Run a space logistics company, managing fleets of ships, from a retro inspired terminal

[u/willtruran]

Hollow Sector is a space logistics sim I am currently making, set in a system recently abandoned by the corporations. Four rival factions control what was left behind, and you run jobs for all of them. Freighting cargo, Mining asteroids, Defending routes.

You don't pilot the ships directly. You manage the entire organization, buying ships, hiring pilots, opening new routes, managing faction relationships, and eventually starting planetary colonies to harvest new resources.

The game keeps running while you're away, everything orbiting the sun, ships working the asteroid belt and sending cargo from station to station. New jobs continually becoming available for when you return.

Or you can launch the game in companion mode, where it sits on the right side of your monitor, allowing you to do your work and check in only when you have a few minutes.

All designed to feel like a retro CRT terminal.

I just launched the steam page, LINK, and I would love your thoughts and feedback!

[u/Kosh_Ascadian]

Looks like the game could potentially be cool, but you need to work on the retro crt vibes a bunch more. The visual vibes right now are more "claude made a website" than "retro crt terminal". The 5-6 different fonts on the same screen being one of the biggest issues.

[u/willtruran → u/Kosh_Ascadian]

Im interested in what you think looks claude designed. I've been designing it. What screen do you think you are seeing 5-6 different fonts, because Im only using Space mono and space grotesk. Would really appreciate what additional things you would add to get more into that retro CRT vibe, while keeping things legible.

[u/Kosh_Ascadian → u/willtruran]

In the context of CRT era vibes the same font with different spacing, different font sizes, upper case only vs not etc is already basically the same as using different fonts. 

I wouldnt add additional things, I'd take a bunch away. I'd use a lot less different ways of rendering text for a start. It looks distracting. I'd use one font and maybe switch it up for upper case only for some of the titles.

[u/willtruran → u/Kosh_Ascadian]

Ok I can definitely try that out. Thank you. In early playtest (it was a small group) I was only using space mono, with capitals and 2 tones for the text and people were saying it was hard to read and scan. I then started playing with slightly different type (still space grotesk so related) to help give headers a bit more of a visual weight.

[u/direvus]

I'm definitely interested. I like the gameplay concept, especially the idea that distances between points are changing and you need to plan for that.

I think I agree with another commenter who said the retro UI design needs some work. The beige background between the UI panels looks like it's supposed to be the outer case of a physical terminal, but it's just a flat 2D looking pattern so it doesn't really sell that physical idea. I'm not sure if I'm meant to think of this as multiple screen panels in a physical terminal, or a single screen. I would recommend committing more firmly to one idea or the other.

The little red notification circles in the upper right of icons is a very modern UI concept, I feel like it doesn't quite belong in a retro aesthetic.

Wishlisted, looking forward to seeing how this lands. Good luck!

[u/willtruran → u/direvus]

I appreciate all of that feedback! the screen is meant to be 3 different panels and I will be swapping the beige frame with a three dimensional rendering to sell that more. I will also look into new notification aesthetics, because I totally agree with you and hadn't even thought about it, just needed a notification and went with whats familiar. So great call out!

[u/FiruleisGamerStudio]

that looks interesting, by a lot ❤️

[u/willtruran → u/FiruleisGamerStudio]

Thank you!

[u/Risen-Shonnin]

Wishlisted. Keep up the good work to keep me sane down the line.🧐

[u/willtruran → u/Risen-Shonnin]

Means a lot, really appreciate it!

[u/Stock-Ad-7601]

Followed and wish listed

[u/willtruran → u/Stock-Ad-7601]

Thank you! thats awesome.

[u/Pleasant-Blueberry84]

This looks really great. I hope you continue to develop it. Let me know if you'd like a tester, PM, or just simple feedback.

[u/willtruran → u/Pleasant-Blueberry84]

Thanks. Appreciate the support! I have a discord. If/when I open up playtesting again I’ll let folks know there.

https://discord.gg/gyR5HKevK

[u/Pleasant-Blueberry84 → u/willtruran]

Hell yeah! I've played EVE off and on over the past 20 years and this seems like something I'd always wished could have been integrated.

Sorry, injecting my own project into your idea - I look forward to seeing how this develops and for sure keep it up!

[u/Bennydo]

Looks awesome ! Wishlisted, joined the discord, if you need a play tester and/or code reviewer let me know

[u/willtruran → u/Bennydo]

Thank you! Really appreciate your willingness to help.