Starship Simulator - Shuttles, Alien Structures and Planetary Landings

Starship Simulator is set to introduce VR support, Alien Structures as well as Shuttles. It's also looking increasingly likely that planetary landings are also going to happen. Here's a look at what all that might mean.
Starship Simulator
www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

[@svendtang5432]

I hope they won’t overstretch.. I would hate them to be a new star citizen 🎉

[@cerichson]

Star Citizen.. Now that's a ground breaking game.

[@matts.8563]

Excited for this! Let’s hope it goes well, grows, and expands!

[@rrdreamer6505]

Definitely want planetary landings - especially on-foot exploration!

[@kralkrauterblach414]

yeaaa maybe in few years , 1 guy make this game so this will take 4-5 years to programm planet landing and make some intressting missions , im out

[@Ricolaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Planet landings goal got reached. Edit: I stand corrected! Kickstarter was converting to a currency I wasn't using which made it appear that it was already at the mark. Go fund it folks! Edit: 2 we hit it! Go fund the next one!

[@chazchoo99]

As of the time writing this, the Kickstarter has only raised £243,599 which is $305,510. The planetary landings stretch goal is for £300k, which hasn't been reached yet. Still at this rate, it's looking likely that we'll get it.

[@Ricolaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

@@chazchoo99 I just realized it converted to USD for some reason. They need to fix that lol.

[@chazchoo99]

@@Ricolaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa As an American, I appreciate it, but if you aren't using USD, that should definitely be fixed 😂

[@Ricolaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

@@chazchoo99 It was supposed to be in GBP lol.

[@therealtreehugger]

mmm i think it will still be reached, haha! 😁

[@ThomasGrillo]

Thanks for the progress update. :)

[@StarshipSimulator]

Thank you :)

[@heyspookyboogie644]

Even after I knew what I was doing, the ship startup process took me just under 12 minutes. It’s wild the amount of detail being added.

[@fcsuper]

We've been here before with similarly well-funded Kickstarter space games that had similar promises as this, only to have everything evaporate very quickly once the realities of true development costs kicked in. At this point, I'll believe it when I play the released version.

[@moretoknowshow1887]

The Demo is out, give it a play..

[@bujin1977]

I agree. I've played the demo, and what's there is good. But I can't help but feel the goals for this game are a bit too ambitious - especially for a lone developer. I hope I'm wrong.

[@Ricolaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

They seem too ambitious until you look at games like Spacebourne 2. Then you realize the reason most of these games aren't getting finished is because bureaucratic bs, burnout or mishandled funds. Out of everyone that's made one of these kinds of games I'd say this is probably the safest bet beings that all devs that will be hired are going to be work from home and the dev now has over 10k hours in E:D so we know burnout probably won't be a thing.

[@robinrichards6275]

This one doesn't have a "Sqdn 42" to put out first.

[@fcsuper]

@@robinrichards6275 There's been others, too. This one just seems like yet another one that is too ambitious. It's AAA game level work on a small budget and very limited staff.

[@michealvincent731]

ObsidianAnt is really gunning for this one huh. Passionately and possibly hyped up. Heres hoping it delivers

[@michaelkalverkamp9699]

VR? Now i am freaking out....thats big

[@Novastelk]

thats what she said

[@lanceobe6801]

Yeah they really caught my attention since I primarily play in VR. I've been a long time at VR Elite Dangerous player and since I love to explore, this is right in my wheelhouse.

[@StartledOctopus]

The dev behind starship sim was one of the ones on the DMCA'd Stage Nine project, where they created a 1:1 Enterprise D

[@johnpmchappell]

Been following for a while, but I'd missed that they launched the KS. Backed and excited. :)

[@MandatoryHashTags]

Thanks for highlighting this game Id have never heard of it and Im happy to throw money at this awesome looking project.

[@CMDROldDuck]

Keeping my eyes on this one!

[@nmi5]

all these stretch goal features sound awesome. I just hope that the feature creep remains doable for the dev. I'd really hate to see the game get too big in scope for them to really handle.

[@GoldenOuroboros]

Reminds me of the gameplay from Lost Pulsar. Looks great :)

[@Kiwi_Dave]

Awesome, amazing achievement. Problem is every solar system soon starts to look and feel like any other and scanning planets gets boring fast. Game is going to need a lot more gameplay depth to last and that could be years away.

[@crazycocopl874]

The best place about space simulators.🤩

[@sam93931]

very early stages and years away, but damn promising!

[@moretoknowshow1887]

Ya'll need to get it to 500k pounds folks to bring in a f/t content team, its a seriously great project that deserves love!!

