperatures, and instant death doses of radiation aren't enough problems, you have to also battle other factions that want you deleted from the historic record.

I'm 95% the playable loop for beta testing. So much achieved since February when I started this little project.

Research tree is finally done. I reworked the HUD to match the new visual language that I started with the market rework, the same language has since been applied to every widget/pop up screen. So the game is looking a lot more cohesive now.

An admitted weakness is my landscapes. I haven't put much love into the landscapes yet.

But I'm opening up the discord for people who want to test the game out in it's beta run.

beta testers will get free lifetime access to the game.

Here's a quick youtube video I recorded a couple days ago NOTE it does NOT have the new HUD, I'll record another gameplay video today with some update.

Youtube -- https://youtu.be/KSbozUMysvc

Discord -- https://discord.gg/yVppYUfsU

Also if anyone wants to teach me how to attach images to reddit posts.... xD

Cheers

Justin

Hey everyone!

I am a solo developer working on Void Privateers, a space combat game inspired by naval battles.

Unlike traditional space dogfighting, combat focuses on positioning, momentum, broadside weapons, shields, and three altitude levels.

One feature I have been experimenting with is optional voice control.

In this gameplay clip, I am steering the ship manually while giving voice commands to my crew: engaging boost, ordering broadside fire, and charging the forward weapon.

Voice commands are completely optional. Everything can also be controlled using keyboard and mouse.

The game is still in early development, and there is no playable demo yet.

I would really appreciate some feedback: Would you actually use voice commands alongside manual ship controls, or would you find them more distracting than useful during combat?

For anyone interested in following the development, here is the Steam page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5471980/Void_Privateers/

Dev stage: closed beta on iOS and Android through TestFlight and Google Play. I’m about a year in. The galaxy was rebuilt on October 17.

I know a turn-based phone game isn’t the usual thing here. The parts I care most about are the economy and the persistent galaxy. This seemed like the right crowd to ask about those.

There’s one shared galaxy of about 2,500 star systems. Port prices move with what players buy and sell. Deposits run out. Once a night the server processes the whole galaxy. Alien factions take or lose ground. Outposts produce. Your defenses fight whoever came for them while you were away. Computer-controlled ships travel between systems on their own. They run on the same turn budget players have.

Everyone gets the same number of turns per day to spend however they like. You fit your own ships from parts you built, looted or bought from other players. Losing a ship means losing what was fitted to it. When players fight each other, the attacker faces the defenses and orders the other player left behind. Nobody has to be online at a set time.

Lanes between systems die off over a twelve-week season. The map slowly closes in toward the core. Then the galaxy is rebuilt. Commander level, blueprints and reputation carry over. Fleets convert to experience and reputation for the next season.

Turns can’t be bought with any currency. Premium currency buys paint jobs, cosmetics, crafting time and gear that other players are selling.

I’d like feedback on three things.

When prices move, can you tell why?

When you lose a fight offline and read the report the next morning, does it feel fair?

Does a rebuild every twelve weeks sound generous or punishing?

Install links for iOS and Android plus the Discord: https://deadlanes.com/from/spacesim

For media context: Here is what the video shows, in order. Everything is recorded from the current beta build. It opens on the galaxy and the system map. Then you see territory, a day’s turns being spent and trading. The middle section covers the hull lineup and fitting, where every component has its own stats. Next is one full turn-based fight. Your defenses run the same fight when you’re offline. After the fight the wreck can be looted. The last part is the war against the three alien factions and the fronts that move each night. It ends on the commander profile, blueprints and crafting.

By realistic i meant that it visually looks realistic, not necessarily that theres lots of things to worry about like pressure, fuel, and resource management.

Outer Wilds for example looks really good imo when you enter into a planet's atmosphere. i just want something similar but I do want like real planets from our solar system. I'm going to check out Kerbal Space Program and some mods because of that. KSP kinda looks a bit too simple though, are there any other ones?

