Reaching Apoapsis - Formatting and switching to Affinity

 

A big change I made for Reaching Apoapsis was switching formatting software from Scribus to Affinity. Previously, pretty much all of our projects were formatted by Francis as he was the most proficient of the two of us in Scribus [I gave it a go for my capstone project and just could not get a grasp of the UI]. I always kinda wanted to try out formatting for myself but always had some trouble, i was meaning to make the switch a while ago but never did. No idea why???

Switching over to Affinity has been like a breath of fresh air, I love the UI and how easy it is to actually navigate. Also, if for some reason I need to look up something, I don't have to go searching on 10+ year old forum pages which probably don't even have the answer to the specific question I'm looking for. I've been a little bit more ambitious than usual now that I can try out formatting myself and don't have to force poor Francis to work to my vague/nonsensical descriptions of how I would like things to be laid out. For Apoapsis, I intend to make it look like a astronomy magazine, creating a part art book, part magazine, part TTRPG manual. So far its been a delight trying out different page layouts and really making it look like a magazine.

Here's the front cover! Making characters for this project has also been really interesting, I'll get onto that a little later :)

Obviously, with having a more experimental layout compared to what we usually create has meant that development of Apoapsis is taking much longer than i spent on games like Elysium. I don't particularly mind though, I'm spurred on by my current obsession with sci-fi novels and movies and also just the joy of trying out something new! [On the topic of sci fi novels, HIGHLY recommend all of Andy Weir's books as well as Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton, all of which have been a huge inspiration for this project.]

Mechanic wise, We're just developing the crew/crew task mechanics at the moment. This is the bit that combines the resource management elements of Hotel Bunga, with the team building elements of Slip. When creating the roster of Crewmates, something that I constantly think about is how would these characters interact?, who's personalities would clash?, who would be friends?, How would they spend their time outside of missions?. Aside from the temperament mechanics and influencing how they would work, i just feel its a nice bit of worldbuilding to imagine how the crew of the Apoapsis would function, especially being so far from home.

At the moment, these are the crewmates I've designed:

Bill Hughmen: The Engineer

American

Bill was the first character I created for Apoapsis, I made him because I was watching Francis play a lot of Kerbal Space Program at the time and poor Bill Kerman died many a time trying to get to the mun due to "Mishaps" in space flight planning. In one universe, Bill will get to the moon. Bill will go further than that, and he WILL get there in one piece.

On a serious note, Bill's design was very much meant to represent a gentle father figure, someone you can rely on, laugh with, and someone who would do all they can to protect the ones they care about most. He's just a guy, but a guy with a heart and bravery enough to put himself in danger for the sake of humanity.

Edith Steele: The Chemist

British [English]

Edith is definitely the direct opposite to Bill, absolutely not saying shes "evil" or "untrustworthy", just simply very independent, stern, and in some ways, a little selfish. Reflective of her Independent temperament, Edith is very much someone who likes to follow her own instruction and is reluctant to work in a team, which is obviously not exactly ideal for a highly experimental long-distance space flight.

Design wise, I was inspired by the face of Caroline from portal 2, I really like GLaDOS as a character, and I feel Edith would have a similar sort of berating sass that GLaDOS has [obviously not as cruel however]. Secretly, Edith has a bit of a soft spot for Bill. Being such a kindhearted man it's hard for anyone to hate him, that extending to people who put up the hardest of exteriors.

Grant Wayne: The Botanist

Canadian

Grant is the character I have the biggest soft spot for, he's not actually a new character for this project, rather a very old OC of mine that i made back in high school. I think for that reason I really like him, and I like that he now has more of a heroic role than his more moody and somewhat pathetic demeanor seen in his original project Continuity Corporations [absolutely no shade to Francis's story, his wet noodle personality fits SO well: https://continuitycorp.blogspot.com/].

For Apoapsis, Grant combines the personalities of Ryland Grace and Mark Watney together, he's resilient and resourceful, yet deeply emotional and a bit of a crybaby at times [understandably]. He is also deeply sentimental, holding his friends very close to him and finding it hard to adjust emotionally to change. This is of course something that is not exactly great when rocketing through space - which, by the way he is absolutely afraid of- despite his previous research on hypothetical exoplanet hydroponic systems. Ironically, his past research and passion for his field make him the perfect candidate for space, however, much like Ryland Grace, he doesn't agree.

Keaton Auger : The Medic

French

Keaton is actually the most recent character I have made for this project [as of 04/07/26]. Although in this drawing he looks rather serious/maybe kinda sad? he's very much the opposite. Being tasked with keeping 10 strangers alive is extremely stressful on all parties, however Keaton manages to keep a positive attitude and playful demeanor even in the toughest of situations. His comforting aura is certainly different to Bill in the sense he's less immediately reckless to protect others, instead being more analytical with his decisions to ensure everyone - including himself - isn't at risk.

