Starscape

Starscape is a video game for PC developed by Moonpod and distributed by the developers and on Steam. The game involves multi-directional shooting action on a 2D playing field, and also researching and building technologies to make customized spacecraft.

The plot involves the crew of a spaceship that has ventured into deep space, only to be attacked by aliens and left to rescue crew and rebuild supplies. You play a crew member armed with a craft that can blast things (asteroids that contain mineable minerals for building things as well as enemy ships), and you can research technologies and build yourself better ships as the game progresses.

The developer's website for the game is here.


 * Animesque: The game uses this art style, although the developers are all westerners.
 * Applied Phlebotinum: The Dimension Drive.
 * Forced Tutorial: You can't even save the game until you go through all of it. Mercifully, it also seems that you can't die during it. However, if you encounter a bug that crashes the game during the tutorial, you'll have to start all over.
 * Space Is an Ocean: The gameplay uses a top-down 2D approach to nagivating and shooting things in fields of space. And yes, there's friction. That said, the way this game works is more like Space Is A Set Of Lakes Connected By Warping.