StellarDrive (prototype)
A downloadable game for Windows and Linux
This is an old prototype of my game. It will have a full release that you can wishlist!
Gather materials, build a spaceship and explore procedural worlds. This game prototype has the following features:
- Spaceship-building system using panels, cables & levers
- Realistic gravity simulation and planetary rotations
- 2 planets, a moon and a ring system to explore
- 1-4 players online co-op
- Beautiful programmer art
- Many bugs that I'm aware of and probably many more that I'm not
My goal is to create a seamless spaceship-building game where you manage fuel, oxygen, and warp capabilities to travel across the vast distances of a galaxy. If you want to follow along with the game's development, you can check out my social media:
- Discord: https://discord.gg/adA8nqqJ49
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/curiousowldev.bsky.social
- Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/curiousowl
- Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/a-curious-owl/
Requirements
GTX 1050 or higher
Laptops with integrated graphics will have a hard time with this game. Intel iGPUs are not supported.
Installation
Download the zip file, extract and launch StellarDrive.exe
Controls
While walking
- TAB: Open inventory
- 12345: Select tool
- L. Click: Use tool
- R. Click: With the build tool selected, opens the build menu
- F: Interact with ship part
While piloting
- Mouse: Change direction
- Q: Roll left
- E: Roll right
- Middle Mouse Click: Toggle free-look mode
While in EVA (outside in space)
- WASD: Horizontal controls
- Space: Move up
- Ctrl: Move down
Frequently Asked Questions
I can't see the planet or the trees. What's going on?
If you're running the game on a laptop, this is probably due to a bug with Intel iGPUs. There's nothing you can do right now, unfortunately.
Can I play creative?
Yes. Enable the dev tools in the options menus. After that, press F1 for fly mode and F2 for free resources. You can adjust the fly speed with the scroll wheel.
Where are my saved files located?
C:\Users\(YOUR_USER)\AppData\LocalLow\CuriousOwlGames\StellarDrive\saves
Is there a roadmap?
No, but you can check the Discord server for frequent updates on the game.
Download
Development log
- StellarDrive now has a Steam page!7 days ago
- Version 0.6.4 and 0.6.5Dec 13, 2024
- Version 0.6.3Nov 04, 2024
- Version 0.6.2Oct 12, 2024
- Version 0.6.1Sep 20, 2024
- Version 0.6.0 DockingSep 17, 2024
- Version 0.5.7Jul 02, 2024
- Version 0.5.6Jun 13, 2024
Comments
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I have another question about how many people can be on a world together on Windows, because I saw on the devlog that people who use Linux have an unlimited number of players that can join.
Edit: (I found out that it's the same for Windows, so I don't have a question anymore)
How do you get wood? I play with 3 of my friends almost every day, and I really enjoy this. I will get Stellar Drive when it comes out on Steam, but the only thing is that we all don't know how to get wood, so could someone please let us know?
If you mean the rod-like thing, it's aluminum. You can find it on the red planet :) you'll have to look carefully because they're hard to spot.
Thanks for letting us know, and keep up the great work!👍
i cant run on my school pc becus planets not loading :( but im still trying to do no planet and trees run, also why not oxygen work im in a enclosed spaceship.
been playing for over 3 years and love it i have like 900 hours hard to tell how much i love this game best game ever 10/10 all the bugs are funny and easy to report the dev is one of the best if not the best and the only downside........... idk. 10/10 game
Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it and I hope you keep sticking around :)
idk why but the floor is invisible :|
There's a bug with laptops that uses intel graphics causing things to not render. It sounds like that might be your issue.
There's no fix yet unfortunately.
hold on this game it kinda like space engineers
There's no limit to how far you can go, but you won't find anything besides the starting planets.
It was fun exploring around the place but after exploring all the planets I feel like it's necessary to stay on earth for any bigger space ship. Sure you can rebuild your ship anywhere but most of the time getting iron or fuel will just me so much harder and glass is impossible I thought that by exploring all the planets I will gain something besides resources that just exist for more exploration (which werent interesting unlike the thruster) It might be easier to get outside of there with something along the lines of a mining laser though
Glad you figured it out! If you need to cheat in resources, you can enable the dev tools in the options menu and press F2 for free building afterward.
Alright thank you. I didn't notice your response earlier so I ended up deleting everything and put it into one comment. It was fun so thanks for making the demo.
This is amazing, NEED this as a full game.
Thank you! I'm going to announce the Steam page for the full game next week :)
6up 5oh Copout
I never expected I'd get hooked on a game that is far from being complete. The ability to build my own spaceships gives me an itch No Man's Sky doesn't quite provide with its corvettes, even if here thus far I've only managed to build a cramped rocket-van that I've then recycled to make a somewhat roomier shuttle resembling something from Space: 1999.
The controls are fine for me (except for the lack of pausing), but it'd still be decent to provide customizable key bindings. And an ability to crouch! There was that one time I needed to refuel thrusters but couldn't reach them because I installed them in an alcove close to the floor. An ability to install thrusters on the surfaces' away side would also help immensely with bottom thrusters.
Trying to move around early on --when you have to pull a lever to turn thruster on, rush to the steering wheel, then rush to the lever to turn thruster off-- is annoying (perhaps there could be wheels for making planetside vehicles?), but getting into orbit and watching the planet spin below you, secure that you won't fall any time soon... that is immensely satisfying (even if there seems to be a physics trick that synchronises your spacecraft's speed with asteroid's).
There definitely should be lights players could install to provide lighting inside vehicles or to make them visible at night. About the only way I could see my spaceship at distance in the dark is through all the red cables visible through its windows, and having only weak aqua-colour lights to provide light inside isn't pleasant either. I'd even suggest audio beacons producing regular signals to help locate one's ship.
