SpaceCraft News

[p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Last weekend, we shared a first glimpse of SpaceCraft during the IGN Live event. We know many of you have been eagerly waiting to see some actual gameplay and so we’re thrilled to finally share it with you! [/p][p][/p][p]SpaceCraft is an online space exploration and building game where you can roam in a vast galaxy, moving seamlessly from systems to planets in order to discover and mine resources. [/p][p]The goal is to establish yourself, improve your base and optimize your experience by building new advanced parts for your ships. [/p][p]You can create corporations with friends and start trading with other players, as well as travel to uncover the secrets of a story-rich world. You choose your gameplay in a persistent universe.[/p][p][/p][p]This first look covers the core gameplay, features and systems that are present in the tutorial, giving you a better understanding of what you can expect to see first-hand later on this year.[/p][p]The game is currently a work in progress, so please bear in mind that the gameplay is subject to change.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[h3]Greetings Pioneers,

Last time, we unlocked our first permit, crafted the Scanalyzer Alpha, and got a glimpse of the production side of SpaceCraft. Now, it's time to install our newly crafted tool and make our ship a little more capable.[/h3]


We’re back at the Shipyard and interact with the main console. After selecting Scrappy Pioneer, our starting ship, we access the ship editor.

Left: in-game screenshot of the Shipyard. Right: Concept art of the Shipyard.

Most of the time, we’ll be editing a ship that's already docked at the same station we’re at, as it’s not possible to modify ships remotely from other stations. We have a limit on how many ships we can own, which will expand as we progress in the game. Right now, the cap is set at two ships, but the long-term goal is to allow fleets of around ten vessels, the amount could change as development continues and player feedback is gathered.
Even then, you’ll only ever pilot one ship at a time. There’s no system planned for managing an entire fleet directly. We’re currently thinking of implementing a feature that would enable you to move ships between bases and stations to relocate them as needed, without piloting them. But that’s just an idea at this point.

Left: In-game screenshot of the work in progress Shipyard interface. Right: Mock-up of the Shipyard interface.

At the top of the interface, we have three main tabs:
Tools – manage installed modules and tools (where we are now).
Assembly – modify the ship’s structure by adding, moving or removing blocks, engines, wings, or the cockpit.
Customization – personalize the ship’s colors, decals, and eventually full skins.

For now, only the Tools tab is available. Assembly and Customization are unlocked later through permit progression, once we are ready to handle deeper ship modification.

Each part of the ship influences its stats:
Assembly is like setting your character’s attributes in a classic RPG, determining health, speed, and module capacity.
Tools are closer to equipping gear, adding active skills or passive bonuses like improved heat resistance, larger cargo holds, or better energy generation.

On the left side of the screen, we see our ship’s current modules: a Crude Resource Detector, a Crude Mining Laser, two Small Solar Panels, two Headlights, and a Crude Battery. All of these can eventually be upgraded.

In-game screenshot of the work in progress Shipyard interface.

Below that, we see the list of skills provided by our modules, right now, mining and radar detection.

Our freshly crafted Scanalyzer Alpha is waiting in our inventory. We simply drag and drop it onto the ship’s hull. You can attach tools almost anywhere on the hull, giving you freedom to shape your ship's functionality and look.

We can also move existing modules around or even remove them if needed, though with a starter ship like the Scrappy Pioneer, we recommend keeping everything installed to maintain basic functionality.

On the right side of the screen, we find key ship stats, including:
System Support – the ship's built-in capacity to handle modules.
System Requirement – the total load from installed modules.

As long as our system requirement stays below the system support, the ship runs at full efficiency. Exceeding it causes modules to work less effectively and even malfunction. Fortunately, we have enough system support left to install the Scanalyzer without any trouble.

Once everything is in place, we confirm our modifications, and just like that, our spacecraft is now equipped to scan unknown resource nodes!

Shipyard concept art, showcases different ship sizes.

Next time, we'll put the Scanalyzer Alpha to good use as we continue our journey through the tutorial with some new assignments.

