Konstantin Kronfeldner is obviously an extremely talented programmer. After four years in production, his passion project, Avorion, is finally coming together—and he’s got a lot to show for it. This procedurally generated sci-fi sandbox is an eclectic mish-mash of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and Lego bricks. Basically, you customize your own futuristic spaceship and blast other tinier and weaker spaceships into oblivion. Sounds easy enough? Take a look at the trailer. These spaceships are massive, stunning pieces of artwork. The gif below made me drop everything and ogle in amazement.
Not only can you build your own ship with blocks of various shapes and sizes, but you can use your equip your monstrous creations with “chainguns, lasers and other weapons” to mow down your foes. The weapon system is thoroughly expansive as well, varying in size, shape and scope; rockets launchers can gun down enemies from long-range while plasma cannons can blast through enemy shields. Once you build multiple ships, you can even hire “captains” to pilot your lovingly built spaceships, and fly into battle with your army at your side.
Aside from the thoroughly in-depth combat system, the insides of the ships can be augmented to top-notch precision. Factors like speed or rotational speed are taken into account, while parts like thrusters work better if built away from the ship’s core, since mass affects acceleration. But if you aren’t into all that mumbo-jumbo, Avorion can randomly create a ship for you—but it sure won’t be half as satisfying as building it yourself.
If that’s still not enough, you can even battle with and against your friends in co-op multiplayer, doing all the things you would while flying solo; building stations, destroying enemies and pirates and engaging in frenzied PVP battles.
Up ‘til now, this all might read like one giant advertisement for Avorion, but there are some obvious issues that still stand to be corrected. With just under three weeks left in its Kickstarter campaign, Avorion has raised roughly €3,400 of its goal of €15,000. From what I’ve seen of the game, it could have easily asked for double that amount and should also have received much more money by now. When a game looks this good, there’s often something wrong with the way it’s being promoted, and Avorion is guilty as charged.
First off, the Avorion demo needs to be featured front and center on its Kickstarter page; there’s nothing but a dinky URL obscured within lines and lines of text in the middle of the overview section. Second of all, like several other campaigns I’ve covered, there needs to be more storyline and quest disclosure. After four years in production, there must be some sort of plot or at least a mission or two that can be featured in the campaign, and I don’t yet see anything on that front. Finally, an Avorion twitter page needs to be created—social media is the new DIY advertising! The more people know about the game the more inclined they’ll be to back it. Will the Aviorion Kickstarter succeed? It’s too early to tell, but you can track its progress in our Campaign Calendar.
