Space Blog

Hooray! Orion Trail Honored by Independent Games Festival Great news! Orion Trail received an Honorable Mention in Excellence in Narrative by the Independent Games Festival. We’re so tickled by this award, we could do a dance. Learn more about it here.

Be a Space Captain. Really! If you’ve always wanted the experience of sitting in the captain’s chair of an intergalactic space ship, then your wait is over! You can now experience Orion Trail in virtual reality on the Samsung Gear VR. Players will experience the same core gameplay found in the original version, but the game’s interface and characters have been adapted for a VR environment. Orion Trail VR is available on the Oculus Store. To read more about it, here’s the press release.

Anonymous asked: I am not seeing my name on the credits? I got the $25 tier. A few names did slip through, so we’ve been fixing those as we find ‘em.

If you backed us during the campaign, contact us on Kickstarter. If you pre-ordered on BackerKit, visit https://orion-trail.backerkit.com/ and contact support. We’ll get you sorted out!

atoolongurl asked: How can I ask for a press copy of your game? Contact us at info@schellgames.com and we’ll try and get you hooked up.

Anonymous asked: Who's the most handsomest captain? There are just too many to choose.

Anonymous asked: I just watched Sips' YouTube playthrough and I love it. Any chance of an Android version in the future? It seems like it's made for mobile!! We’ve definitely kept tablet as a platform in mind throughout the entire development. We have no immediate plans yet, but we’ll let you guys know as soon as we do.

Anonymous asked: Hi. Have the steam keys been sent out yet to Kickstarter backers? I backed the project at the $10 cheapskate level, and haven't received my key yet. Everyone should have received an email from BackerKit back in August with a Steam Key. If you can’t find your email, contact us on Kickstarter and we’ll get you sorted out.

Trading, Regulation Uniforms & Impending Launch (October 12th!) (This was cross-posted from our Kickstarter page) Exciting news, space-friends. Things are heating up in the cold vacuum of space. Have I used that one before? Probably. I don’t care, I’m super pumped to let you in on the latest developments for Orion Trail. Orion Trail leaves Early Access on October 12th! Warpin’ Weasels! It’s happening! It feels like only yesterday that we were a prototype on Steam Greenlight. I guess time really does fly when you’re hurtling through space at the speed of light. Or something. We’ve been in Early Access for about two months now and have received some great feedback for how to improve the game. Having acted on (and continuing to act on) that feedback, we’re confident that releasing the game to the greater public is the next step for us. Here’s a breakdown of what this means: On October 12th, we’ll be leaving Steam Early Access. All Early Access keys (activated or not) will still work and give you a full copy of the game.



People who have been waiting for their DRM-free copy of the game will get their first for-real build. This will likely be through the Humble Store, but we’ll let you know.



Just because we’re launching doesn’t mean we will stop supporting the game. We’ll be adding new (free) content to the game, fixing bugs, and still responding to feedback for at least a month after our official launch.

… But what about Hunting / [other cool feature]? When we were preparing for the Kickstarter, Hunting was one part of the game that we refused to cut, until it became obvious to us that the money needed with the Hunting mini-game wasn’t going to be realistic to ask for. So, we were forced to make a tough choice: do we risk the project not getting funded, or do we feel confident enough that the game can be strong enough on its own without shooting at space buffalo? Ultimately, after a lot of discussion, we believed that the game has enough to bring to the table without it, even though it could compromise what it means to be a “trail” game. We hear your desire for skill-based mini-games, and believe us, we want them, too. If we get enough interest in the game after launch, we’ll be looking for ways to try and make features like hunting a reality. So, tell your friends about our impending launch and help us get there! Those space jackalopes aren’t going to phaser themselves. Keep letting us know what you like and don’t like about the game. We’re listening, and want to make it better!

The T-Shirts have arrived! Seriously! They’re here! It’s been a long time coming, but they’ve all arrived in the studio late last week, and we’re getting ready for a big packin’ party here at the studio. We’ll let you know when they’re in the mail!

Upcoming Build: Trading Posts Mike hinted at this a few weeks ago, but this next build will have the first incarnation of Trading Posts appearing in our Starmaps! The structure is similar to an Away Mission, and you’ll be able to trade your less-needed resources for stuff that you’re running out of. Plus, they look super cool on the Starmap. Stream Tomorrow (9/25/15) at 2:30PM! Tomorrow is Friday, which means it’s time for another stream! Tune in and check out a preview of the next build on our Twitch Channel. It’ll be funzies.

Whew. That was exhausting. That’s all for this update.

Keep on keepin’ on, space pals. We’ll be in touch very soon.

- Dave



Tough Space Decisions in Space Why hello there. Long time no blog. We’ve been continuing to plug away at the game over the past week, workin’ on adding new content, polishing up the UI, transitions, and adding some fun flair to the Star Map. Oh, also, we’ve enabled Steam Cloud support for your save data, which’ll make switching between machines that much easier. In other news, we’ve been keeping a keen eye on balance. Specifically, we’re hoping to give you guys more of a reason to pick options that aren’t necessarily your best stat. Our first attempt at this was restricting your choices based on which resources you do or don’t have, but I think we can do better. In many cases, there are encounters where options will give you rewards based on the options you pick. However, we’re not showing you what said rewards are. So, we’re planning to add a little bit to the UI to call the rewards for each option you can pick. However, we’re keenly aware that we don’t want to flood the UI with too much information, so we’re treading very lightly. Expect to see these changes either in the next update, or the one following it, along with some cool additions of content. Mike talked about trading posts, and they’re just about ready to be added in the coming weeks! That’s all for this time! - Dave