[@antjones2281]

YES!!!! VR!!!!!! Just backed it. Hopefully when Starship Simulator 2 comes out they don't screw us VR fans like the Everspace 2 devs did.

[@captindave411]

The chicken at 2:05 is why I am supporting.

[@MCP2002]

This is my most waited for game.

[@geminicricket4975]

While I like what this game wants to do, it seems pretty ambitious for a large team of developers, let alone a small one.

[@cerichson]

If they use AI to assist with the coding, they could develop a lot more code with a smaller team in the same amount of time.

[@geminicricket4975]

I use AI for coding all the time. It doesn't double or triple my productivity. If I were to put a number on it, I would say it (maybe) increases it by 50%. So far, it's been best when I need examples of how to do something I'm unfamiliar with. And many times it's led me down an incorrect path. Not saying you're wrong, just saying I have my doubts. :)

[@cerichson]

@geminicricket4975 Yeah, I typically use it to write most of a function and then fill in details it missed. If the function is concise, A.I. should have no trouble creating it. I do write accurate code tremendously faster than before.

[@dominicthomas8726]

I think we will be waiting a long time for the dev to pull this one off properly. I really hope it all turns out good though, I liked the tech demo :)

[@stevenxw]

my only hope is that feature creep won't ruin this project. although even in its current alpha demo form, it's already pretty fun and promising.

[@guillermodiego819]

Crossing my fingers for this

[@heyspookyboogie644]

If the dev can actually do everything he plans on, it’ll be a pretty amazing all in one space game. It’s just hard to know if that can really be done in less than a decade or two.

[@nexe7271]

Did I hear VR? Now I'm interested.

[@MGoogle3146]

"It might be a bit early to discuss this but... I'm excited" :P

[@funkyschnitzel]

Last time I backed a space game on Kickstarter was 2012. Still waiting on that one...

[@Elwaves2925]

Never touched any Kickstarter for that very reason. I have done a couple of early access games on Steam but they were already delivering something of value that I was happy with and still do. This has potential but I want to see what it actually delivers first.

[@lights4bre890]

2 had their kickstarters in 2012 - Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous. 1 is still in development - the other doesnt even pretend to be.

[@funkyschnitzel]

@@lights4bre890 yeah, I backed both. At least I got a few good years of enjoyment out of elite. I don't play it anymore, and the devs don't seem interested in keeping it alive. Star citizen may still come out one day and be great fun, but who knows? I don't enjoy it in its current state though.

[@gunternine1130]

I got power back on. Holy hell, was that an ordeal. I'm here for it.

[@antjones2281]

If this game is what they say it is, you will be going through that ordeal on your starship regularly. 😅

[@happyspaceinvader508]

Looks like the Elite Dangerous update we always wanted…

[@TheCriticom]

As of right now £245,874 so ya I think we will definitely get there.

[@vast634]

Given how precise the developer is about realistic scale and mechanics, I doubt he will try to make fully explorable planetary surfaces. Doing that requires a tech level like Flight Simulator has it. And faking it (Empyrion) would o against the otherwise realistic design. I rather expect a planetary landing site with terrain, but with a limit on size (cant cross boundary). Wich is still good for immersion.

[@anile8457]

Maybe shuttles could be used to ferry over crew and passengers to other ships for multi leg journeys, hrlping stranded ships, that kind of stuff

[@CarnisChampion]

I wish Stutter Fox Studios would do the same with Falling Frontier. I think I will back this game. looks nice :)

[@Discovery2024-rn8kn]

The ships should have smaller variants, cosy small explorer not behemoth galaxy class Star Trek sized ships.

[@OnBean-qe1vf]

Exactly what I'm looking for

[@ThePringels09]

Will, the current ship, the Magellan, is the biggest ship that will be build so that optimisations can be done. Since if it works on that scale smoothly it will work on smaller scales even better

[@willm.9687]

I think if they get far enough in funding they'll consider smaller Millennium Falcon-sized ships for solo/smaller crews as cheap pledge ships. Like maybe ~$15 for smaller ones and ~$30 for Magellan-sized ones since they take like 6 months to do. I think that's what the dev said in one of the recent streams.

[@tamasfogarasi1976]

It's nowhere close to galaxy class in size.

[@spiderseb]

This is closer in size to the Defiant from DS9 than to for example the TOS Enterprise. Perhaps even smaller than that.

[@OpenWorldGamer]

I played a bit of the demo, and it is okay, they will just need the player base

[@samuelallen1402]

I hope they do a little something with the arms at rest animation. They look like they are trying to remember a piano song, or trying to recall if they turned off the replicator before leaving their quarters.

