At Indielligent, we love developing our games together with the people who play them. In our previous projects, player feedback often helped us identify better solutions, improve existing systems, and discover ideas we might never have reached on our own.
We are especially excited to continue this approach with Ore Bastards throughout Early Access. The reports, suggestions, and discussions shared by our first players are already helping us make the game clearer, stronger, and more enjoyable.
This gave us an idea for a permanent way to recognize the community members who joined us at the beginning of this journey.
The First Thousand
We are considering creating 1,000 permanent memorial asteroids dedicated to the first 1,000 Early Access players who volunteer their names through a special Steam forum thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/4866000/discussions/0/572669660098570270/#c585055193116279980
Each participant would receive a unique asteroid displaying their chosen Steam name, together with an individual founder number:
Player Name
Early Access Founder #0237
Instead of placing all 1,000 names inside a single monument or menu, we want these asteroids to become a natural part of the Ore Bastards universe.
They would be distributed across three regions in the first sector, scattered within several thousand pixels of the region gates. Their locations would remain permanent and would never change between games.
Players searching for their own asteroid would need to explore the assigned region for a few minutes. We hope this turns the memorial into a small discovery experience—and perhaps encourages players to encounter the names of other early supporters along the way.
Permanent, Peaceful and Indestructible
Memorial asteroids would:
Remain permanently in the same location
Display the submitted player name
Be indestructible
Contain no mineable resources
Never become mission targets or interfere with the economy
Exist independently of normal procedural asteroid generation
No Early Access founder will be accidentally processed into iron ore. That would be a rather unfortunate thank-you gift.
How participation would work
Participation would be voluntary. Players who own Ore Bastards during Early Access would be able to submit the name they want displayed through a dedicated Steam discussion thread.
Submitted names would need to follow basic community rules, and participants would be giving us permission to display the selected name permanently inside the game. Players could use their Steam name or another suitable nickname if they prefer not to use a real name.
Once accepted, each participant would receive a founder number and the region containing their asteroid—but not its exact coordinates. Finding it would remain part of the adventure.
We want your opinion
Before we begin building the system, we would love to hear what the community thinks.
Would you enjoy having your name permanently placed somewhere in the Ore Bastards universe? Should the asteroids include individual titles, discovery messages, or other small details?
Share your ideas with us in the Steam discussions. If the community likes the concept, we plan to open applications for The First Thousand within the next 4–5 days.
The Ore Bastards universe is only beginning to grow—and we would love for its earliest explorers to leave a permanent mark among the stars.