Pirates of Frontier's Reach is a game set in a science fiction fantasy universe I've been developing in my spare time over the past 6 years. The game itself was born out of a desire to strip down the space game to some of it's most fundamental components and to present the core of the genre in a relatively faster paced way than what is explored in some other games. I'm also working towards developing a story narrative that is driven by player progression through campaign missions. I have added weapon unlocks that occur at key points in the story. And a currency system that facilitates a gameplay loop of acquiring salvage via missions and then spending that salvage in various ways. The player has control over their loadout before going into missions and will be charged salvage if they lose a starfighter on mission based upon the total cost of the ship they chose to fly and the weapons it was equipped with.

The Setting of Pirates of Frontier's Reach is the year 2230. Humanity has stretched itself across various star systems in a radius of roughly 80 lightyears from Earth. Most of Earth's governments haven't changed but a new interstellar government now exists known as the Sol Confederacy of United Planets. While the Sol Confederacy was founded with the best of intentions it is old and filled with bureaucracy and few know all the rules and agencies enough to adequately manage it. As such, a newly elected leader with ambitions exceeding his public facing has promised the people and proponents of the Sol Confederacy that his administration will bring to heel the lawless colonies of the frontier worlds. In truth it is an effort to bring the entire region stretching from the antimatter production world of Caldero, a lush green world undergoing volcanic death, and a remote gas giant moon known as Frontier's Reach. A deathly world some 80.3 lightyears from Earth and named so for the fact that it is the furthest officially recognized colony from Earth.

The Gameplay of Pirates of Frontier's Reach sees players serving aboard the privateer vessel The Heliosiren. Under the guidance of Captain Anya Sharie Zuban and First Mate Rhen Malavik, who are operating under a letter of Marque and Reprisal issued by the colonial government of the moon Frontier's Reach, the player will engage mercenary forces on the frontier of human colonized space in an attempt to disrupt the forces of the Sol Confederacy Consolidated Navy. Later stages of the game will see the player face off against the SolCon Navy and eventually be given command of the Heliosiren and will be free to replay old missions.

The Economy of Pirates of Frontier's Reach will have players complete missions where they will earn salvage points. These salvage points can be used to field better and more specialized ships and equipment on both the story missions and the replayable side missions. Right now the selection of ships and weapons is fairly limited but this will be expanded over time.

The Story of Pirates of Frontier's Reach will be told between missions in the form of a dialogue box that the player will use to engage with various characters. Voice over will guide the player through missions and give details relevant to the story while the player is between objectives. Lore listed in the loadout screen as well as other menus will help to flesh out details of key objects and characters.

The Future of Pirates of Frontier's Reach is one in which I hope to be able to release weekly episodic content similar to how TV shows are released. To achieve this I spent roughly two months designing and building a content production pipeline that will allow me to create new story content on a weekly basis and to add new ships and weapons types into the game with ease and expedience. The ultimate plan for launch is to have a 20 mission story campaign with several replayable side missions that the player can engage with at will. Post launch the episodic content updates will begin, barring any civilization ending cataclysms. I am also considering adding a social hub like a bar aboard the Heliosiren where the player can interact with characters that may or may not be directly relevant with the main campaign, but this is not set in stone.

The Multiplayer of Pirates of Frontier's Reach is currently not being planned at all. I've actually had a few inquiries about this in closed testing amongst friends and the answer for the time being is no plan at all. I have never done multiplayer anything and to do so would mean hiring someone or learning how to do it myself. IF, and that's a big if, multiplayer were ever to become a thing it will likely be in the form of a separate game so it can be managed more easily.

Pirates of Frontier's Reach

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