Reaching Apoapsis - A card based TTRPG set in space

 What is Reaching Apoapsis? -

Now that university is over, myself and my partner have started working on a new game system using a method we have never [or rather I have never] tried before. Cards. I think this is a really interesting concept as it means we'll have to think solely within the boundaries of 52 cards as opposed to the standard polyhedral dice.

Obviously, we're still in very early development of this idea, but its kinda shaping out to combine mechanics explored in many of our previous games such as Hotel Bunga, Pioneers and even some unreleased stuff we made way back. It'll certainly have some resource/employee management mechanics along with base building, exploration, and a more balanced roleplay to mechanics based system. I'm really excited to be working on this, as I feel it kinda fits more within the stuff I usually like to make, unlike Hotel Bunga which was a big step outside of my comfort zone.

My role in this project -

I don't exactly have a solid "Role" within this project, as is the case with much of the stuff we make through Hearthvalley. I don't consider myself to have one particular role within the company, me and Francis kinda just work together and fill in the gaps wherever needed. I would say however I do have a pretty strong visual idea and general story for the development of Reaching Apoapsis, and I've been putting together some concept work for the game as I go. Francis has a little more experience with card based TTRPGs, so he's been taking the lead of translating my utter garble into some cool ideas for mechanics, and also designing some awesome characters, so again, we're kinda both doing a bit of everything :).

Inspirations -

A few weeks back, I watched the film Project Hail Mary which completely resparked my love of reading, I hadn't read much since year 7 [nearly 10 years ago now] but that masterpiece of a movie made me want to read the book behind it... and then The Martian... and then Artemis. Safe to say I really love Andy Weir's work, and particularly enjoy the scifi genre of using current day [or close to current day] technology to achieve huge goals that aren't completely impossible, and the heavy scientific base of the worlds he builds. Along with this, I've been watching Francis play a lot of Kerbal Space Program, which definitely inspired me with the base building and mission planning mechanics [for better or worse, Godspeed Bill Kerman, We'll get you to the moon one way or another]. 

Throw in a bit of Rimworld and The Outer Wilds, and that's kinda the vibe we're going for with Reaching Apoapsis.

Formatting wise, I definitely want to try to make this game into a Physical Zine, but I want to step away from our usual style of formatting and lean more into the same visual style as you might see in science magazines, I'm going to pick up a couple the next chance I get to have a look at how they look. Think lots of glossy photos of crew members, mission photos and space crafts, and where you might find article columns, that's where the mechanics will go!. It'll be like an art book and a TTRPG all wrapped into one, which is something I try to aim for with all the games we make. I mean, we're both artists, so artwork is always a big priority for us in anything we make.

Screenshots taken from - https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/jan2016_0.pdf

The Premise so far [Majorly subject to change] -

Approximately 2 years ago, Earth's top scientists uncovered a worrying development regarding our solar system. Growing ever closer is a dust cloud of such colossal size it threatens the effectiveness of not only earth's communication systems, but also the sun's intensity. As it stands, scientists predict this event will not only cause a worldwide, long spanning communications blackout, but also the significant reduction in the planet's overall temperature.

Whilst not immediately life-threatening, officials have been advised that evacuation orders may be on close horizons, As such, many world organizations have banded together to form mission: Reaching Apoapsis, humanities first colony mission. 

Their aim? colonise a planet within close range, outside of our own system yet close enough to begin the eventual evacuation orders.

Their chosen location? Gliese 65, a binary star system between Sol and the Trappist - 1 system. This colony will be planetside, containing a few hundred thousand human embryos and a complete record of all human history. It is all that would remain of Humanity should we go extinct. The colony would be powered by solar arrays, this is why it must be constructed on an exoplanet as the solar system will become too dimmed for any solar panels to function.

You will play as a mission commander, selecting your crew and organizing missions to begin construction of the Reaching Apoapsis colony base, you will need to oversee flights, command construction of assets, and explore the new planet. That being said, you may not be the only beings on the hunt for a new home.

Timeline? -

Right now we don't have any sort of timeline for how long this project will take to complete, its shaping out to be quite a hefty one though and so I'll try to keep making updates about it on here when I can :).