Until then, safe travels, Pioneers.

[h3]Greetings Pioneers,

In the last blog we gathered our first raw resources, iron and copper, on Solar Alpha 1. With those safely in our cargo hold, it’s time to return to Babylon 7 and take our next big step forward: unlocking our first permit.[/h3]

Our contract has been updated: back to Babylon 7 we go. To dock at the station, we simply fly into the hangar bay or press E once you’re in range. An automatically piloted docking sequence begins, this acts as a transition into the Space Station instances.

We use a dynamic docking system that allows the station to accommodate as many ships as needed. When you dock at the station, if all the docks in that section are full, a new one is automatically created. And once a dock is empty, it’s removed to free up space.
We land and disembark. From here, we press P to open the Permits menu.



Progression in SpaceCraft is primarily tied to two systems: Permits and Experience (we’ll explore the latter in a future post). Permits are structured as a tech tree, unlocking one often leads to others, gradually opening up new crafting recipes, modules, and services.

Our first unlock is the Modular Systems permit. It costs 40 credits and gives us access to the blueprints for the Scanalyzer Alpha and Small Cargo Hold. It also grants access to the Shipyard, where we’ll be heading shortly.
To unlock any permit, we simply need to meet its prerequisites and pay the required credits.



With the permit unlocked, our new objective is to craft the Scanalyzer Alpha, a small instrument used to scan and analyze unknown resources. A must-have for any aspiring space explorer.
To get started, we need to reach the Shipyard. Stations like Babylon 7 are made up of multiple areas, and we use the elevator to travel between them. Each location serves a different purpose:

• Some, like the Shipyard, are single-player instances, where you can work on your ship without interruptions.
  
• Others, like the docks, are instanced by the number of ships, not players, up to five small ships or two large ships can share a dock.
  
• In the future, certain areas will be fully shared, like the marketplace. And some stations will feature unique floors tied to quests or special mechanics (more on that in a future blog post).
  
• We take the elevator to the Shipyard, where we’ll begin refining our raw materials.

Our first stop is the Smelter, where we convert our raw components into usable ingots.
Smelting is a necessary step before crafting modules. It takes 5 seconds per ingot, and each operation comes with a cost. The Company takes a 15% commission based on the market value of the output. It’s not cheap, but it gets the job done.
Some raw components can be used interchangeably. For instance, both Iron Ore and Iron Nuggets produce Iron Ingots, but the ratios and inventory usage aren’t the same:

• 2 Iron Ore (10 Storage Units) = 1 Iron Ingot
  
• 4 Iron Nuggets (4 Storage Units) = 1 Iron Ingot

Ore is usually faster to mine when looking at output per second, but nuggets offer better inventory space efficiency.
We feed in our 8 Iron Ore and 8 Copper Ore and come out with 4 Iron Ingots and 4 Copper Ingots, just what we need.



Next, we head to the Workshop to begin the crafting process.
The Workshop is where raw ingots are transformed into advanced components, tools, and ship modules. Crafting times vary depending on the recipe:

• Wire from Copper takes 2.5 seconds.
  
• A Small Module Kit takes 12 seconds.

Like with the Smelter, The Company also takes a commission here, though it’s smaller and scales with the value of the crafted item.
To craft the Scanalyzer Alpha, we need:

• 1 Small Module Kit
  
• 1 Iron Sheet
  
• 2 Wire

We start by crafting the Iron Sheet and the Wire, then move on to the Small Module Kit, and finally assemble the Scanalyzer Alpha. As luck would have it, we had enough materials to put it all together, and some leftovers that we could keep or sell to recuperate some of the credits we spent!



With the Scanalyzer Alpha ready, our contract updates once more: it’s time to install it on our spacecraft. We’ll handle that in the next post, where we’ll dive into ship modification and the basics of outfitting your vessel for the adventures ahead. Until then, safe travels, Pioneers.

