AraCore Astromining Ventures (demo)

Updated 15th November 2024. Note that this demo is a work-in progress and will have bugs! Leave feedback in comments below or on the Discord.

In 2086, a young pilot is driven by the desperate need to help their struggling community on Mars from the brink of destitution. As that pilot, you sign up to work for an astro-mining corporation and embark on high-stakes mining missions, earning commission to fund the survival of your family and friends in a merciless profit-driven world. As your career continues, you'll delve deeper into the corporate underbelly and uncover the harsh realities and ruthless capitalist secrets of the company you work for and their competitors.

• Fly free to explore over 20 mission locations
• Find, mine, break down, and haul precious resources from asteroids into your cargo
• Spend your commission wisely: will you use your pay to help your community, yourself, or something more?
• Converse with your bosses, colleagues, and rival factions to discover more about the world
• Actions have consequences: what you do, or fail to do, in a mission will dictate future missions and the direction of the story
• Keep up with your rivals: upgrade your surveyor ship and drone ship to give yourself an edge over your fellow pilots and rival corporations

You'll fly out to missions given by corporate HQ in your surveyor ship. Missions take place in local asteroid fields where you will pilot mining drones to navigate through the rocks, scan materials, and gather resources using tools such as kinetic impactors to break down larger asteroids and grappling magnets to haul them into cargo containers. 

While most missions are about pure profit, some missions will see you spying on rival corporations, clearing debris, rescuing stranded pilots, or testing out new controversial technologies. As you explore each field, you'll earn commission for the resources you've collected and uncover what's really going on out in the outer reaches of the asteroid belt. If you damage equipment or fail your missions, you might be fined and have less money to send back to your community on Mars. After returning to base, you'll receive upgraded technology to make your mining life easier. Your actions and the decisions you make along the way will change the course of the story, the missions you take, and the relationships with the people around you.