Basically I just want to see the transition between actually being on the planet and then rising bit by bit till you see the horizon bend then you can see the entire planet. I'm looking for games that pull off that look. (bonus if theres a photo mode or just like general noclip godmode stuff since I just want to see them)

Edit: sorry I should have been more clear. This is very much a boring historical sim of a few phases of the Apollo missions. It’s not a game really. When you flip a switch a signal goes through a simulated wire to a 1-1 simulated model of the computer(s) on board the CM or LM. It executes the same code as the Apollo computer and outputs single over simulated wires to thrusters and such.

Side project I built as I had extra time and credits. It's come so far I thought others might find it interesting. What you see here is the web build and it's a couple of versions old.

If there's interest I can provide more up-to-date caps and more video later. I've never released a personal project before so I'm dragging my feet opening the git or public link.

When possible everything is simulated accurately. AGC/thermals/voltages/etc are all math/physics and don't use stand-in logic. Breakers even heat up and cool for the trickle charging and cold power-up simulation of 13 (not shown in these shots).
One of the slides lists this version sim details.

Couple quick videos:

https://imgur.com/a/6J2oLJK

Thanks all!

Released a basic demo for steam next fest with essentially the first chapter of the campaign. More details on the steam page but essentially a 6 dof game where you control the wayfarer an aging light cruiser. You play as the officer of the deck Lieutenant commander Orin Gelfrin under the command of Captain Harrington the game is partially inspired by BSG, The expanse, the Honor Harrington series, the three body problem, wing commander, etc.

More details on what the demo includes are on the demo page.

I think I have a solid vibe, art direction, and music what I'd like some feedback on is the story, and controls. The first chapter is setting up a lot of characters and their why's but I tried to avoid direct exposition and talking heads and instead have the conversations be more focused on what's going on, with sprinkles of lore along the way.

As for the controls there are a lot I've tried to make them reasonable and simplified as much as possible but there's a lot of controls. I stared by copying the basic scheme that ksp uses for pitch, roll, yaw, and translate and then extend it from there.

This demo will probably get a few more updates but it will stay live even once the full game releases.

Thank you for the feedback

Spacemarine658

Starlight Brigade

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3281660

We're a small indie team developing Abitrium, a tactical space-combat game where you command a warship and crew forced to fight as gladiators in an alien arena.

This isn't arcade dogfighting. You configure your ship, assign crew, manage systems, and make tactical decisions under pressure.

We're recruiting 20 iPhone players for our closed pre-alpha testing program.

Abitrium is currently in pre-alpha, an early development stage where we're testing core gameplay systems, evaluating mechanics, and gathering feedback to guide development.

We're specifically looking for feedback on tactical combat, ship management, crew systems, and anything that feels confusing, unbalanced, or frustrating.

Selected testers who participate in the program will receive a limited-edition Abitrium T-shirt as a thank-you for helping us improve the game.

If you enjoy tactical strategy games and want to help shape Abitrium during its early development, we'd love to have you involved.

Apply for pre-alpha access here:
Abitrium Pre-Alpha Testing

Happy to answer any questions about the game or the testing process.

Solo dev here, working on TRAPPIST-1. It’s a hard-SF colony strategy game set in the real TRAPPIST-1 system. Long story short, it's hex-based mining & building on planets, running a supply chain and fighting orbital mechanics to get your cargo where it needs to go. No "spaceship battles", but accelerating 1000 metric tons of iron in orbit towards a rival colony won't out of the question...

Every game starts with your colony ship rolling into the system, so I needed a big nice colony ship. I tried AI 3D generators first (Trippo, Trellis etc). Results ranged from “melted Star Destroyer” to “what is that.” Not great for a game that’s supposed to be hard sci-fi.

Then I found out NASA just... gives this stuff away. Detailed hardware, free to use. So I went shopping.