The team hopes you have enjoyed reading and would love to read your thoughts on the contents and format of this blog. You can do so here in the comments section or by joining our Discord.
Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and X so that you don’t miss the next blog!

[h3]Greetings Pioneers,

Two weeks ago, we kicked off the First Steps series, where we give you a sneak peek at the core gameplay, features, and systems that are present in the work-in-progress tutorial. We covered space stations and character creation, as well as piloting a spacecraft and the basic elements of the User Interface, illustrated with new in-game footage!

Today, we are continuing the series by diving into resources and mining.[/h3]



Picking up from where we left off, our contract updates as we enter the atmosphere of Solar Alpha 1. Our objective: gather 8 iron ore and 8 copper ore.

First, we need to locate the resources before we can gather them. Luckily, we can rely on Scrappy’s radar skill to detect any nearby resources on the planet’s surface.


Radar

Some new information has appeared on our HUD. The first two indicators, altitude and planetary temperature, are fairly standard and don’t need much explanation. The third is a “compass” tied to your radar skill. It points you toward the general location of resource nodes, represented by question mark icons. The specific resource is only revealed once you get close enough to the node.

A resource node is a minable point that provides materials in limited quantities, with each extraction yielding components based on the resource specific composition of minerals or other materials. Some nodes are simple, offering basic resources, while others contain a mix of common and rare materials.

Iron Stone

Nodes spawn in clusters rather than appearing in isolation, and each planet has a unique set of resource nodes, affecting the availability and gathering conditions of materials. Certain landmarks also feature rarer, more concentrated resource nodes, this will come later on in the tutorial.

We head to the nearest node, which turns out to be iron. By pressing and holding the key our spacecraft’s mining skill is assigned to, currently set to 1, a progress bar appears, showing the time it takes to complete the mining action based on our current mining speed.

Mining Copper Stone

Mining speed and access depend on tool tiers: lower-tier tools can’t mine higher-tier nodes and higher-tier tools mine faster and can break through tougher nodes.

At first, resources are gathered using a mining laser, but as we progress, we will unlock new tools for different resource types. Some materials, like Shells, must be broken open with missiles. Liquid and gas resources require specialized harvesting tools and storage modules. Volatile resources heat up when mined and can explode, sometimes requiring cooling tools.

Basic Mining Laser

Later in the game, some resources will be harvested automatically in player-built bases using extractors. Others will require you to land and collect them manually on foot, adding variety and challenge to how resources are gathered.

Raw components usually need to be refined before they can be used, but different raw forms of the same material have distinct properties. For example, Iron Nuggets and Iron Ore both contain iron, but mining nuggets yields less total iron while being more space-efficient by taking up less Storage Units in our inventory (e.g., 2 Iron Ore take up 10 SU for 1 Iron Ingot, while 4 Iron Nuggets take up only 4 SU).

Iron Ore

The tutorial focuses on basic materials like Iron and Copper, later introducing Quartz, but many more resources become available as we progress beyond the tutorial.

While you were reading through my explanations, I was busy gathering the resources. We now have both the iron and copper, which means the contract has been updated, it's time to head back to Babylon 7 and unlock our first permit!



That wraps up this First Steps blog! We’ve taken a closer look at how resource gathering begins, from scanning the planet’s surface to mining our first materials. While the process starts simply, it quickly expands into a much deeper system with new tools, rare resources, and even base extraction further down the line. In the next post, we’ll return to Babylon 7 and see what unlocking our first permit opens up. Until then, safe travels, Pioneers.

The team hopes you have enjoyed reading and would love to read your thoughts on the contents and format of this blog. You can do so here in the comments section or by joining our Discord.
Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and X so that you don’t miss the next blog!

[h3]This blog is part of a series that will cover the core gameplay, features and systems that are present in the tutorial. Each blog will focus on a specific step in the tutorial, giving you a better understanding of what you can expect to see first-hand later on this year.

With this series, we want to take a similar approach to how you would play a typical video game: start off with the basics and then move on to more advanced systems and principles as you progress. Which is why we have chosen the tutorial as a starting point. This will, hopefully, allow you to better understand and appreciate the universe we are building.

