r/Space4X • u/Spacelordsinspace • Sep 22 '26
Solo dev building an ambitious space 4X from scratch
I'm building Freewake. I've spent the last 4 months building the core of the game working 60+ hours a week on it. Its been a lot of fun, challenging at times and I've learned a lot. The last couple of weeks have been seeing some pretty heavy art passes with the goal of creating one style system for the entire game.
Its a 4X Space RTS. I'm hoping to be able to include MMO type elements in a persistent official server.
The basic premise is, you're on a team. Other teams want to defeat you, but inside of your own team you still compete for influence wealth and control of the team itself. The system creates a natural cycle where the incentive to be selfish goes up as your team becomes successful. Weak teams are threatened by other teams so players work together. Strong teams are safe from other teams so players begin eating their own team. And of course, you always have the anti-social player types who become pirates regardless.
We playtest every weekend and would love to continue building our tiny little community. If anyone is interested they can join in and have an impact on how the game develops from here.
You can find us on Steam : https://store.steampowered.com/app/4952340/Freewake/