So today I played a prototype of his next game: Orbitstar: Expedition to Darwin IV. Which is a title that might grab your attention if you’re familiar with the sci-fi artwork of Wayne Barlowe (I wasn’t before – or at least I didn’t know the name – but I absolutely see the appeal). As you’d imagine, the game is full of that art and it’s looking lovely.
The game has you exploring the planet Darwin IV, trying to discover and study alien species in various different regions. There’s not a lot of direct player interaction (mostly it’s competition for who studies any given species the most, and occasionally rescuing another player if they take too much damage (saving them time and getting you benefits). It’s a bag/engine builder, with quite a bit of flexibility in letting you do something with what you have in most cases, but letting you do better things if you have the ideal components and have researched the appropriate things. There’s a fair amount going on, but it’s not overwhelming by any stretch, and your viable options are often constrained to a manageable set of choices based on where you are on the planet at that point in time. Horrible things happen to you if you stay in the same location very long, so the game encourages you to shift around regularly.
I had a good time playing this one, and I can see it making a bit of a splash when it reaches crowd-funding just for the sci-fi artwork.