The tutorial is currently a work in progress, so please bear in mind that in-game footage, content and dialogues are subject to change.[/h3]



The tutorial begins on Babylon 7, a space station owned by The Company.



Space stations serve as the primary place to refine resources, trade goods as well as upgrade and repair ships. While the first station in the tutorial is a single-player instance, they act as key locations for multiplayer and cooperative interactions. We’ll leave this topic for now and get back to it in another blog at a later date.

A dialogue pops up, Controller U456B introduces themselves as our trainer. We are employee #115-C, an ex-convict who has just been released from prison and has earned the right to reintegrate society. Or in other words: work for The Company.

A quick side node regarding character creation. It's still being worked on, the team are currently debating whether or not you will have the option to choose a different backstory for your character.
When creating your character you won’t have to choose your stats or gameplay style, the option to do so will arrive later in the game because we want you to have enough time to discover how you prefer to play the game.
Cosmetic character creation, choosing your character's gender, face, skin colour, facial hair and hair, will be possible.



Back to the tutorial. Controller U456B gives us good, bad and worse news:

• We have been assigned our very own Spacecraft called “Scrappy Pioneer”
  
• We must take good care of it, otherwise we will have to pay for any damage done to the vessel
  
• We don’t have any money

We are assinged a contract (otherwise known as mission), telling us to reach the nearby planet Solar Alpha I and enter its atmosphere.

We make our way over to Scrappy, conveniently docked right behind us. After pressing E to enter the ship a prompt pops up asking us if we’re ready to take off.



An automatically piloted undocking sequence helps us take off from the space station before we are given full control of Scrappy.

We can pilot our spacecraft by using our mouse to control the flight path (or direction) and W + S to increase or decrease throttle respectively. We want piloting to be intuitive and easy to learn while trying to avoid it being overly simplistic.

Once outside of the hangar the piloting interface appears:

• Skill Slots = Skills are linked to modules. Not all modules give skills and some can even give multiple skills.
  
• Thrust bar = Indicates how much your engines are being pushed rather than indicating speed
  
• Hull bar = The spacecraft’s health bar
  
• Battery bar = Drains when using skills, automatically recharges when the spacecraft’s solar panels are in direct sunlight
  
• Mag-Plasma tank = Magnetic-Plasma, used to do Faster Than Light jumps

Think of our spacecraft as another main character. Upgrading it, by changing or adding new modules, will improve its stats and change its skills, leading to different gameplay but also allowing us to explore previously unattainable areas in space. We can also own multiple spacecraft, but this will come later on.

Using the Shift key activates after-burners, this will help us reach our objective faster but will consume energy stored in our battery.

As we approach Solar Alpha I, our orientation begins to change and we seamlessly transition from space to the atmosphere and begin our descent to the surface.



We have posted an extended video of the GIF that includes exclusive, pre-Alpha, in-game footage over on Discord in the "Videos" channel. Go and check it out!

In real life, gravity naturally defines up and down, but in video games, this has to be manually decided. Most games use a fixed up direction, but games set in space are trickier since planets have their own gravitational pull.
In SpaceCraft, space has a universal up and down to help navigate and avoid disorientation. However, when entering a planet’s atmosphere, the ship’s orientation must shift to match the planet’s gravity. To make this transition smooth, a buffer zone gradually adjusts the up direction. When leaving a planet, the shift is even more seamless, as the ship is already facing the sky, allowing for a natural transition back to space orientation.



We have reached the end of the first part of the first contract in the tutorial, which represents a mere couple of minutes worth of gameplay in the current pre-Alpha build.
This series serves as a sneak peek into the game, rest assured more in-depth topics will be explored at a later date and in a different format to the current one.

The team hopes you have enjoyed reading and would love to read your thoughts on the contents and format of this blog. You can do so here in the comments section or by joining our Discord.
Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and X so that you don’t miss the next blog!