Game Project

Project Information: Surveyor Gamma Engine: Unity My Motivation I’ve always been a huge fan of space games and have played just about every major one out there—Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, X4, No Man’s Sky, and so many others. What I love most about them is the chance to take in beautiful, expansive visuals: stunning galaxies, intricate spaceships, breathtaking skyboxes. At the same time, I’m also drawn to walking simulators like Tacoma, The Station, and The Invincible, where you can really immerse yourself in detailed interiors and feel like you’re on a personal journey in space. For me, interiors are just as fascinating as the exteriors, and I’ve often found myself spending hours in games just wandering around, soaking in the atmosphere and relaxing. It’s like looking at a piece of art—just enjoying the experience without needing to do anything else. What I’ve realized, though, is that no game really combines these two things: the chance to explore a vast, beautiful universe and to lose yourself in a detailed, interactive spaceship interior. Star Citizen nails the ship design and interiors but feels limited with just one star system. On the other hand, Elite Dangerous gives you a massive, visually stunning galaxy but leaves out walkable interiors entirely. Games like X4 try to balance both but, in my opinion, don’t offer the same level of visual beauty. That’s why I’ve decided to start a small project for myself to bring these two elements together. Using high-quality assets from the Unity Asset Store—spaceships with fully designed interiors and planets with beautiful visuals—I want to create something simple yet meaningful. It’s about merging these pieces with just a basic mechanic to tie everything together and create a relaxing, immersive experience. At this point, it’s just a personal passion project, something I’ve always wanted to see come to life. But if the first phase turns out well and feels as good as I imagine, I’d be ready to secure funding to take it further, using Phase 1 as a tech demo to kickstart something bigger. And if it doesn’t go anywhere beyond this first stage? Well, at least I’ll have created my own little universe to explore Project Description The first phase of the project is intentionally kept simple and manageable. It will involve creating a procedural universe of static solar systems where players can explore using pre-built spaceships with walkable interiors. The gameplay loop revolves around a single activity: surveying planets. Players will pilot their ship in a first-person perspective, with the ability to exit the cockpit and explore the interior while traveling. They can jump between star systems, with each jump generating a new procedural system. Time-based mechanics will ensure a realistic sense of scale—traveling within a single system will take hours at maximum speed, while interstellar jumps will take approximately 10 minutes. The surveying mechanic adds a layer of engagement, allowing players to release a probe to scan planets from a distance without requiring complex planetary interactions or landing systems. Navigation is streamlined through a simple star map and system map, with the ability to mark and revisit discovered systems. Invisible boundaries near planets prevent overly close interaction, keeping the focus on exploration and visual immersion. Players will be able to save progress at any point, and an optional mechanic may allow time-based travel to continue even when the game is not running by referencing system time. The goal for Phase 1 is to serve as a personal "tech demo," combining stunning space visuals, walkable spaceship interiors, and light exploration mechanics. This phase is a low-risk, high-reward project, requiring minimal custom development thanks to the reliance on pre-made assets. Should Phase 1 prove enjoyable and visually impressive, it will lay the foundation for a potential commercial project, with expanded mechanics and funding in Phase 2. Phase 1: 2 Spaceships Asset Examples: [login to view URL] [login to view URL] Planet Asset Examples: [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] Texture Examples: [login to view URL]  Required Visual Game Assets: Beautiful 4k Space Skyboxes with Stars/Nebulas,... Procedural Solar Systems (No orbital mechanics necessary, just static systems are enough), however with realistic distances of objects from each other (important) including Stars (Different, Random, Procedural) Gas Giants Planets Moons (Optional: Rings) (Optional: Asteroids/Asteroid Belts) Required Sound Assets: Simple Sound of a Spaceship Engine A calm constant “humming” sound of the spaceship while traveling Simple AI Generated voice using a few sentences like “Too close to star” or “Too close to planet” Sound of steps while walking Royalty free relaxing and calming background music Required Mechanics Ability to walk inside the ship (First Person) and fly it (First Person) from the cockpit Ability to open doors and toggle the light in the space ship (Optional): Any additional ability to interact with anything in the spaceship is a huge gain - be it even just make yourself a coffee from a coffee machine (Optional): The ability the play your own music inside the game with an in-game music player (Optional): The ability to watch youtube videos on an in-game monitor. Ability to “Change Star System” (warp, jump, whatever) With every “jump”, the new system would be procedurally generated The “jump” itself can also take time (around 10 minutes) Ability to traverse the star system at specific speeds The travel between planets, whereby one single journey within a specific star system should take a whole game session (a few hours) with the max possible speed A possible mechanic (if this is technically possible) would be to be able to continue the journey (pass time traveling) while the game is not running (maybe by a reference to system time, not sure it is possible) It is important to have the ability to exit the cockpit seat and walk during the system traversal and the jump between systems No ability to land or interact with the planets required at this stage, just to be able to come close to them (with an invisible wall when too close) Ability to open a “System Map” and “Star Map” Ability to release a “probe” from the ship that would scan a planet from a certain distance Ability to save the game at any point Ability to return to “Discovered Systems” by marking them Gameplay Loop In Phase 1, the gameplay revolves around a single, simple loop: Planet Surveying. The premise is that the player takes on the role of a lone star surveyor, tasked with exploring the vastness of space to locate planets with terraformable atmospheres or, potentially, signs of life. Equipped with a ship, the player embarks on long journeys between star systems, guided by the objective of scanning planets for valuable discoveries. The gameplay is designed to be straightforward and relaxing. Players spend real-world hours traversing a single star system to reach specific planets, taking in the beauty of space, listening to music and watching Youtube Videos along the way.  Upon reaching a planet, they release a probe to scan it from close range. The probe provides randomized results, offering a small chance of finding a terraformable atmosphere (1 in 100), molecular life (1 in 1,000), or organic life (1 in 10,000). Each discovery grants a monetary reward based on its rarity. While the currency doesn’t serve any purpose in Phase 1 beyond being a placeholder mechanic, it sets the stage for potential upgrades in Phase 2, such as purchasing new ships or equipment. This first phase is intentionally simple, with the focus on the joy of traveling and observing the beauty of space. The gameplay loop provides just enough structure to give the player a reason to explore while emphasizing the meditative and visual aspects of the experience. The project is to develop a PC game. The game should feature realistic visuals, closely reflecting real-world space and spaceship interiors. This game is intended to cater to casual gamers looking for a relaxing and visually immersive space exploration experience. Players will have the ability to perform basic interactions such as opening doors and toggling lights within the spaceship. The spaceship interiors and planetary visuals should be of moderate quality, prioritizing performance efficiency over extreme detail.