Iron deposits could also stand to be more plentiful (whether that's being more common or providing bigger yields) when you need so much iron to build a decently-sized vehicle.
It'd also be helpful to have doors to close when you pass through them. Would make returning from EVAs less of a hassle.
Wow! Thank you for your well-written feedback. I took note of your suggestions as well.
PLEASE add running and stamina or atleast something that let us be faster
Thank you for the suggestion
Absolutely fantastic, you have something real good cooking up here.
I also commend you for black magic you must have done to have space look this good
Thank you!! That means a lot
hi! how do i find aluminum?
It's on the red planet. The nodes are pretty hard to spot so you'll have to look carefully.
I love this game so much. I've probably already sunk about 50 hours into this and there are some things i would really love to see added to this game. I have no idea how difficult this would be, but my two biggest wishes would be to firstly make docking easier and generally getting back to your ship more practical. maybe with a teleport function. and second, and this is a huge ask i know, would be weapons. Like PDC's and Missiles/Torpedos. That would be my dream game. Again I love this game a lot and I really want to see it completed
Thank you so much! I took note of your suggestions :)
Why doesnt the spaceship support two people to control at the same time，even if there were 2 chairs
It's not possible right now due to how the flight controls are handled, but it will be fixed in the upcoming Steam demo.
is there any way to change speed while im stearing
You can use the advanced controls part to directly change thrust while steering.
pls, update i cant find any other game like this but i have done everything possible....
Hi. I'm still working on the game and aim to release a Steam demo later this year. It will have new graphics & some different content :)
So,whether it supports intel iGPU or not?
I don't plan for the demo to support iGPUs at release.
all right
en el discord se dejan los comentarios porque estaria bueno que te dijera en todo momento una señalizacion de donde esta el centro de mando de tu nave porque cuando estaba volando y me levante del aciento sali despedido y no la encontra mas jaja
I can't wait to play the newest version!!!!!
какая хорошая игра
I love this game <3
awesome ship design, way more creative then anything i could make
Will it be possible to fix the laptop rendering issue anytime soon?
love this game, do you think you'll be able to place the docking doors on the bottom or top at some point?
i cant see my saves and it gives an error pastebin
The game is very finicky with the files in the save directory. You can try backing them up, moving them elsewhere, and bringing them back one by one. See if that helps.
forgot to reply that did work thx
love your game just wondering how much it will be on steam
im thinking somewhere around 25usd thats how much i would pay or more
and add some more dev logs i love hearing your progress
I don't have a price yet for the game.
Glad you like the progress updates :) I'll keep posting more as I work on the game.
Hello Curious Owl, I've posted a video on YouTube, and I want to reiterate that I really wanted to support your game.
LINK:
Hope you keep the rings and atmospheric effects!
Me and my siblings spent 30mins just taking cool screenshots, We'd only ask for more things that focus multiplayer, cus by the end of this version 1 person can do everything themselves in a ship so we were left standing around a lot
Maybe something like fuel or thrust being more efficient when manually tweaked so neither single or multiplayer suffer, or a seperate game mode that does it?
Thank you for your comment! I'll keep co-op in mind as I keep working on the game :)
can you add some type of stationary structure for making bases on planets
Thanks for the suggestion!
Will the game's optimization be improved in the next update, as I'm currently facing a battle for FPS?
I plan to add settings for lower end PCs, but I wouldn't expect a big fps boost.
Is the game running slowly for you all the time or is it only in specific areas or when building a large ship?
Hello Curious Owl, can I make a video about your game where I describe the gameplay?
Of course! Feel free to share it here or on our Discord afterward :)
Thank you!
I want to support you. Your idea of the game is very interesting.
i thought this game gonna be like space engineers. Unfortunately its far from space engineers, but its still good, awesome even(counting the optimization of it :D).
i made some small ship with all basic needs - oxygen, storage, respawn, research table, tried putting few more thrusters while trying to reach space and boom! i lost the ship, got into dev mode and looked for it - and never found it again.
even tho i lost probably hour or so while building ship, i flew away when i lost it and saw that planet is massive, sadly i didnt found any other planets - which is actually was scary! alone planet and sun, particles imitating distant stars(?) and finally one galaxy. while flying even farther i lost the only galaxy and flew into void until screen turned black :P
cool game, cool experience
game was running with GT 750M in 1600x resolution of screen at stable 60 fps
When the update comes out in this masterpiece, I don't know what to do with 0.6.5.
Dude... Ive been playing this game every day for the past week and words genuinely cant describe how great this game is. Its simplicity, its design, its concept.. Its just incredible! This game is genuinely everything to me and it would SUCK if something happened to it. Dont give up and here are some suggestions! Obviously I know its your game so dont think you have to add these things because you dont lol.
1. Day Counter (maybe a clock? Craftable or built in?)
2. Bigger Chests
3. Maps for what planet you are on (Craftable or built in?)
4. More planets!!
5. More tools (maybe update the UI's as well? maybe change the models?)
6. Sprinting and Crouching
Thats all I got at the moment lol. Your game is amazing and its bound to take off at some point, DONT GIVE UP!! <3
Thank you <3 I took note of your suggestions, and some of them I've implemented already! For example, here's a new model I made for the mining laser: https://bsky.app/profile/curiousowldev.bsky.social/post/3lm33f33csk2p
I'm glad to see you joined the Discord, too :)
I have a idea, you should add a camera to the docking port, that way if it's behind the ship or out of view, you won't need to constantly get out to check or just guess where it i
Another thing you should add for the cockpit is a thing that says if your in orbit or not, or something to say that your in orbit so it's a little more easier to tell
Thank you for the suggestions!