[@GregWilson635]

I've backed this at the Captain level. Really hoping they hit the planetary landing stretch goal. During the last live stream the Dev said you fly down to the planet. There is a cut scene showing the shuttle entering the atmosphere. Once your through you take control and can land anywhere on the planet.

[@nikelas6]

Really hope multiplayer works out. Would be amazing.

[@Cleeeer]

It already has multiplayer

[@slowjoeman1084]

The dev mentioned inhabited planets like earth with big cities wouldn't be free to land anywhere but have select landing spots.

[@poolhallshark]

Am I funding this ???? YES-SIREE-BOB This MAY be what I've been waiting for for more than 40 years ♥♥♥

[@dazknight9326]

Having shuttles for planet visits to kind of human aliens like in the 1960's Star Trek would be cool. Wierd worlds like some creepy wild west space age thing, or Amazons, etc. Almost like Twilight Zone. Like Star Citizen, but finished before 900 years.

[@Anachroschism]

I'm really surprised the Messy Desk devs didn't go in this direction, as this seems to be the best thing they could have done, after Stage9, rather than the Orville game.

[@Cleeeer]

Well, one of them did :D

[@Anachroschism]

@@Cleeeer indeed.

[@TheFreakSpawn]

Hope they add customised interiors some wood panels here and there, would be nice

[@Lucpol1986]

It’s a great year; NMS updates, SC gaining momentum, ED updates and the ‘challengers’ pushing forward as well 👍🏾

[@drink15]

As long as they have ship to ship fights, I'm in.

[@danilooliveira6580]

everything they promissed is very doable (as we've seem plenty of games do them). the only thing that is keeping me a bit unsure about the game is the fact that we have no idea how the gameplay loop is actually going to look like. is it going to be something like others starship simulators where you get like 5 friends and each do something ? is it going to be more like open servers with dozens of people where each chooses a job and they have a series of things they need to do like space station 13 ?

[@Cleeeer]

More the latter. When you join a game, you'll pick a crew role to play.

[@Entity005]

Hope this game is released before 2050 about.-. if not i guess i never get to see it, as i most likly have run out of time(old age) on this planet close to that year..

[@heyspookyboogie644]

How did you find a nebula?

[@TKs3DPrints]

i so hope they start making smaller ships something say a small crew could fly with ftl but not to huge to get lost in. i cant wait to see if this will become a full of startrek game.. or a cool way to build are own ships..

[@Cleeeer]

It won't ever be a Trek game :)

[@heyspookyboogie644]

It seems a little bit odd that the one feature that will really be needed, and yet I haven’t seen talked about is something equivalent to Elite’s galaxy map.

[@StarshipSimulator]

That's our holo display. If you check out the demo, you can have a play with it. The galaxy map is going to be scrollable, so you can arbitrarily scroll around in 3D. We are making it so that everything you do is within the game world.

[@Alcyeragraeth]

I will buy a VR headset if they add a SGU style FTL tunnel.

[@drewwagar]

The most exciting exploration game full stop.

[@dmac8831]

Wait Wait Wait are we going to pretend there was not a chicken on the starship ...........

[@Cleeeer]

Noyes

[@pieterpaauw5977]

A question I have is, is "how realistic is it to expect quality planetary landings" I think with reference to Starfield and Star Citizen, mass planentary landings just are not technically feasible at this time. Either it will be blend repeated procedural generated places, or there will be a very limited number of landable planets. But this defeats the purpose of a large universe full of interesting places. Well just my 2cents. That said with the uprising of AI, this could be utilized in creating exiting "AI" generated places. What do you think?

[@gavinpowell4607]

Seems like a fairly sterile year for sci fi themed games. Hopefully it picks up as the year progresses.

[@ComdrStew]

I don't see it being done by March 2025 though. Maybe in three years.

[@845SiM]

There was a chicken! Why was there a chicken! 😂😂😂

[@XandarionSunrise]

That's Admiral Cluck Norris, and she's a mascot of sorts lol. In the finished game there will be hydroponic Gardens and some laying hens in a small farm section on the ship for creating food for the crew.

[@_SurferGeek_]

2:05 Space Chicken?

[@lanceobe6801]

You sold me at VR support, I'm a very long time VR Elite dangerous and exploration has been the biggest disappointment in ED.

