With a name that's clearly a parody of SpaceX, the indie game EarthX has you build up and manage a private space company and with a recent update you can go to Mars.
You get to develop rockets, fight for contracts with competitors and perhaps live out your dream of becoming a nutty ridiculously rich entrepreneur. This isn't another Kerbal though, it's much more of a management game as you build up your little base of operations and get designing some rockets. With a recent expansion released in July the game has opened up a lot as you can now head to Mars, you can even build on it and perhaps try your hand a little Terraforming.
Have a look at their trailer for the newer update:
Direct Link
They also put out a teaser for another upcoming update, which will have a focus on "improving the in-game research and vehicle mechanics" along with some overall optimizations.
It has some pretty big updates planned for it during its time in Early Access including:
- Allowing players to build their own Moonbase.
- Expanding the rocket mechanics - we plan to add more advanced mechanics and more small details that will make the game more interesting.
- Expanding employee mechanics - we want to achieve such an effect that every employee has a real impact on your company.
- Expanding special missions mechanics - in the future, we want to add many more small missions, but in order to do so, we must first solve the problem of their management.
- Weather system - this is a very important aspect of space flights, so we have to add it.
Currently, it's very playable although a bit difficult to get into with no tutorial or guide system, you're just sort-of left to your own devices as soon as you load it up to click around and figure it out. Thankfully, it's not overly complicated and if you've played building sims before a few minutes clicking around is quite normal.
Pictured: Two golx rockets going up for my first contract…moments before they both exploded.
What I've seen I've been impressed with though, especially considering the small and very young team behind it. A wonderful idea that once they polish up the experience and get the beginner flow sorted, it could be great. Build up a space management empire, gradually expand and upgrade, then fly off to Mars. Awesome. And it has a wonderful soundtrack too.
You can buy EarthX on Steam in Early Access.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
He is still, actually.
It’s really great to see talent and dedication at young age, someone to follow for future projects as well.
Last edited by Tchey on 20 August 2020 at 3:06 pm UTC
Pictured: Two golx rockets going up for my first contract…moments before they both exploded.
I have an idea how this happened. You were racing in DRAG after setting up your mission. You lost two wheels. Again. And each hit one of the rockets. Close right?
Philadelphus Aug 21, 2020
I've had my eye on this for months now (I really love the artstyle!), but the impression I get is that whether or not a rocket explodes is pretty much random. Is that really the case, or is it possible to drive that chance down by, say, investing more in staff and safety procedures? I'd like to get it but I don't want every launch to feel like I'm flipping a coin, which is sort the feeling I get from the trailers and the little bit of footage I've watched (which to be fair was months ago, maybe it's different now).That is something that's not made entirely clear, it might have a clear mechanic behind it but due to no intro it's not really explained. They have a reliability percentage, which seems to go up slightly as more are used and successful. So my assumption is that they improve over time and use (as in, your team understand them better and such) - could be wrong though. It definitely needs to do a better job at explaining.
The guy, Denis, was barely a teenager when he started this, with kid voice and all the package !
He is still, actually.
It’s really great to see talent and dedication at young age, someone to follow for future projects as well.
Haha, thanks!
I've had my eye on this for months now (I really love the artstyle!), but the impression I get is that whether or not a rocket explodes is pretty much random. Is that really the case, or is it possible to drive that chance down by, say, investing more in staff and safety procedures? I'd like to get it but I don't want every launch to feel like I'm flipping a coin, which is sort the feeling I get from the trailers and the little bit of footage I've watched (which to be fair was months ago, maybe it's different now).
Yes, explosions are random at the moment, because this is actually an old dummy explosion system from older versions of the game. There wasn't a lot of stuff back then. Now that I have A LOT of new content coming with the next update, I will completely rewrite the explosions system. For example, I plan to add SpaceX's Boca Chica and sone sort of a Weather system in 0.3.2, and I think explosions will make sense.
I've had my eye on this for months now (I really love the artstyle!), but the impression I get is that whether or not a rocket explodes is pretty much random. Is that really the case, or is it possible to drive that chance down by, say, investing more in staff and safety procedures? I'd like to get it but I don't want every launch to feel like I'm flipping a coin, which is sort the feeling I get from the trailers and the little bit of footage I've watched (which to be fair was months ago, maybe it's different now).That is something that's not made entirely clear, it might have a clear mechanic behind it but due to no intro it's not really explained. They have a reliability percentage, which seems to go up slightly as more are used and successful. So my assumption is that they improve over time and use (as in, your team understand them better and such) - could be wrong though. It definitely needs to do a better job at explaining.
Thanks for the article, an interactive tutorial is coming too with the next update. I hired a nice girl to cover up the voice in both Polish and English languages. I'm very excited to show it to everyone, as the first demos are absolutely amazing :D
Philadelphus Aug 23, 2020
Oh, that's interesting to know, thanks. I'll keep an eye out for that update, and see about picking it up then.I've had my eye on this for months now (I really love the artstyle!), but the impression I get is that whether or not a rocket explodes is pretty much random. Is that really the case, or is it possible to drive that chance down by, say, investing more in staff and safety procedures? I'd like to get it but I don't want every launch to feel like I'm flipping a coin, which is sort the feeling I get from the trailers and the little bit of footage I've watched (which to be fair was months ago, maybe it's different now).
Yes, explosions are random at the moment, because this is actually an old dummy explosion system from older versions of the game. There wasn't a lot of stuff back then. Now that I have A LOT of new content coming with the next update, I will completely rewrite the explosions system. For example, I plan to add SpaceX's Boca Chica and sone sort of a Weather system in 0.3.2, and I think explosions will make sense.
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me