🗺️ Roadmap – Space Opera
Hello, everyone!
Many of you have asked where this journey with Space Opera is actually headed. So today, I’d like to give you an overview of the features I’m working on and what’s already planned.
A few words first: I’m developing the game on my own. That’s why I’m deliberately not giving any dates—the roadmap shows where I’m heading, not when something will be finished. The order of the items isn’t set in stone either.
🏷️ What the symbols mean
Icon
Meaning
🔨
In Progress – I’m actively working on this right now
📋
Planned – firmly planned; the details are largely set
🧪
Concept – an idea I still need to test; it may change significantly or even be discarded
✅ Already done
So you can see that things are moving forward—these features are now in the game:
- 🛸 Colonization via colony ship—you can colonize new planets with a ship that has a colony module on board
- 🧩 Multiple placements in the ship designer – a selected module remains active until it is replaced by another one or actively rejected by right-clicking
- 🛠️ Modding framework – game content is loaded from data files and can be customized
- 🏚️ Demolish Buildings – You can remove buildings that are no longer needed
🌍 1. Races, Planets & Colonization
📋 Home World: Atmosphere & Planet Type
When creating your empire, you determine what kind of world your starting race calls home—both the atmosphere and the planet type (e.g., 🪨 rock, 🌊 water, ❄️ ice, 🌋 lava, ☁️ gas).
This has direct consequences: At the beginning, you can only colonize planets that are compatible with your race. Through research, you gradually unlock additional colonization types and atmospheres—thereby expanding your reach across the galaxy.
📋 👥 Population & Workforce
Your planets will have a thriving population. It grows when there is enough food and morale is high. How many inhabitants a planet can support depends on its size and type—a rocky planet offers more living space than a lava world.
Buildings need **workers**. Without them, your buildings will operate at reduced capacity. This can trigger a chain reaction: fewer workers → less food → declining morale → shrinking population.
Your population’s morale depends on:
- 🍞 Food supply
- 🌡️ Living conditions on the planet
- ⚖️ Employment – too few jobs are just as bad as too few workers
Later on, additional factors will be added, such as residential buildings, entertainment, environmental pollution, and terraforming.
🏭 2. Economy & Development
📋 Revamped Construction Queue
The costs for construction orders will now be deducted at the end of the round. You can also choose whether your orders are processed simultaneously or one after another—depending on whether you prefer to start many projects at once or focus your capacity on a single project.
🧪 🏗️ Design Your Own Buildings: Blueprints & Planetary Building Sites
> ⚠️ Note: This feature is currently just a concept that I need to test myself first. It has a massive impact on other systems—including research. That’s why things here may still change or end up looking completely different.
In the future, you won’t select buildings from a fixed list anymore—you’ll design them yourself, similar to the ship designer. A blueprint is filled with modules, and this creates your own power plant, warehouse, or research center.
Each planet gets its own construction area made up of tiles, spread across multiple levels. The number of tiles a planet has depends on its size. Each building occupies exactly one field—so it’s worth thinking carefully about what you build and where.
Blueprints can be further developed: When you revise a design, a new version is created. Your existing buildings remain unaffected until you specifically upgrade them.
- 💰 When upgrading, you only pay the difference between the old and new versions
- 🔍 You can **directly compare** all possible successor versions before upgrading
- 🌐 If you wish, you can upgrade **multiple planets at once**
📦 3. Logistics & Supply
📋 Supply System: Depots & Warehouses
Your ships consume supplies and must be resupplied. With supply depots Replenish your ships’ supplies; warehouses increase the amount you can stockpile. On the strategy map, you can see at a glance how your supplies are holding up—so long campaigns need to be planned carefully.
🚀 4. Fleets & Crews
📋 Fleets
You can group multiple ships into a fleet and move them as a single unit via the strategy map—no more tedious clicking on each ship individually.
🧪 👨🚀 Ship Crews
> ⚠️ Note: This is just a concept idea at this point. It still needs to be worked out in detail and may even be scrapped entirely.
Your ships will require a crew before they’re ready for action. Crews are recruited on your planet—similar to buildings, they are commissioned and produced.
The better the crew, the better the ship:
- 🏃 Movement speed
- 🔫 Weapon reload rate
- 🛡️ Shield recharge rate
- 🔧 Repair
- 🎯 Accuracy
🗺️ 5. Strategy Map & Controls
- 🔨 Selective Selection on Full Tiles – if there are multiple ships and/or planets on a tile, you can choose exactly what you want to click on
- 📋 Movement Path Line – shows you which route your ships will take and where they will arrive
- 📋 Revamped Galaxy Minimap – for a better overview of your galaxy
🎮 6. Platforms & Languages
- 📋 Steam Deck Support – Controls and user interface will be adapted for the Steam Deck so you can rule your empire on the go
- 📋 Language Options – the game language can be selected in the options menu
🛠️ 7. Modding
- 🔨 Expansion of the Modding System – The existing framework will be expanded so you can customize and expand more and more game content on your own
💬 Your opinion matters!
This roadmap isn’t a binding contract, but rather a glimpse into my plans. I’m especially interested in hearing what you think about the 🧪 concepts.
Feel free to reach out—on the Steam forum, in the itch.io comments, or right here under this post. And if you like the direction we’re heading in, I’d appreciate every wishlist addition ⭐
Thanks for being part of this! 🚀
-Bradley