A highly experimental SCIFI sandbox MMORPG. Using only 2D, top-down visuals, we're attempting to push the limits of the MMO genre to create a game world that is similar in some ways to Ready Player One. Featuring perma-death, and player societies. Every man-made object is crafted by a real player.
All Reviews:
Mixed (20) - 40% of the 20 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date:
Jul 10, 2020
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Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“The game is generally running well and many of our core intended features are in, but a few features are missing. We are also interested in slowly bringing new players in while we test our experimental server clustering framework at ever increasing scales. We also recognize that the UI will need to be tweaked as we get feedback from our player base.

For these reasons we intend on staying in Early Access for quite some time, and while in Early Access we plan on releasing new versions and new content to players regularly.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“I would estimate Early Access to continue through to the end of 2020.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The core features allow players to play and as of writing we have a number of core players who have been playing consistently for months already. However there are a few missing features or features that require more polish. They are as follows:

  • Tweaking the UI for mobile versions to be a bit more comfortable
  • Teaching skills and ideas to other players (not implemented yet)
  • Expanding on the inventions you can create (this will always be the case)
  • Reimplementing territory control (from our original prototype)
  • Tweak the AI to be more stable (a bit buggy at the moment)
  • Automatic self-defense modes (the AI is there but we need a way to manage it)
  • A useful dashboard for large modular bases (not implemented yet)
  • Expanding on the "infected" ships, offering new ones you can fight
  • Creating "infected" bases if you really want a challenge
  • Allowing players to add notes and other custom things in-game for other players to find

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“It is a working version with the aforementioned features missing. There can be down times as we work on the servers or deal with new bugs, but availability is generally quite high (I would estimate the game is available to be played >90% of the time). Players that do get into it are very happy with the progress so far.

Some of the features currently available:
  • We have a series of "quests" and tutorial elements that teach you how to play the game by helping you save the life of your imperiled character when you start the game.
  • The invention system is in a working state, allowing you to create new ships, bases, and items like engines, power plants, weapons, and a slew of tools and equipment.
  • Just last week we added the modular bases and the ability to weld them together to create connected modular bases.
  • The ability to collect raw resources from asteroids (mining in various ways), gas clouds, and drops components and materials from the "infected" ships you manage to destroy.
  • Being able to exit your ship and fly around in your space suit.
  • Being able to progress your technology for better and better things.
  • Player trades.
  • Player stores.
  • In-game chat communication between all online players.
  • The friend system.
  • Being able to join a friend.
  • Being able to spawn new characters near one of your existing characters so you can have multiple alts working together in the same area.
  • A basic randomly generated game world (we plan on improving the random generation in the future).
  • This is not an exhaustive list, there are more features that are currently working or will soon be made available.

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Early Access costs will vary depending on how much we need to limit players into the test. The ultimate goal is to make the game free-to-play (technically freemium) and any cost we assign to the game during Early Access is meant to keep the number of players lower while we work on it. Upon release, hopefully we will be ready to bring on as many players as we can and at that point we would like to make it free to play. This could be a year or more away though.

As mentioned above, we plan on making the game free to play. During Early Access, we may choose to lower the price as we feel more confident that taking in more players wont negatively affect the stability of the game and our servers. That being said, a premium account will still remain necessary for having multiple characters on the same account and for being able to be saved by another character if you go unconscious. The cost for a premium account is expected to match the cost of the early access game at this time.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The community is VITAL to our development strategy. Not only do they provide invaluable feedback on the game, and stress test our server infrastructure - but also the experience has been so far that the community is very good at helping new people when they come try the game out. While Voidspace can be played as a solo game, it thrives when people work together.

If you do join us, please be sure to join the Discord so we can work with you if you come across any issues, as well as to keep up with the latest updates. You can join discord here:
https://discord.gg/BPXexnu

Alternatively you can check out our Reddit forum for questions or just to post what you've managed to do in-game!
https://voidspace.reddit.com
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Reviews

“Voidspace is perhaps the most interesting MMORPG I’ve ever seen.”
Front Towards Gamer

“VoidSpace has potential to be revolutionary if everything clicks together.”
Bago Games

“This technology looks to challenge the current limitations of the gaming industry, and provide players with a fun experience they won’t soon forget.”
Crypto Coins News

About This Game

This highly experimental 2D top-down SCIFI MMORPG is attempting to model the human experience in a society. This game isn't just about you and your journey, it's a about how all players progress technology, society, and infrastructure in a virtual environment, together. Every man-made object you come across is crafted by a real player.

The crafting/invention system is central to the game. Players can prototype a new version of a weapon or piece of equipment in the hopes of getting a better version that they can use or sell to other players. Once a new item is prototyped, the player can repeat the skill to make that item as much as they want as long as they have the required materials. The skill can then be taught to other players, charging a fee or otherwise.

Free to play (soon!)

While the game is in Early Access, we have to charge a fee allow players to gain access to the test. This is to limit the number of players we have in the test while we are scaling the servers and polishing the client. We plan on making the game entirely free-to-play monetizing on a premium membership and on cosmetics (no pay to win). If you wish to donate to help support our development efforts, we also offer a series of Kickstarter-like perks with details on our website.

