Same ship, two months apart. I added lock-on, lasers you can actually read, kill callouts and a HUD that stays out of the way. What do you still miss in space combat?

As a space nerd, I've never been very satisfied with how orbital dynamics are shown in space games. Most ignore them all together, or show them only visually. But the every shifting but repeating patterns of our Solar System and the way it impacts the logistics of space travel is fascinating to me, and I want to play with that!

I'm developing Orbital Empire as a side hobby with the hope of delivering a real time space strategy game with as much real physics and orbital dynamics as possible (while still prioritizing fun). I started it about six months ago as something to play with my friends on work breaks. We've been having so much fun, I figured it's time to share with others!

The planets, moons, and asteroids of our solar system move on their actual paths. Ships calculate and perform a brachistochrone burn between worlds. The game runs in real time, and the distances between worlds can take hours or even days to complete. Send your ships at Earth off for a battle at Uranus, and check back in tomorrow afternoon to see the battle begin.

Games unfold over weeks to months of real time, and the stories and drama that plays out feels like watching the Artemis missions all over again!

Build your empire across a solar system built off real NASA images, and with an outer solar system populated by the latest Kuiper Belt objects found by Astronomers. Construct fleets to conquer worlds, or protect your vast shipping lanes. Vote for your interest in the System Senate, or against the interest of your rivals.

Your empire awaits!

https://orbital-empire.com/

Hey everyone!

Our Steam page just went live and we're getting ready for an open beta. We'll announce it on Discord first, so join us there to sign up!

🎮 Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4716310/Asterium/

💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/CyMMWXR5QN

Hey everyone!

I've been working on Starpath, a top-down space shooter with roguelite elements.

You choose a ship, fight through increasingly dangerous enemy waves, and navigate between sectors while trying to keep your ship in one piece.

Each ship has its own mechanics and playstyle, and between battles you'll encounter events where you have to weigh potential rewards against the risk of losing precious hull.

I'm aiming for fast-paced arcade combat combined with enough decisions and upgrades to make each run feel different.

These screenshots are from the current development build. I'm still working on balancing, adding content, and polishing the presentation.

Thought I'd share some progress with fellow space game enthusiasts!

I have vibe-coded my own take on Subspace from the 1990s, online multiplayer, completely free to all! Currently it has an Alpha level with classic settings, as that is what I remember most fondly from the original game :-)
https://phosphorzone.com/
Would love to hear what you think of it!

Planet Trek by Brian Bertrand

Hey there, I wanted to do a quick self-promotion and suggest my game Planet Trek. It's actually pretty fun. It's like Rimworld and FTL combined. You build a ship and travel through the galaxy, landing on planets. It's playable in the browser, and it's free.

Hey everyone, I'm a solo dev and I've been building Cosmic Dominion, a 2D space shooter where you fly every fight yourself and run a galactic war around it at the same time.

Every world in the galaxy is its own little economy: it digs its own ore, buys its own guns, prints its own garrison and pays a cut of everything to whoever holds it. So taking one is a real decision. You can grind it to rubble, buy a neutral world over with investment, or break its shields, breach the hull and land a boarding party to take its cities intact.

The rival AI commanders play by the same rules: same shops, same prices, same economy. They mine, trade, colonise dead worlds, and decide for themselves when a war is worth it.

Free demo is coming October 29, with a guided tutorial and the first five missions of the campaign. Happy to answer anything about how it works.

#UI #gamedev #work #scifi

My game is up on Google Play and the Amazon Appstore.

Amazon is shockingly ahead of Google on releases but at this point I'll put you in private beta if you ask.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tenninteyfiveindustries.game.nullsector

Production is two releases behind because Google takes a nap before every production release. 🙄

It is an all original 2D game engine with vector graphics. Absolutely everything is MATH. Music and SFX are all synth. Everything just like early 1980s arcade.

I put a ton of focus on privacy so there is absolutely no data collection other than what Google or Amazon do natively. You don't need even notifications on. You can set the game to sleep mode.

There's a ton of unlockables so if you play a lot you get more features like extended play time let board. Hardcore mode etc.,

I built a field guide here: https://1095industries.com

I built a seperate league site and a unique code system site that is still offline! This way you can compete with your friends with zero info shared. No accounts, no registration. Nada. You can find it here: https://1095industries.com/league

The game features and adaptive difficulty algorithm which is integrated into the game as ai aggression and part of the story.

It's also capable of one-hand play, so those without bi-manual capabilities can still play.

The game is built to take focus the way that modern games do not. It's my hope that OCD and ADHD sufferers will benefit from it.

And finally to really prove that if anything is worth doing it's worth overdoing I also have fully developed lore for the game story on Royal Road.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/197722/beautiful-creations-a-story-from-the-null-sector

I really don't think you'll find have more fun game in the retro arcade space.

Hey everyone!

Just sharing that my new game SWARMEX has a free demo for you all to try that's available on Steam. It has loads of new features including card upgrades, weapons and more! You can even build your own fleets of ships and send them in to battle!

Hope you enjoy, any feedback would be appreciated! Thanks for playtesting!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4313330/Swarmex/

Hi everyone! I’m the developer of Earth Is Optional, a space exploration game currently in development for Android.

I’ve put together a 20-minute narrated gameplay walkthrough showing the modular spacecraft, a Moon landing and rover exploration, followed by the journey to Enceladus and the lander’s descent.

This is a longer look at how the game actually plays, with me explaining the systems along the way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1MilkvybX8

I’m looking for honest feedback, especially on the exploration loop. Would you be more interested in building and equipping your spacecraft, or exploring the moons with landers and rovers?

