Chris Parsons’ character-focused space game Sol Trader (described as being a fusion of Elite, Asteroids, and Dwarf Fortress) has blasted back to Kickstarter with a goal of $15,531, following an unsuccessful campaign earlier on in the year.
Every time a new Sol Trader playthrough begins, the game procedurally generates around 200 years of history. Thousands of unique characters live and die (including your character’s family), interacting with each other in a wide variety of ways. Players can form friendships with these characters (allowing them to request help from NPCs in their time of need), or feud with them. When they’re not interacting with NPCs; players can embark on missions, explore the solar system, or trade goods.
The campaign’s stretch goals include 5.1 surround audio, derelict husks drifting through space, expensive warp drives that players can add to their ships to avoid having to use jumpgates, a full twelve-track album instead of the currently planned four-to-five track album, and aliens (I can only assume that they’re of the non-acid blood variety). The final stretch goal, weighing in at £150,000, is currently unknown.
If you’re interested in trying out Sol Trader before backing the campaign, there’s a demo available for Windows and Mac platforms. At the moment the demo is missing some of the features described in the Kickstarter page (like combat), but it’s still a pretty entertaining way to pass your time.
Track the progress of the Sol Trader Kickstarter in our Campaign Calendar.
