Introducing "Mystic Space".

Now, a bit about my first project. I'm calling it "Mystic Space". It's going to be a one level demo of a space combat game. After it's done I'm hoping to expand it to a full game. I won't say just how ambitious I hope to get, but the demo will be a testing ground for the larger concept.

The one level demo will be a pre-beta test of the concepts and game play.

Unlike most space games, it's not science fiction per se, but space fantasy. Space is much as we know it- no gravity, no air, stars, nebulae, planets, asteroids, radiation, etc. There are also some tropes more common in science fiction- weird entities that live in space itself, spaceships with faster than light travel, aliens, etc. The twist is that all the solutions to the problems of space flight and space combat are solved with magic instead of technology. Each culture in the game will represent a different flavor of fantasy, if they had to become spacefaring (for a plot related reason). They each solve their problems in their own ways.

For example, the two cultures in the demo will be a Pseudo-Victorian a.k.a "Steampunk" culture, and a metaculture based on the Ancient Empires (Greece, Persia, China, Mesoamerica...). The part of the greater culture that I'll be using in the game will be an analogue to/amalgam of ancient Greece, the myth of Atlantis, and Rome. The Steampunk subculture I'll be using in the demo will be very British.

That brings up a side point- I'm avoiding monolithic cultures for worlds. Each world has a style, but many subcultures within that style. There won't be a "White folks planet", or anything of the sort. Each world will have a plethora of subcultures within its theme. There also won't likely be a million planets to encompass all the subthemes- each space empire will strongly promote a theme and there will be no duplication. I'm going deep rather than broad. The cultures I'm using so far will be humans (with a good backstory reason for why), but I'm not limiting it. There will be nonhuman alien races eventually. Don't expect a lot of elves and dwarves, but there *might* be one world with them. The overall theme that unifies it all is more of its own thing than typical Tolkeinesque fantasy. Back to the description though.

The Steampunk culture believes its magic is science and it has a mad science feel to it. They use a lot of brass and cast iron, their ships are powered by steam, they have ray guns that do things like shrink or freeze their opponents, etc.

The "Ancient World" fantasy culture is just as magically advanced, but they use spirits and crystals to power their devices. They're more blatant about the magic element. Their ships resemble the fierce animals whose spirits power them.

For the demo, I'm doing one ship for each culture- a mid-sized fighter. they're single pilot ships, but they've got breathing room. In the setting, a ship often serves as a home to some degree.

Both pilots are good guys, but they're driven by mutually conflicting cultural influences. Playing from either side will give you the full story on the conflict. It's going to be a straight up fight, but the environment will be interesting and hazardous. It's going to be a destroyed space temple in an asteroid field. I'm planning to include some sources of gravity that will have an effect on trajectories, some hazards and fun exploits to maximize tactics. Each ship will have some special magical tricks up it's sleeve.

The steampunk ship will be tough but lumbering, and the Ancient World ship will be fast and graceful but fragile.

Next up: Pictures of the Steampunk ship in progress.