Solar Expanse News

Space Explorers! We’re coming back to you with a bunch of exciting news! New rocket division, improved mission planning, asteroids, and DEMO!

Space Exploration

You’re not flying there blind! We’ve added new functions of exploration and discovery, which will give you information about what you can find on a chosen object. While it is not as accurate as sending a probe, the cost is significantly lower. At this point, you may ask: Why would I need resources on a different object?

Launch Vehicles and Spacecrafts


To experience as realistic space travels as possible, we have introduced the division of our rockets into:

• Spacecrafts (that travel through space, obviously).
  
• Launch Vehicles (that just deliver stuff to orbit). It can be a rocket, but also a spin launch system or electric catapult too. Or in the future - a space elevator.
  

Now you can adjust the cargo load and fuel necessary for your missions more efficiently, and be well prepared for any kind of space voyage!

Porkchop plot and updated mission planning panel


Speaking of missions - planning is now more detailed than ever before. It has been divided into convenient and intuitive sections to ensure easy setup. Moreover, we added a porkchop plot! This chart, used in actual space mission planning, will help you to choose a perfect launch window for your flight. The Axis represents the departure and arrival date, while the color represents the cost. Green line represents the Orbital Transfer Trajectory.


Don’t worry if you don’t get it - at the beginning, we didn’t either. Just click “Optimal” and the game will do the rest.

FINAL DEMO RELEASE
We are extremely excited to announce that you will soon be able to experience our game yourselves, as a demo version is finally coming in February 2024! Stay tuned!

See you in space,
SolEx dev team @ Jutsu Games

[h3]Greetings space enthusiasts![/h3]
The last couple months might have been quiet but I can promise you, we’ve been busy behind the scenes, and are coming with some news.

[h2]Limited tests sign up[/h2]
First of, and likely of most interest to you, we’re opening up our playtest sign up form! Fill it out, answer a couple questions, and we’ll be sure to notify you when the time comes.
If that’s all you’re interested in, FOLLOW THIS LINK to sign-up and receive an access to the early build of our game in the future.



[h2]In other news[/h2]

We’ve been busy. Our team has grown and we’re hard at work making the game better. You might remember our last announcement where we showed off mission planning. While it’s not completely unrecognizable, we’ve iterated and improved it accounting for some design changes in the project. We might be doing rocket science here to make sure everything checks out, but we don’t want our user experience to be similar to the sometimes confusing calculations we deal with! Sadly there’s not much to show yet so you’ll have to go off my word.

We’ve also worked hard on the various contracts and jobs you will encounter during your playthrough. You’ll start off with simple tasks of flying to the Moon and beyond, and advance into interesting challenges of paving the road to stars through the construction of bases and propellant depots out in space.The early contracts will organically and non-intrusively teach you how to play, while the mid- and late-game contracts will leave plenty of freedom in how to approach your objectives. Make sure to plan out your expansion well so you can quickly respond to various tasks!


By the way, here are a couple of space-exploration games that we would recommend checking:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/846030/V_Rings_of_Saturn/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/758690/Occupy_Mars_The_Game/

Space explorers!
This time we will talk about the basic interactions within the game

[h3]Plan Mission[/h3]


Planning missions is a very important part of our game. In this window, you will be able to:

• Decide which rocket is going to be sent,
  
• Type and ammount of cargo (resources, modules, telesopes, probes etc.),
  
• Select randevous type, for example: flyby, land or impact.
  
• Decide whether rocket start will be optimal or unoptimal, which means less or more fuel will be needed and spacecraft will reach its destination slower/faster,
  
• Pick unique name for your mission for easier navigation through missions list.
  
• Check start & arrival date and mission length.
  

[h3]Find Object[/h3]

Find Object panel is another singificant element of gameplay in Solar Expanse. In this panel, you will switch between objects and its moons, search for destinations for your missons, but it will also serve as a tool to easily track down any spacecraft that is situated on low/high orbit of its parent object or any spacecraft that has been succesively launched. Sorting objects by type (terrestrial planets, gas giants, artificial satellites, asteroid belt objects etc.) will help you find these objects faster and more efficiently.

[h3]Graphic Improvements[/h3]
There is a number of other visual improvements that we are developing at the moment - layers, lines, labels, planets textures, clouds, spacecraft models, lights, rocket fumes... more will come :)


Best,
SolEx dev team @ Jutsu Games

[h3]Greetings astronauts & colonizers![/h3]
The time has come to present you Solar Expanse major development update!
Thank you all for your patience - we are doing some literal Rocket Science here!

[h3]Flights Trajectories[/h3]
Our primary goal is to create a realistic game about space travels. Therefore we are working hard to simulate the orbital transfers. Here you can see a classic Hohmann transfer:



Later in the game, for a much larger fuel and technological cost, you will be able to expedite the transfers too




How do you feel about that? Let us know in the comments!

Best,
SolEx dev team @ Jutsu Games

Hello astronauts & colonizers!

Today we present you a new trailer for Solar Expanse, a game about planning space missions, exploration, terraforming, colonizing and expanding your space corporation, reaching out to other systems eventually.
We are still very early in this game development, but definitely moving forward and wanted to give you an insight into what structures and missions to expect in our game.

As the research progresses in the game, new structures and technologies will be unlocked that will allow us to send ships faster, further and cheaper, as well as give us new missions and opportunities for development and management.

Space Shuttles, for example, can be used for deploying telescopes, satellites and also for transporting and attaching modules to space stations.
The task of the Space Telescope will be to search for new objects, asteroids to be mined, and to collect information about the composition of objects, allowing them to determine which of them are the most valuable.
The Space Satellites will orbit selected celestial bodies providing far more detailed data.
The Space Stations will act as an orbital research laboratory, enabling research into new technologies that could not be done anywhere else.
SkyHook will speed up the launch of ships into space as well as reduce mission costs by reducing the fuel consumption and weight of ships as huge fuel tanks and boosters will no longer be needed.
Space Elevator allows to transport huge loads into space easily, speeding the space expansion drastically.

These and other space exploration tools will be available to win the space race against other corporations and conquer the systems.

Stay tuned for future updates!

Best regards,
Solar Expanse Development Team