Effectively infinite, completely seamless game world

TWITCH-BASED GAMEPLAY

Voidspace aims to finally bring a limitless multiplayer experience. No "zones" or seams of any kind, just one enormous game world; everyone is playing together in the same server. Discover other player outposts and possibly join another group in order to maintain your own security. Find ancient abandoned player-made civilizations that you can research and study, acquire, or disassemble and recycle.

For those who would rather have a more solo/singleplayer experience, the game world is effectively infinite so you will be able to choose to spawn "in the middle of nowhere" in order to limit the possibility of seeing anyone.

The centerpiece: Invention and Crafting

As players go about regular activities in the game, their character will come up with an "idea" for a new skill or invention. This will happen at random along with a number of other influential factors such as:

  • The character's intelligence
  • A need that the character has been tagged with internally
  • The availability of the materials required for the skill or invention, or the character's knowledge and experience with these materials
  • Other skills or inventions that the character has available to him

However for the most part, the best ideas come from more focused research which the character can engage in using a lab or research facility. Generalized experimentation with materials is the first step, and once the character has a certain level of understanding of various materials, he will start to get ideas for actual working inventions that use those materials. Once a character has an idea, he can use the lab to try to create a prototype.

The prototype stage is the stage in which the character is trying to turn an idea into a reproducible invention or skill. It may take many tries to get something working, and the difficulty of coming up with a working invention will depend on the following factors:

  • the character's intelligence
  • the knowledge level of the category the invention falls within
  • the level of knowledge the character has of the materials being used
  • the general complexity of the skill

Once the character has successfully produced a skill or invention, he will be able to create or perform it at will. For objects or skills that are executed by the character himself (not by some completely automated, mechanical process) the result of the skill or invention will vary somewhat, and the character will get better at producing better and more consistent results through practice. For example, if a character is hacking a certain type of equipment, he will get faster and more accurate, and have fewer failures as he continues to perform that particular skill.

The player can then choose to create another prototype in order to get a better end product, by going through the very same process and hoping for a better result. For the most part, the resulting attributes of a skill or invention are random, but they will also be influenced by the 4 factors listed previously.

Ideas, skills, and inventions can all be shared freely or sold between characters.

In addition to skills and inventions, characters will be able to research concepts in order to open up to them more skills and inventions to be discovered. For example, The Void is a place where physics are different from the natural universe. Characters can use a lab in a research facility to concentrate their research on The Void itself in order to unlock certain concepts that allow for inventions that make use the discoveries made.

Generally everything is made by players

Since there are no NPCs, there is also no supporting infrastructure in Voidspace. Players will need to create their own infrastructure in order to facilitate their own growth and progression in the game. Players will be able to build and manufacture their own buildings, outposts, bases, cities, ships, ship upgrades and equipment, and even ammunition.

Certain large scale projects will also require multiple characters contributing to it's construction. There is no centralized auction house which means the might a player possesses is really relative to his local area. One area might be lacking in ammunition production, so a player can take advantage of that and create the factories required to meet that local need. The alternative would be to have players trade ammunition brought in from the nearest manufacturing plant, which would raise the price of that commodity in the area.

Gamers are used to things like "manufacturing plant" being an item/building you can build. However in Voidspace these concepts don't exist explicitly. Instead a player can build a structure, put the required equipment inside the structure, give it some way of generating or acquiring power, and then use the structure's inventory space to build things. The game gives tools to the player, but what the player does with those tools is up to them.

We, the developers, aren't explicitly making "carriers" or "businesses" for the player, instead we're giving the player a generic set of tools (like the ability to create objects, the ability to share ideas...etc) and it is up to them to create a business out of it.
Due to this, there are so many businesses that can be created, so here are some examples to spur your imagination:

  • Allow players to rent your infrastructure to build their inventions.
  • Sell your services as a defence contractor.
  • Act as a maintenance crew for a base/outpost while players are away.
  • Give other players rides from one place to another if they're without a ship or if you can offer a safer passage.
  • Ferry smaller ships inside of larger carriers for a fee.
  • Store offline players, their ships, and/or their equipment in protected facilities for peace of mind while they're offline.
  • Offer your services as a guard or patrol.
  • Offer your service as an intelligence agent and spy for weaknesses in other players bases.
  • Start a package delivery service that delivers sealed containers with goods.
  • Start a telecom company that delivers messages over a network of long distance communication nodes.
  • Start a bank that secures in-game currencies.
  • Provide loans and credit with interest.
  • Offer insurance for aspects within the game.

Voidspace will allow for all of these types of businesses, and many many more.

System Requirements

Windows
macOS
SteamOS + Linux
    Minimum:
    • OS *: Windows 7
    • Processor: 1.8Ghz
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 250 MB available space
    • Additional Notes: Generally any computer or laptop made after 2010
* Starting January 1st, 2024, the Steam Client will only support Windows 10 and later versions.
    Minimum:
    • Processor: 1.8Ghz
    • Additional Notes: Generally any computer or laptop made after 2010
    Minimum:
    • Processor: 1.8Ghz
    • Additional Notes: Generally any computer or laptop made after 2010

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