Hi everyone!

Today we’re thrilled to announce what we've been cooking for you over the past three or so years.

Space Sector is currently developing a turn-based space 4X strategy game, and you’re all invited to participate and help make it happen!

The game is called Project Space Sector, for now, and a forum has already been put up to welcome everyone interested in taking part and helping out make this the best game we can.

We've just reached pre-alpha. Most of our vision is already established and partially implemented, so we really need some fresh air now. And that's what the phase that starts now will be all about. The road from pre-alpha to alpha1 will be about collecting feedback and improving the game so it may be in a reasonable state for people to start pre-ordering it, with instant access, in a not too distant future.

The Vision

What is Project Space Sector?

One of my lifelong dreams has been to enter the games' industry and create my own games. While this dream drove me to get a degree in computer science, it was my love of space strategy games which motivated me to found SpaceSector.com. A few very interesting years down the road, and after getting a glimpse on how the games' industry works, I felt that the time was right for me to take the next step. This was when the idea behind Project Space Sector started to brew in mind and when I first began developing my own space strategy game.

My initial vision for the game began with wondering what "humanity's reach for the stars" would look like. What types of beings would we meet out there? They would probably be very different from us, and not just in physical appearance, but also biologically. I also wondered what would happen when we make first contact? These questions formed what would become the central theme for the game.

That was the beginning, the spark. I didn't know for sure how much I'd want to innovate, but I knew in my heart that the game would be a space 4X game, and that the gameplay could not be very different from the two games I loved to play the most in the genre, namely Master of Orion 1 and 2. So, I started wondering what would a Master of Orion game be today, with all the fundamental elements MoO fans love?

And, it was probably after writing this article, and witnessing people's reaction to it, that I finally realized what my mission was.

Our mission, with Project Space Sector, is to develop a spiritual successor to Master of Orion 2, the turn-based space 4X strategy game from the 90's that we love so much. A faithful successor, that is true in spirit to the series, but one that manages to offer something new (and this is important).

We believe that no game has stuck to the MoO2 formula to the extent that would please fans who would like to relive the experience with all of its fundamentals. For us, the fundamentals are (more or less in this order of importance): Turn-based tactical combat; ship design; free space-based movement with range limits; race customization; leaders; deep colony management and espionage. This is the foundation upon which all other aspects of the game will be built.

We also knew from the start that we wanted to alleviate a bit the excessive micromanagement felt on MoO2 both on the colony management and space combat aspects, especially by the mid/late-game. So, that was taken into consideration in our design since the beginning. Espionage has also been simplified in concept.

Regarding the new stuff, we added more meat to the exploration phase, terraforming and to leaders. We also added strategic resources, a social engineering system, modding support and introduced a few novelties to the space combat.

By the way, the game will be single-player only (i.e. no multiplayer).

With all of this we believe we have all the ingredients to make a worthy successor. One that will please the fans who want to feel the atmosphere and that “feeling” of Master of Orion 2, but also want to experience something new and fresh, with all the complexity and depth of a big and complex 4X game.

The Team

I, Adam Solo, am the game's vision and design responsible. I'm also one of the programmers, alongside MalRey.

Hugo Rosado (MalRey) is my colleague and partner. Our lives have been deeply intertwined since high school, and he's like a brother to me. He's also a big fan of Master of Orion 2. We used to play it together when we went to college. MalRey is also a programmer in the team and has helped shape the game's vision and overall design. He's the "artist", although I don't think either of us can really be considered as such. So, we'll need a lot of help here.

Both me and Malrey work at full time on the project.

My dear colleagues on SpaceSector.com over the years, Keith Turner (aReclusiveMind) and Edward Varfalvy (Edward the Hun) will help us interact and collect feedback from the community, as moderators in the forums.

The community. Yes, you will also be part of this, and can make your voice count! Everyone who registers and contributes on the Project Space Sector forums will be able to follow the development of the game, provide feedback and propose ideas. Hopefully, you will resonate with what we have in stock for you. But, if not exactly we’ll see what we can do. As in Jeff Bezos’ quote, we’ll be “stubborn on vision, but flexible on the details”, so that’s what we propose for us to do here. Your feedback will be key to help polish the game's rough edges, and it is our hope that we all manage to have polite and helpful discussions so that we can improve the game as a result, and have a lot of fun while doing it.