[@v8matey]

This game is missing the captains npc crew. That greet you and tell you info when you enter the bridge. Each bridge crew member all have a role. And being the captain you can give each one a specific order depending on their class an rank. And you have random way points / markers in the galaxy that correlate with your crew class an rank. Health icon way point = people are injured. Talk to the Doctor. Gear icon way point = repairs or supplies. Talk to engineer. ? Icon way point. Anomaly detected. Talk to science and research crew. Use the bridge crew for missions and objectives for the player to do. Players get bored exploring virtual worlds. Also needs space battles.

[@swanseaaxeman]

The game looks like it could be a great experience if done correctly, but I do wonder if there is a little too much on the plate for a small team/budget.

[@werre2]

chicken at 2:03

[@XandarionSunrise]

That's Admiral Cluck Norris, and she's a mascot of sorts lol. In the finished game there will be hydroponic Gardens and some laying hens in a small farm section on the ship for creating food for the crew.

[@M4rtinnn]

Hm, VR seems to be a nice feature in a game that's not explicitly designed for VR. You can walk down corridors, enter a room here and there and enjoy the view but well...that's it. IMHO it doesn't add any gameplay value.

[@Sadarsa]

I've seen this "game". All I can say about its claims of how the future play works is a disbelieving "I'll belive when I see it"

[@R0d_1984]

I bags being Ant's XO...

[@romain13100]

Disappointed by Dual Universe, disappointed by Starbase, STARFIELD is a failure (a space exploration game where the ship is useless... great performance), 12 years of development of STAR-CITIZEN and still no MMO, The pillars of the game are still not in place, only missions not even worthy of a tutorial from the end of the 2000s This industry runs solely on hype I don't expect anything anymore. But I wish them success, thank you for the always excellent quality videos

[@loldoctor]

Please just make the core game good before adding content like planetary landings. I’m already on a planet surface, playing a space sim is supposed to be about being in… well, space. I don’t need underwhelming procedurally generated environments and a gameplay loop that’s completely unrelated to the core loop. If you want to add interiors to explore (since you already have space legs) let it be interesting space stations or other structures, which may include alien structures. NMS devoted considerable effort to planetary surfaces and it’s still constantly struggling to keep them interesting. And the most interesting surfaces will not only be the hardest to create, but they’ll also most resemble the one I’m already on. It seems like a huge undertaking that can only hurt the developers and development of an otherwise unique and interesting project.

[@bjovers1]

Starcitizen proved stretch goals are detrimental to development

[@yous2244]

Did you really just say that?

[@bjovers1]

@@yous2244 its never finished mr.fanboy

[@yous2244]

@@bjovers1 yes

[@empyrean-jamelgreaves8034]

@@bjovers1 never finished, only people that have never played it says that. Yeah, its not finished, so fucking what? doesnt stop it from being by FAR the greatest space game of all time, oh yeah, and they're not even nearly done....

[@bjovers1]

@@empyrean-jamelgreaves8034 yes soooo great. Just because you've spent a fortune on it doesnt make it great. It just makes you needing it to be great so that you sont have to realize what a fool you have been.

[@NULUSIOS]

Very interesting definitely. But I don't need and hope we don't get a second SC project...

[@hawkzulu5671]

Yeah..that will happen XD

[@a5teroth]

I hope black holes have realistic damage and effects on the ship instead of just being eye candy.

[@RudalPL]

The demo looks nice and I was tempted with the Kickstarter, but I learnt my lesson with Star Citizen. No more.

[@Cleeeer]

Just play it when it's out. It'll be free anyway :)

[@SpudHead42]

Oh gods! Everybody stop giving him money or the stretch goals will turn into Star Citizen! Just kidding… mostly.

[@wheresmyskin]

It's just more hype at this point. At the moment the planets are just textured spheres. You can walk around the ship and the ship flies in empty space. It's not much to be honest and it's far far away from a finished game. What is the game loop? This is more of a demo concept than a game. Space here is not vast, it's just empty. It's a skybox with a 3d model flying around in an empty space.

[@Cleeeer]

That's exactly what it is :D It's a tech demo.

[@ArquimedesOfficial]

They should rename it to "Star Trek Simulator" 🤣🤣

[@SlabBulkhead166]

The developer here was on the ill-fated Stage 9 project, in fact I'm reasonably certain the ship in this game is a rework of assets from the TMP Enterprise spin-off that was announced right before the C&D came from CBS.

[@Cleeeer]

@@SlabBulkhead166 There's nothing from any project in this game. You can see that just by scrolling back on the socials :D

[@michaelwoffindin5327]

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Only time will tell.