An interesting extra tidbit, Keaton was also responsible for creating the stasis pods found on the apoapsis, both the ones that will host crew, and also the ones responsible for keeping the fetal payload alive. Having that many lives on any one person's shoulders is something that most people would be absolutely terrified at the prospect of, while Keaton is no different, he certainly doesn't let it show.

Lisby Micah : The Comms Specialist

Spanish

Another new addition to the team, Lisby is your typical nerdy scientist in the most endearing way. Shes very passionate about her job and thrilled at the prospect of going to space. I wouldn't consider her to be the "sunshine character" of the group, as she can be quite abrupt at times if people interrupt her whilst working, and generally she'd rather be listening to the stars than listening to other people. I also really love her design, I was a little inspired by Amy from the big bang theory, I imagine she would be similar in her personality at times.

I think that Lisby and Moneta would get along really well, they're quite similar in personalities and i think that Moneta would probably be one of those people that Lisby could never get sick of talking to. They're both total geeks, loving their sci fi movies and books [me too gang!!] and probably yapping about their love of space together all the time. Also, because Moneta is quite new to being in the field of space, Lisby would probably act as somewhat of a tutor to her? Especially because Lisby has been with NASA for so long now.

Mafic Baker : The Astrophysicist

Australian

Mafic also has a very special place in my heart as I didn't design her. She is actually based on an old character of Francis's who was originally an Outer Wilds oc, I love that she's found her way back into a project of ours after us kind of neglecting to draw her for what's nearly 5 years now. She's practically the same silly little Hearthian, just in a human body. She's certainly a good astrophysicist and all those years of avoiding smashing directly into the sun when trying to land on the sun station has made her incredible at planning space tragectories.

I'm obviously joking about that last part, in the canon of Reaching Apoapsis, Mafic was one of the primary team members who put together the plan for the Apoapsis mission. I suppose in a way this makes her a little similar to Eva Stratt from Project Hail Mary, however the similarities end there. Mafic is the character I think would get along with everyone the best, she seems like the life and soul of the party, maybe a little grumpy at times, but generally the comedic relief. Her and Grant are best friends, she probably knew him before the mission and helps him through his anxieties about being in space.

Moneta Shelly : The Geologist

South African

Moneta is another of the original 3 characters I made for Apoapsis, and I think is featured the most in the book's artwork as of the current. Aside from Lisby I imagine Moneta is probably the most excited to be going to space, and is overall very hopeful for the outcome of the mission. I often imagine that Moneta would be the first to make contact with the Angeoforms, eager to bridge the communication gap and learn as much about everything around her as she can.

I've drawn a couple silly doodles with her and Banquo, giving her a kind of Rocky and Grace type relationship, obviously working together on a shared goal but also finding the time to goof off together. I think Moneta would probably be the youngest of the group, being in her mid to late twenties and so having a slightly different outlook to the mission than the other members of the crew. Despite this, she is very knowledgeable and not as reckless as some might assume. I would argue you would need to keep a closer eye on Bill when walking next to a huge canyon than keeping an eye on Moneta. Moneta looks up to Grant, Mafic and Lisby an awful lot, however does NOT get along well with Edith. She thinks that she is rude and would probably very quickly lose her temper with her.

These are all the characters I've drawn as of current, as you can see, comparing to my other projects, these guys are a lot more toned down in terms of their overall designs. They're just regular people, no exaggerated roles, no over the top designs, just regular guys trying to save the world. That's sort of the vibe i wanted for Apoapsis, a bit more of a grounded setting [even if there are giant magnetic aliens] the technology and the people utilizing it aren't anything special.

I've yapped an awful lot in this blog post - whoopsie. In short:

-Very glad I moved over to Affinity, very fun and easy to use

- Made more characters and writing more lore.

I really need to work on being more concise... deary me.

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Also, I feel I should make a general update now as - if you've been following my blog for a while now - you will notice the tone of these last few posts have been VERY different to what I usually post. I've finally finished university! Yippee! I discovered I really liked blogging through my experiences at uni, so I've decided to carry on documenting the current big projects i've been working on for anyone that's interested. I won't be posting as often as I used to [mostly because I needed to post so much for my graded assignments] but I'll try to make an effort to post when I do something interesting with either Reaching Apoapsis or Hotel bunga.

Which, Is still being produced! It needs some work because obviously I made the whole thing in maybe 6 months. Currently I'm working on a new edition of the rules with better mechanics and maybe some revised artwork. I'll post about that when i can!

Thank you for coming along with me for the ride! I hope you continue to like this new content!