Hello everyone,

Voirdborne's page is now online on itch.io, feel free to take a look : https://forever-a-clam.itch.io/voidborne

The game aims to be a top/down shooter centered around a battle cruiser. Here is a gameplay video from the current prototype :

As the development progresses, we will post more features and assets in the devlog. The first log is already available and shows the "destructible systems" feature.

https://forever-a-clam.itch.io/voidborne/devlog/455590/feature-destructible-syst...

The game is in a very early stage of development, so we are mainly focusing on the gameplay for now. Story and lore elements will come much later.

A new devlog is available ! Click on the image below to open the original devlog page.

The battle cruiser embarks two heavy turrets. These weapons are your primary damage source against all medium and heavy class ships.

Two different turrets are currently operational in the game's prototype: a 180 mm artillery canon and a 75 mm full automatic canon. While the first shoots powerful explosive projectiles with high range and accuracy, the second is more suited for devastating bursts at short range.

You can deploy only one turret at a time, and each has its own ammo capacity. Reloading such massive weapons is a long process, so keep an eye on the ammo counter before rushing into the fray.

Turrets are designed to synergize with the ship's missile launchers. Every successful shot will "tag" the target's section it hits. These tags can stack and be consumed to launch guided missiles on the target quickly.

A future dev log will explain this feature further.

A new devlog is available ! Click on the image below to open the original devlog page.

The battleship is equipped with two missile bays. In the current prototype of the game, only one type of missile is fully functional. Thus, the ship is always shown with two identical bays in videos and screenshots. These bays are composed of six tubes, each containing a heavy homing warhead.

This type of missile must be locked on an enemy section before being launched. Locking a target is performed with the turrets projectiles: each projectile that hits a section will progressively stack "tags" on it. Every turret will add tags with different efficiency, depending on its base damage value,  range, or rate of fire. An enemy ship's section can have a maximum of five tags at the same time.

Homing missiles can be launched by pressing a key on the keyboard if an enemy section has at least two tags. The warhead will lock any enemy section that fulfills this condition and consumes the two tags. If more than one section is available for targeting, it will prioritize its target by selecting the last section hit by a turret.

Heavy missiles and heavy turrets are designed to work in tandem: while turrets are your main damage dealers, missiles act more like ship killers. They are also very efficient at intercepting fleeing or hiding targets, thanks to their ability to navigate over every obstacle and bypass energy shields.

We will add other types of missiles in the future, allowing the player to simultaneously select two different launch bays for his ship. Every kind of missile will have a specific role on the battlefield, using the tag system in its own way.

A new devlog is available ! Click on the image below to open the original devlog page.

Back in 2020, I was sketching many sci-fi stuff without any real purpose. At some point, I realized that I had created many little spaceship pieces. These modular parts can be arranged in many ways, allowing various iterations of the same spaceship.

I repurposed this system and decided to use it as a basis for Voidborne's visual identity.

Every section between the thruster and the nose can be placed in any order. Also, each section's "upper" and "side" parts are separate sprites and can be shuffled at will. You can flip every sprite horizontally or vertically to get even more variations.

Experimentations went a bit further in 2021 as I sketched new ship designs. Here's a sneak peek of them:

This feature will probably stay purely aesthetic. The battlecruiser will have a dedicated upgrade system to improve its combat abilities, but it will be a different feature. I do not want the player to feel compelled to choose between the "coolest ship" and the "best stats."