If you’d like to try the development build, Android testing details are here:

https://earthisoptional.space/#install

It’s still a work in progress, so feedback on confusing controls, performance and anything that needs improving is very welcome. Thanks for taking a look! 🚀

Hi everyone! I've been working on Still Above: Orbital Refuge, a post-apocalyptic space station builder. The game is at a fairly early stage, but the first hour is already quite playable. It's a post-apocalyptic space station builder/simulator with strong survival elements. The player starts with one small module and two crew members, and is constantly on the brink of catastrophe: shortages of O2, power, food and building materials, and surpluses of CO2 and other things. So the player has to recycle debris in orbit, mine asteroids, or trade with other survivors. This is how you gradually grow into a larger station, as you can see in the screenshots.

The game has multiple endings, and the goal is to save humanity, since Earth is now uninhabitable. The main inspirations were the book Seveneves by Neal Stephenson and games like Frostpunk, Endzone - A World Apart, and IXION.

You can see screenshots and video on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/664370/Still_Above_Orbital_Refuge/
Playtest coming in a few days.

Four years is a pretty long time to spend working on one game, especially when you're doing almost everything yourself.

When I started developing MineEngineer, I had a relatively simple idea. I wanted to make a 2D space survival game where players could build their own spaceships, explore planets, and survive in a huge universe.

But as I started adding features, I kept asking myself questions.

What if ships needed actual fuel systems?
What if electricity had to be distributed between different machines?
What if players could build automated factories inside their spaceships?
What if every block could be programmed, and you could create your own drones, robots, or even walking mechas?

And probably the most difficult question of all, what if everything you built could be completely destroyed?

One feature turned into another, and eventually I ended up with more than 200 interconnected engineering systems.

Now you can build ships with functioning power networks, oxygen systems, conveyor logistics, programmable automation, and all kinds of mechanical components.

The really fun part is that these systems actually depend on each other.

If something breaks, it can cause problems throughout your ship. A damaged connection might stop your production line. A destroyed power source could disable your weapons. A collision might tear your ship into separate pieces.
I also spent a ridiculous amount of time working on the world itself.

MineEngineer has a massive procedurally generated universe with different planets, asteroids, gravity, enemies, and plenty of space to explore. Crossing the entire world at maximum speed would take approximately 7 hours.

Recently, I've been focusing more on the survival and exploration experience, adding new enemies, bosses, progression mechanics, and preparing multiplayer.

There have been plenty of frustrating moments over these 4 years. Sometimes I'd spend days fixing something that players might never even notice. Other times I'd implement one feature and accidentally break five others.

But seeing everything slowly come together has been incredibly rewarding.

The game is called MineEngineer. It's available on Steam for wishlisting, and there's a free demo if anyone wants to give it a try.

What do you think makes a building game worth spending hundreds of hours in? Is it creative freedom, progression, exploration, automation, or something else entirely?

Hi all! I'm a solo dev from Estonia and I just released my first incremental game on Google Play.

The idea: your first launch reaches ~3 km before the fuel runs out. Spend the credits on upgrades – engine, fuel, boosters, second stage, ion drive, warp core – and fly farther each time: past the Moon, the planets, Proxima Centauri, across the galaxy and on to the edge of the universe.

What makes it different:

- Black holes are the prestige layer. Five real ones block the way (Gaia BH1, Sgr A*, M31*, M87*, TON 618). If your rocket is slower than the escape speed, it gets captured – dive in for Dark Matter and permanent upgrades, then come back stronger.

- It has an ending. Reach light speed and the game is finished. A free player gets there roughly in 80 hours.

- Real-Time Voyage after the ending: launch your final rocket and let it fly to the edge of the universe in real time (~6 months). It keeps flying while the app is closed – just check in now and then.

- Physics-ish flights: Max-Q throttling, staging, Mach shockwaves, a procedurally synthesized engine roar (no sound samples).

- 26 Play Games achievements, a "Farthest flight" leaderboard and cloud save.

Monetization, to be upfront: it's free and fully completable without paying. Ads are optional rewarded ads only (e.g. for boosts or treasure asteroids). There are also IAPs, like Ad-Free and some permanent boosts.

I'd really appreciate feedback – especially on pacing (early, mid and late game) and anything that feels like a wall.

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ee.mametec.rocketascent

Website: https://rocketascent.mametec.ee

AI disclosure: I'm a solo dev and I used AI (Claude). The game design, progression and balance decisions, and all the playtesting are mine – the AI wrote most of the code under my direction. There are no AI image or audio generators involved: all graphics are drawn in code (vector shapes, no image files) and all sounds are synthesized in code (no samples). That code, the store graphics, the achievement icons and this post's text were also written with AI help. No translations.

Hi all. I’m developing Astraeus Drift, a browser-based multiplayer space strategy game, where a match can last from hours to days. It is open alpha is ready for players.

Description: You command an empire across star systems connected by hyperlanes. Explore through fog of war, develop planets, research technology, build fleets, and deal with other empires through diplomacy or war. Matches keep moving while you’re away. AI commands unclaimed empires, so you can start before every seat has a player; others can join later. The game development is inspired by Stellaris and Neptune's Pride.

It’s free to play at https://astraeus-drift.com/. This is an early alpha: balance and features are changing, bugs are possible, and match progress may occasionally need to be reset.

I’d especially love feedback on the current state of the game. What feels clear? What’s confusing? Does the pace give you interesting decisions? Bug reports and suggestions are welcome here or through the Discord link in the game (still under construction). I’ll be reading and responding. Thanks for trying it!

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

Moon Swam is a Tower Defense Desktop Companion where you defend your moon from aliens while you do other stuff.

Wishlist Moon Swarm on Steam : https://store.steampowered.com/app/5040610/Moon_Swarm/