[@jodycahill4902]

I hope I'm wrong but didn't star citizen start as public funding . I brought in to it and still waiting for the full product is this going to be another one of these where they put us off for 10 years

[@underleft]

I didn't know kickstarter was still a thing. Regardless, after ED being the first and only game I've kickstarted, never again. Not to say I didn't get my lifetime pass out of ED over 10 years, but it definitely didn't pan out to be what was promised. Wasted potential.

[@p0k314COM]

No product - no money. Period.

[@Cleeeer]

Try the demo :) Plus, the game will be free

[@p0k314COM]

@@Cleeeer This is not a demo, this is some kind of early alpha, preproduction stage.

[@sentient_thumbnail]

this starship is the culinary equivalent of untoasted white bread. might as well walk around stanley parable 2026

[@JustAllinOneResource]

Well, we will see. Kickstarter? Nope, not for me. Everything you pretty much have said is wait, and see. I've been, and all of us for that matter have been scammed, and it seems we never learn. I'll sit back, wait, and wait some more. What worries me is this. How long will we have to wait until Paramount studios claims this is Star Trek? It won't be long especially when Paramount see's the dev earn millions of dollars. Believe me, I won't put a penny on this game until I see what is going to happen with the greedy corporations. The thing is, the dev wouldn't have a leg to stand on guys, we all know this is Star Trek without the name.

[@LuiszDiaz]

Same thought, in fact, could be great if Paramount hires this guy/s to create a good game like the old ones of Star Trek, the definitive new version of Bridge Commander (let me dream for a second). Probably Paramont start complaining about this game when the Star Trek mods come up.

[@JustAllinOneResource]

@@LuiszDiazVery true.

[@Cleeeer]

Just because something seems to be like something else, doesn't mean there's a legal standing. You won't find anything Trek in this game :)

[@JustAllinOneResource]

@@Cleeeer Believe me, it would be very difficult for the dev to dig their way out of it if paramount ever decided to test your theory in court.

[@ArpadLukacs]

I'd be careful with the hype boys and girls, the ship is great but we know absolutely nothing about exploration yet

[@BlackVirtue]

You gotta be blind and newly born to think this is gonna be much more than what it is now. Devs themselves said to not expect anything like RPG or FPS from this and treat it like just slight extension so you walk and press buttons around the ship, and now you’ll be able to walk some more on planets. And here we are on immediate pointless hype-bait video which has nothing to so with reality.

[@AlvaroALorite]

Until we see gameplay of any of those promises, they should just be taken as what they are: words

[@XxSTOZZYxX]

i immediately have zero faith in any "space sim" that pops up any more. Every, single, one, has eventually failed to deliver. Most of them excelled in some area, and failed miserably in another, thus completely missing the mark. If we could combine the best of the best out there, we'd have a perfect space sim. Unfortunately I just doubt it's ever gonna come at this point while, at least while i still give a damn about it.

[@ddabrahim]

Oh my god. VR and planetary landing, next is going to be PVP. This project is already ruined it was a huge mistake to add these as goals on kickstarter, now people going to expect an online multiplayer PVP arena dogfight game. This is what they always want. It is meant to be A with a capital A spaceship simulator. Not a space simulator or survival online multiplayer PVP game. So disappointed.

[@RuLeZ1988]

I will call it here and now. This game will probably be hyped up too much and is gonna flop. Atleast, for me personally the demo does feel "meh" and I would be very surprised if this is gonna improve by a lot for the release, whenever that is gonna be. Also for the purpose of Space Exploration it is quite similar to Space Engine, so I would expect a lot more features with good quality. Ideally, I would be proved wrong on release, but for now I am not seeing something extraordinary and will relax.

[@Harold_Bishop]

April Fools we know already ;)

[@Ian-zx9rp]

I smell a scam but that's just me being cynical. 🤷‍♂

[@Cleeeer]

It's free :P

[@kuuktuu4414]

Kickstarter game…yawn!!!

[@tothesky8799]

Third-person 👎👎👎👎 No thank you!

[@StarshipSimulator]

Also first

[@bsslac2239]

Pretty Sad Ant has chosen to support this dev considering how the dev treated people in his previous projects. Mugs if you support this project.

[@Elwaves2925]

How about you offer up some verifiable proof of your baseless claim. A quick search has turned up nothing, including any previous games by Fleetyard Studios. People would be mugs to believe you without proof.

[@Cleeeer]

There you are again

[@Ploskkky]

The walls of the ship seem paper thin. It looks very weird. The ship needs a redesign.

[@jerk_store]

Can't wait for the _"Starship Simulator - What went wrong"_ video.

[@ArpadLukacs]

I see there is someone who keeps it real

[@Aaro4ify]

Well that may never happen if the game becomes successful.