Hello!
I am just here to announce the plans of HARD VOID.
Development continues steadily, and I want to thank you all again for your support. This is a full solo project: I code, write the lore, design the UI, direct the art style, compose the music, make the 3d models, and do the marketing by myself. Even the game engine is a custom one. It's a lot of work, but HARD VOID is my work of art.
Your bug reports, comments, feedback, help, support, and enjoyment mean a lot to me. Thank you. Also, I will be grateful if you could add a review when you consider it appropriate. It will help me a lot.
If you wish to give direct comments or just chat, there is the official discord https://discord.gg/bsg6eZ4e3H
With the latest updates for HARD VOID v0.13.X, ramming was introduced, and the tech tree advanced to the mid-game range. Also, the previous update included the design of ground units: Tanks, sea ships, aircraft, and submarines. This marks one of the roadmap points, and HARD VOID is near 50% of development completion. I recognize that the roadmap is ambitious, but that reflects the experience I wish you to have about HARD VOID. Even if it takes me more time than expected, I will deliver.
Right now, I am working on the next update that will consist of astro destruction, some refinement of the economic management, and the unit deployment mechanics. After that update, I will continue with the Lovecraftian update that is really needed at this point to be properly called a Lovecraftian game :)
Latest update battle demonstration (yes, another one!)
Here is a brief description of the design philosophy of HARD VOID:
What does HARD VOID put on the table? Freedom. One of the game's main tenets is freedom; most in-game systems have only a few hard limits. For example, you can design your spaceships with a huge selection of ship systems: weapons, defenses, engines, power sources, and more! Ship with no engines? We warned you, but here you go. The procedural hull generator produces a unique hull for your designs.
All game concepts and gameplay mechanics used are either based on HARD sci-fi or Lovecraftian works (or both).
The game economy works with production chain mechanics and logistics. Gather several materials and abstract resources, like Iron, Copper, Labor, etc. You can build any number of ships your colonies can, but you must supply them; every nuclear missile your ships fire must be built in one of your space colonies, and you must load uranium to fuel your nuclear reactors. There is no free lunch!
Multiple dimensions, Multiple FTL travel methods, Megastructures, etc. Almost all the sci-fi tropes, the freedom to play, and role-playing as you want. Of course, fully custom species will be implemented. But its not just flavor level role-play. Everything should impact the gameplay.
But wait, how is this Lovecraftian? I did not mention the eldritch horrors lurking in the vast darkness of space. They don't hate you, they don't even care about you, but if you draw their attention, good luck surviving. There are ancient artifacts that [maybe] can give you enough power to resist, or more probably drive your civilization to chaos and madness, if the procedural event generator didn't already do that with its cosmic horror events.
You can try the free demo on Steam, and join the Early Access if you want to support me in my endevour. My goal is to put many wild and experimental ideas together to push inovation, even if just a bit, in the space 4X game genre. Also, feature suggestions and discussion are welcome!