Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

This is amazing! The visual style is stunning. This actually comes very close to a style of game I've wanted to exist for a long time. The premise being this: You're on a ship going between destinations, but there's no light-speed shortcut, or jump-cut to the destination. Instead, you have to maintain the ship for the entire duration of the journey. Making sacrifices in power and computing ability to resolve problems that occur throughout the ship.



FTL: Faster Than Light is sort of similar to your premise but the style is very different - it's a roguelike RTS.

https://subsetgames.com/ftl.html

> In FTL you experience the atmosphere of running a spaceship trying to save the galaxy. It's a dangerous mission, with every encounter presenting a unique challenge with multiple solutions.

> What will you do if a heavy missile barrage shuts down your shields?

> - Reroute all power to the engines in an attempt to escape?

> - Power up additional weapons to blow your enemy out of the sky?

> - Or take the fight to them with a boarding party?


Warning, FTL can be addictive. It has a heavy luck dependence that makes you want to try again.

That said, the game mechanics are really well done and give you options for creative problem solving. For example your pilot increases the chance to evade missiles. Unless he is busy extinguishing a fire in another room. So instead you can open a door to space and power down your own oxygen supply. And use that power to charge a second weapon.


> you have to maintain the ship for the entire duration of the journey. Making sacrifices in power and computing ability to resolve problems that occur throughout the ship.

There's a multiplayer game where you get in a match and play tiny minigames where you fix the issues of the ship, and once you fix them all, you win.

The twist is, there is an assasin among all players, and his goal is to sabotage your ship even more and to kill everyone, without getting caught. So the duration of the journey is only based on how quick you either fix the ship, find the impostor or die.

Wish I could remember the name, it was pretty popular during the pandemic.


I think you're thinking of Among Us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Among_Us


Yeah! Thanks :)



Yeah this isn't the right game, but is much closer to a full game based on that idea than among us.


Space Station 13 is a much deeper take on a similar premise.



Are you thinking of SpaceTeam? We had a ton of fun with this game at a previous job.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sleepingbe...


Scratch that, I missed a paragraph in OP's post about the assassin. Definitely not SpaceTeam and more likely Among Us.

Give SpaceTeam a try anyway. You have to love a game that bills itself as a "cooperative shouting game."


Spaceteam also exists as a physical card game, the mechanics seem to be a bit different from the app (not sure which one of them was released first) but is still lots of fun and shouting.


Among Us.

I tried it once and was looking forward to it, but it was just a bunch of kids running around with no coordination whatsoever killing each other. After a few plays I asked Steam for a refund. Maybe I was doing it wrong and should have tried it with friends.


I've only played among us as in private lobbies with friends to have fun during the pandemic. That's why it was so popular. Would never think to play it online with strangers. There's really not much to it its just about as complex as a simple boardgame. It was just a way to easily socialise with everyone you knew even if they weren't a hardcore gamer during lockdown.


Online boardgames is a good way to look at it - https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/red-november/ and similar for example


I played mostly with friends and it was fun.

When I first got into public lobbies - yeah, everybody was a kid and the first color shouted into the chat would get kicked.

The trick I found was to switch the search language to English as I was in European servers with my native language. That way, I would match with Europeans that manually changed their language to English as well... or just british kids.

Anyways, it got way better, no more "red is sus" and then kicking without proof. But then everyone was too rude. People always got EXTREMELY angry when I found who the impostors were by either using the cameras or just remembering who was with who + kill spots + behaviour. Like, we win the game because I confirmed the users were impostors based on actual proof, then they cuss me and ban me from the lobby!

So, yeah, I kinda not played much in public lobbies for these reasons. But with friends it was fun!


Yeah, random lobbies are absolutely unplayable. Lobbies that are coordinated in some public Discord server tend to be a coinflip if they're going to be passable or not. But the game really shines when you have a core group of people to play with that all engage with it in good faith.

Of course, all those groups burnt out on the game after playing way too much of it over the pandemic, so it is what it is.


Not the game you were thinking of, but Spaceteam is a very fun game with a related premise. You're flying a ship and the ship is breaking down so you need to activate the right controls to keep it moving.

The ship will tell you what controls need to be activate, but the catch is that each player only has access to a portion of the controls, but will receive instructions for all them. Cue lots of yelling back and forth to try to communicate the appropriate directions :)


That sounds similar to a sub-plot in Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Very interesting book!


I've never heard of it, but I'm on the lookout for a new sci-fi read, so I think I'll get it! Thanks!


Don't read it if you're terrified of spiders. Otherwise, it's a great book.


I hate spiders but I was able to get past it for this series. That and A Deepness in the Sky.



Wow. I didn't know that Seedship is available in browser.

Played it on Android long time ago.


I can recommend Tin Can, which is somewhat similar to what you're talking about.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1315980/Tin_Can/

You maintain an evacuation pod for as long as you can to survive the small journey (I think it can take as much as 30 minutes?) between the ship you're escaping and safety.

It's not perfect but it might scratch your itch.


> You're on a ship going between destinations, but there's no light-speed shortcut, or jump-cut to the destination. Instead, you have to maintain the ship for the entire duration of the journey.

Neptune's Pride [0] is a fantastic real-time strategy game that has this feature without the maintenance part. You play the game over the course of days instead of minutes or hours. And it may take hours for your ships to reach their destinations. A ton of fun with friends.

[0] https://np.ironhelmet.com/#landing


I have pages of notes for a game like this that I've been thinking about since university, largely inspired by Battlestar Galactica and The Expanse. This game reminded me of it too, maybe I'll get to it one day.


You might enjoy FAR: Lone Sails. I was a bit frustrated by having to spend most of the game running around fixing stuff, but if that mechanic appeals to you then it's surely one of the prettier running-around-fixing-stuff games there is.

I also started a game a while back called Still There which seems like that's what it's going to be, but I haven't completed it yet so don't want to pass judgement. You're on a space station and not a ship, though, and it's point-and-click.


> the entire duration of the journey

Sounds a bit like 'Desert Bus'

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/desert-b...


This game reminds me of the 90's FMV game Mission Critical [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Critical_(video_game)


Sunless Seas and Sunless Skys are two narrative-driven games in the Fallen London universe which otherwise hit a lot of these beats.


Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! I like your idea a lot, I would definitely play this.


Just had a few seconds, A/D is strafing as I'd expect


I just opened it again to make sure I wasn't imaginging it. Oddly enough, A works to strafe left for me, but D doesn't work to strafe right. I'm using Firefox 121.0.

Edit: ignore me! It's one of my plugins!


If someone is using Vimium or something similar and aren't aware yet, entering input mode, usually 'i', will let key-presses slip by the plugin input parser and go straight to the web page.


had my vote at the landing page




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: