A GAME ABOUT SPACE

WHAT IS ORBITAL DAWN?

THE CONCEPT.

Orbital Dawn is a game about the logistics of space exploration. The core gameplay revolves around building space stations and habitats. At the outset, you have a smattering of rockets, space station modules and spacecraft left over from the early space programs. Assemble them into a working station, crew it up and keep it supplied. Once assembled, you can start researching and exploring a web of technologies: build bigger rockets, unlock new methods of propulsion, or focus on improving crew health and station habitability.

As you progress, you will build more stations in more locations. You will also build modular ships, which are essentially mobile stations, allowing you to take large crews on interplanetary trips. New propulsion technologies will cut down on travel time. Start mining moons and asteroids to depend less on launches from Erua. Discover exciting new resources only available in space.

Later, you will be able to terraform worlds, build launch rings, create megastructures, and design generation ships to travel to new star systems.

Technological progress is non-linear, and insights into new research come at random. You will need to adapt to the technologies that become available.

THE STORY.

Erua

Erua is an Earth-like planet on the far side of our galaxy. It is populated by humans like us – one of the greater mysteries of the galaxy – and is in the midst of its own climate crisis.

Historically divided between East and West, the people of Erua have put aside their differences to confront this crisis. There is a robust interest in space exploration as a way to finding a solution. Breakthroughs in solar power generation could help Erua’s industry move away from fossil fuels. Terraforming other worlds might allow for atmospheric engineering at home. Asteroid mining would revolutionize the extraction economy, and so on.

Or, maybe Erua is just a beginning. For some, the stars beckon. Some imagine space colonies around every planet. Others dream of sleeper ships taking them to the unknown. The mysteries of space and time are so intriguing…

THE ROADMAP.

Phase Zero.

Basic proof of concept. Build a space station in LEO. Unlock bigger rockets to build a Moon station.

Phase One.

Make a more complete game. Implement a full star system. Build any number of space stations, modular ships, surface bases. Asteroid mining, asteroid capture. Terraforming and early megastructures.

Phase Two.

Wish list and hypotheticals. Bend the rules of spacetime with the Ansible and Light Speed. Build a network of wormholes. Choose from multiple starting scenarios.

Phase Three.

Mystery awaits…