Megastructures, Roguelite Focus, and Visual Pass

Flowrate’s development has been coming together, and I’ve made some solid progress worth sharing.

Roguelite Direction
Flowrate is shifting more fully into roguelite territory. The core idea: even failed runs contribute to long-term progress. You’ll eventually be able to construct permanent megastructures across the galaxy that unlock new routes, tools, or advantages for future runs. The goal is to give players meaningful decisions that last beyond a single session.

Visual Improvements
I’ve been refining the overall look of the game—specifically planets, backgrounds, and atmosphere visuals. Everything is built directly in Unity with procedural shaders and lighting, no imported art. Space now feels more alive and reactive, which helps the game’s tone shine through. I’ve also been working on making the Steam capsule visuals match the feel of the actual game.

Behind-the-Scenes Progress

• Reworked fuel and atmosphere generation logic

• Modular achievement system in progress

• Fixed UI issues related to screen space rendering

• Prototyping megastructure design

• Tweaking starfields, parallax layers, and sky color

Next Steps

• Implement early megastructure mechanics

• Add achievement tracking

• Expand procedural variation for planets and skies

• Polish visuals for store pages and thumbnails

No playable update yet—just development momentum. If you’ve tried the game or are just following along, feel free to share any thoughts or feedback. More soon.

—Arekcuta