Sol Trader Kickstarter now live!

The story behind this campaign

Six months ago, Sol Trader was in a very different place. The previous campaign hadn’t quite made it, yet we’d been greenlit in the same week. I’d had a ton of feedback about the game. The main thing that was clear was that it was difficult to understand the core gameplay, and that the lack of a demo was making that worse.

I therefore decided to completely revamp Sol Trader’s code and gameplay, and spent several months completely overhauling the game. As I said last week, every line of code in the current build of the game is less than six months old. I’ve focused on the fundamentals of the gameplay - the interactions between you and your family and friends - and dramatically improved the code architecture and visual of the game.

The result is a playable demo (download it now from the website) which shows off the vision for the game for the first time. Every interaction - buying and selling goods, accepting missions, gathering information, hiring ships - is done through people who can potentially become your friends, allies or enemies. Every decision you make and action you take will have an ripple effect on the people you interact with, causing consequences that you must live with long term.

Thank you

At times working on this game has felt completely overwhelming, especially as a solo indie. Thankfully I’ve been cheered on by some amazing people: Richard Patching and my brother Steve Parsons being at the forefront. I’ve been ably supported by a great team: Aamar Rana has provided some fantastic artwork and Andy Dollerson is responsible for the wonderfully moody soundtrack. Furthermore I’m grateful to everyone who has ever encouraged me on social media, retweeted a tweet, or liked a post on Facebook: you all are collectively responsible for keeping me going!

This is a crunch point. The game is mostly written and we’re heading into general beta next month. There are still some big features to add, such as weapon systems and more varied missions, but hopefully enough of you like what you see so far to want to join me in the beta and help me finish this thing off.

Sol Trader has all the potential to become a classic genre-defining game. I’d love you to help me make it one.