SpaceSector.com transition

So, but what happens to SpaceSector.com, the reviews blog?

We are very happy with what SpaceSector.com managed to achieve over the years, both in terms of the community that was formed around it, as for its content. But, we felt that we were ready for a new adventure, that we hope you want to share with us.

Eventually, Project Space Sector (the game), will branch off onto its own website, along with the new Project Space Sector forums (which will move to the new site as is), and SpaceSector.com, as it is, will be shut down (effectively stop being updated) at that time. However, we'll finish our coverage for the ongoing titles, that are currently in Early Access or about to be released that we've been providing coverage for, but we can't promise to provide coverage for newer or to be announced titles from this point forward.

There are other sites out there that have been doing, and are doing a great job covering sci-fi and strategy games, and 4X games, like the folks at Explorminate.net, SpaceGameJunkie.com and SpaceSimCentral.com. So, you’ll be in good hands.

Rewards to SpaceSector.com's long-time readers

We can’t thank enough to everybody who engaged on SpaceSector.com over the years, so we want to reward the most prolific and enthusiastic members, if they so decide to follow us in our new adventure that is, and register on the Project SpaceSector forums.

The top 30 posters on either SpaceSector.com's blog or the old forums, are awarded the “Star SpaceSector Badge” recognition, and in addition you’ll see your usernames added to the list of stars that will be present in the game!

Everybody who has posted on at least 30 different topics, on either the blog or forums, are awarded the “Elite SpaceSector Badge”! Thanks a lot for your contributions.

If you have made 30 posts or more on either the blog or forum, you receive the “Prolific SpaceSector Badge”, in addition!

To all who have participated in the discussions over the years, you have our deepest thank you. And, if you posted at least 10 times (either on the blog or forums), you receive the “Supporter SpaceSector Badge”, as well. And, you’ll also be listed in the game’s credits!

Note: The data for the rewards was obtained a day before this announcement and was collected from all SpaceSector.com's blog posts and forum posts. To claim your prizes, please try to use the same email you used when you registered for SpaceSector.com (either the blog or forums) as that will ease the job of awarding the badges to everyone on the new Project Space Sector forums.

Rewards to those who join us in these early days

Even if you haven't been a long time member or frequent contributor to the SpaceSector old blog and forums, you still receive something special if you join now. Between today (we're currently at Pre-alpha) and the time we hit Alpha, you'll receive the "Pre-Alpha Badge", as a token of our appreciation for registering and signing up to comment on the Project Space Sector forums in these early days.

You'll also be listed in the game's credits!

Next steps

Next, we plan to release a new update in a couple of weeks or so, which will kick off a series of dev diaries that we plan to keep releasing in a 2-week or monthly fashion. So, don't forget to check us out again by the end of October where we'll have more details on a specific topic. In the meantime, and to stay updated on news, you can follows us via the site's twitter, facebook, G+ and RSS feed, which is where we'll be posting the dev diaries on. You can also follow this thread on the game's forum to stay updated.

Now that our game project is public, and you have a glimpse on what our vision is, we want to know what you think. We want to know your wants and desires for a spiritual successor for Master of Orion 2. Tell us what you think and we'll publish the results from our first wave of feedback and ideas obtained soon, which by the way will be collected, categorized and published in the forums for everyone to be able to see and track.

In the meantime, see you on the Project Space Sector forums!

You can comment on Project Space Sector's official thread for this post, or here on the blog, as you prefer.

Project Space Sector is a spiritual successor to Master of Orion 2, the turn-based space 4X strategy game from the 90's that we love so much. This will be a faithful successor, that is true in spirit to the series. We believe that by sticking to its fundamentals we will please the fans who want to feel the atmosphere and that “feeling” of Master of Orion 2, but also want to experience something new and fresh, with all the complexity and depth of a big and complex 4X game. You can join the discussions here.

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