• The big interstellar ship: Three gateway modules in a trench coat.
• The lander: Big fat version of module #1 + a mars lander at the bottom and two boosters from the Space Shuttle.
• Making it run in a strategy game: NASA’s models are very detailed, so I cut them down to a reasonable number of polygons and repainted everything

Renders are in the post, and there’s a short devlog on Steam if you want to follow along:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/5423750/view/679638395625933171

Honest question for this sub: for a hard sci-fi ship crossing between stars, do near-future NASA-parts work for you?

P.S: Yes the 3D model licence permits commercial use. Just don't put a NASA logo on them.

If you play SpaceBourne 2 and own a joystick, HOTAS or rudder pedals, this one's for you. SB2 HOTAS is a free, open-source mod that adds:

• full analog flight on any controller (pitch, roll, yaw, throttle, strafe, lift), with HOTAS or HOSAS;
• head tracking in the cockpit through OpenTrack (a webcam is enough);
• all ship actions bindable to buttons, hats and switches;
• one-click install and uninstall. The game exe is never touched.

Download & full guide: https://github.com/hubertdungen/SpaceBourne2-HOTAS

Feedback is very welcome. It's tested on an X-56 + TFRP pedals, and the templates for other popular sticks are waiting for pilots to verify them.

Update 0.2.0: triple screen & ultrawide! And I didn't stop there: SB2 HOTAS now spreads SpaceBourne 2 across three monitors, no NVIDIA Surround or AMD Eyefinity needed.

• One tick in the bridge's new Triple screen tab stretches the game over all your monitors. Mixed resolutions work (tested on 1080p | 1440p | 1080p).
• Proper Hor+ view: the centre monitor looks like a normal 16:9 screen and the sides show more of space, instead of a zoomed-in picture. Works on ultrawides too.
• HUD and menus on the centre monitor; target markers still cover every screen.
• New ▶ Play button and an update notice in the bridge.

Everything new is off by default. Download: https://github.com/hubertdungen/SpaceBourne2-HOTAS/releases/latest

Can I get some recommendations for space combat games? More like naval battles with capital ships rather than dogfights with fighters.

Bonus points if I can fly a carrier and deploy fighters/bombers

With Next Fest upon us, what are some games that my fellow space sim lovers are enjoying? I haven't had time to dig through all the games yet but I'll come back and add mine in a bit!

**Update**

Wow - I'm really disappointed with this Next Fest. As u/aqpstory pointed out, there is very little of interest (at least to me). Lots of 4x games that reek of AI...and just generally lots of AI slop across the board. Sad times for space sim fans like myself.

Hey r/spacesimgames we’re Muse Games, the team behind Guns of Icarus, and we just launched the demo for our new space crew-based combat game Stars of Icarus.

Stars focuses on slower more tactical space combat including full 6DoF and some more scifi elements like portals and cloaking. Each team runs a fleet of ships: player can captains the ships, others fly fighters or take on specialist roles like weapons and engineering. The focus is on teamwork and coordination, so a well-run crew will beat a ship full of solo players going their own way.

We're looking for some support this Next Fest as we just launched our demo on Friday! If you could check it out and maybe even leave a review it would be amazing. We're keen to know it feels to play and we're happy to answer any questions about the game!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5186750/Stars_of_Icarus_Demo/

Features:

• Six ship types with 25+ fleet formation variations
• All weapons and equipment available from the start, with no pay-to-win
• Online Lobbies, Competitive Queue AND LAN PvP arenas
• The demo has 4 maps, 3 ship types (6 ships total)

Hi, last couple of months I have been working on a remaking Wing Commander III in Unreal Engine 5.8. This is one of the more complicated missions where you load into a second mission if you choose to safe Flint. If you are wondering why the enemy's are dying so easily... I put it on Rookie. The game also fully supports VR. The game works as a mod, and requires the original game files to run. Flagged as promotion just to be safe, since it is a mod it is obviously completely free.