Rotter
Barely Literate
Hello. I'm Aisha, the Project Manager of Hullrot.
Me and my team have been working on the project on-and-off for the better part of a year, using SS14's RobustToolbox engine. Originally intended for a small-scale storytelling project in a small group of friends, not unlike DnD, Hullrot has steadily spiraled into a proper hub-scale game after other communities discovered it's existence. We originally forked off pre-AGPL Frontier, but the codebase has been more or less edited beyond recognition (and a rebase is in the works to a modified version of modern stable Wizden, anyhow).
Hullrot takes place in a post-war Taypan in Sector Crescent, an Imperial-colonized patch of the Spinward that has had it's bluespace lines severed to it following an embarassing Imperial defeat in a semi-botched revolution. The Sector is split between two central powers - the socialist New Crescent Worker's Union, and the monarchist Solarian Mandate, represented under the Count, with many smaller factions (often with their own self-serving agendas) dotted across the map.
The lore and gameplay itself takes heavy inspiration from the likes of Starsector or Highfleet, with mild influences from Cowboy Bebop - although the grander-scale story bits like the leadership vacuum in Sol or the ongoing Imperial civil war outside Taypan doesn't tend to matter ingame, as every player character is stuck in the political pressure cooker and forced to fend for themselves anyway.
We inherit some basic gameplay loops from Frontier Station, such as primarily having a focus on ships and performing activities with vessels rather than being stuck aboard a large station, with many smaller faction outposts (plus some independent ones) dotting the map, each with their own biome code (the pirate station is in a patch of red nebula called the Devil's Maw, for example, the parallax and soundtrack even changing to represent where you are on the map) and soundtrack.
We also play into the strengths of SS14's shuttle code with things like ship turrets, bubble shields, or modular shuttle construction. Players can choose to become combat pilots for their faction, piloting tiny ultralight fighters up to multi-crew battlecruisers with a row of broadside artillery cannons. Each ship has a speed and agility modifier depending on it's weight class, although these can be upgraded with salvaged or manufactured parts if you manage to keep your ship afloat for long enough.
If you're an industrial player, you can also instead choose to become a salvager pilot, a deep-space miner, or even a hauler (the game supports the purchase (or manufacture) of commercial goods to trade to other stations (some stations pay more for certain goods!)) pilot - or even become an independent researcher and go techmining or artifact researching to unlock research nodes to make more pre-built ship disks, gear, guns, et cetera.
The game isn't all perfect, of course, there's a lot of bugs unaccounted for, or gameplay loops that simply could be done better. This is why I've come to this sub to advertise it today. We're always looking for more playtesters, and if any of what I said interests you, you should check us out at
discord.gg/hullrot
I'm Aisha, or fleshangel on Discord. You can reach out to me with concerns or comments if you have any. Alternatively, you can reach out to our Community Manager, Rane (___rane on Discord).
Me and my team have been working on the project on-and-off for the better part of a year, using SS14's RobustToolbox engine. Originally intended for a small-scale storytelling project in a small group of friends, not unlike DnD, Hullrot has steadily spiraled into a proper hub-scale game after other communities discovered it's existence. We originally forked off pre-AGPL Frontier, but the codebase has been more or less edited beyond recognition (and a rebase is in the works to a modified version of modern stable Wizden, anyhow).
Hullrot takes place in a post-war Taypan in Sector Crescent, an Imperial-colonized patch of the Spinward that has had it's bluespace lines severed to it following an embarassing Imperial defeat in a semi-botched revolution. The Sector is split between two central powers - the socialist New Crescent Worker's Union, and the monarchist Solarian Mandate, represented under the Count, with many smaller factions (often with their own self-serving agendas) dotted across the map.
The lore and gameplay itself takes heavy inspiration from the likes of Starsector or Highfleet, with mild influences from Cowboy Bebop - although the grander-scale story bits like the leadership vacuum in Sol or the ongoing Imperial civil war outside Taypan doesn't tend to matter ingame, as every player character is stuck in the political pressure cooker and forced to fend for themselves anyway.
We inherit some basic gameplay loops from Frontier Station, such as primarily having a focus on ships and performing activities with vessels rather than being stuck aboard a large station, with many smaller faction outposts (plus some independent ones) dotting the map, each with their own biome code (the pirate station is in a patch of red nebula called the Devil's Maw, for example, the parallax and soundtrack even changing to represent where you are on the map) and soundtrack.
We also play into the strengths of SS14's shuttle code with things like ship turrets, bubble shields, or modular shuttle construction. Players can choose to become combat pilots for their faction, piloting tiny ultralight fighters up to multi-crew battlecruisers with a row of broadside artillery cannons. Each ship has a speed and agility modifier depending on it's weight class, although these can be upgraded with salvaged or manufactured parts if you manage to keep your ship afloat for long enough.
If you're an industrial player, you can also instead choose to become a salvager pilot, a deep-space miner, or even a hauler (the game supports the purchase (or manufacture) of commercial goods to trade to other stations (some stations pay more for certain goods!)) pilot - or even become an independent researcher and go techmining or artifact researching to unlock research nodes to make more pre-built ship disks, gear, guns, et cetera.
The game isn't all perfect, of course, there's a lot of bugs unaccounted for, or gameplay loops that simply could be done better. This is why I've come to this sub to advertise it today. We're always looking for more playtesters, and if any of what I said interests you, you should check us out at
discord.gg/hullrot
I'm Aisha, or fleshangel on Discord. You can reach out to me with concerns or comments if you have any. Alternatively, you can reach out to our Community Manager, Rane (___rane on Discord).
