11 KiB
11 KiB
Game Design Document — Deadhead: Space Freight Tycoon
Title: Deadhead: Space Freight Tycoon ("deadhead" — trucker slang for running empty, a nod to the backhaul mechanic) Genre: Real-time logistics / management tycoon Platforms: Web and mobile (installable PWA, optionally wrapped with Capacitor for app stores) Tone: Soft sci-fi, utilitarian, "American/Euro Truck Simulator in space" — with the focus on management, not piloting
1. Concept
The player builds a space shipping company from nothing. They start by running jobs for private companies using company ships, save up to buy their first ship, rent a docking bay on Earth, hire pilots, and expand across the solar system — and eventually to nearby stars.
The game is about logistics decisions: which jobs to take, which ship and pilot to send, where to open bays, and how to grow. There is no manual flying or landing.
2. Design Pillars
- Management over simulation — every interaction is a decision, not a dexterity test.
- Put the phone down — real-time with offline progress; ships keep flying while the app is closed.
- Every load goes somewhere for a reason — contracts come from what each destination produces and needs.
- Earned expansion — new locations are discovered by delivering there, not bought from a menu.
- Soft sci-fi — real solar system locations and distances, but fun beats physics.
3. Setting
- Our own solar system, then nearby real stars (late game).
- Ships are classic sci-fi freighters: they take off from a pad, cruise, and land directly at the destination. Think utilitarian haulers with landing struts and big cargo doors, not sleek fighters.
- Distances are based on real planetary positions, so routes like Earth–Mars get shorter or longer over time.
4. Core Loop
- Browse the freight market (contract board) wherever an idle ship is. Every discovered location has one.
- Choose a ship and pilot, set the throttle, and dispatch.
- Ship travels in real time (continues while offline).
- Delivery completes: payout, pilot XP, possible new destination discovered. The ship takes a backhaul from where it landed, or deadheads (flies empty, fuel only) somewhere better.
- Reinvest: ships, bays, pilots, pilot skills.
5. Progression
Phase 1 — Contract Pilot (tutorial)
- The player is the pilot, flying company-owned ships on Earth ↔ Moon runs.
- Short and fast; the goal is to teach the loop and get the player to their first ship quickly.
Phase 2 — Owner-Operator
- Buy a first ship, rent a docking bay on Earth, hire a first pilot.
- The player moves into a management role.
Phase 3 — Fleet Company
- Multiple ships, pilots, and bays across the inner system, belt, and gas giants.
- Automation becomes important (see §12).
Phase 4 — Interstellar
- A late-game unlock (jump gates or an FTL technology) opens nearby real stars such as Alpha Centauri, Barnard's Star, and TRAPPIST-1.
- Treated as a new map region, similar to a new map expansion in ATS/ETS.
6. Time Model
- Real-time with offline progress. Closing the app does not pause the game.
- Compressed game clock: default 1 real minute = 1 game hour (configurable for balancing).
| Route (approx.) | Real-time duration at default scale |
|---|---|
| Earth → Moon | A few minutes |
| Earth → Mars | ~1–2 hours (varies with planet positions) |
| Earth → Jupiter | A few hours |
| Outer system | Overnight runs |
7. Travel
travel time = distance / cruise speed + takeoff/landing overhead
- Overhead is a fixed cost per trip. Small, nimble ships do best on short hops; big haulers do best on long routes where cruise speed dominates.
- Throttle setting per dispatch: Cruise (standard) vs. Push the engines (faster, more fuel, more wear).
- Fuel range limits distance per trip. Longer routes need multi-leg trips with refuel stops, making waypoint bays (e.g., Mars, Ceres) valuable.
- Launch cost scales with the departure world's gravity. Earth is the most expensive pad to launch from; the Moon is cheap, which makes a lunar bay a natural hub.
8. Ships
Multiple ships are available for purchase, each with different stats.
Ship Stats
| Stat | Effect |
|---|---|
| Cruise speed | Travel time |
| Cargo capacity | Mass and/or volume per trip |
| Fuel range | Max distance before refueling |
| Hull rating | Event survival, insurance cost, dangerous-cargo eligibility |
| Landing class | Which destinations the ship can land at |
| Upkeep | Maintenance, crew, and docking costs |
Landing Classes
| Class | Can land at |
|---|---|
| Vacuum | Airless bodies, belt stations |
| Atmospheric | Above + atmospheric worlds and cloud platforms |
| Hardened | Above + hostile worlds (Venus, Io) |
Example Archetypes
- Courier — fast, small hold, short range, low overhead, atmospheric-rated. Great for short or urgent jobs.
- Freighter — balanced all-rounder.
- Bulk hauler — slow, huge hold, high capacity. Great for long, heavy routes.
Ship tiers should feel like upgrading from a box truck to a top-end rig.
9. Destinations
| Type | Examples | Landing need | Main export | Main hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atmospheric world | Earth, Mars, Titan | Atmospheric | Manufactured goods, food | High launch cost |
| Airless body | Moon, Mercury, rocky moons | Any | Minerals, research | Low |
| Hostile world | Venus, Io | Hardened | Rare materials | Environmental damage |
| Cloud platform | Jupiter, Saturn (later Uranus, Neptune) | Atmospheric | Fuel, gases (H₂, He-3) | Storms |
| Belt station | Ceres, Vesta, mining outposts | Any | Ore, metals, ice | Debris fields |
Gas Giant Cloud Platforms
- Floating industrial platforms in the upper atmosphere.
- The system's fuel refineries: fuel is cheapest here and most expensive near Earth.
- Isolated company towns that import parts, food, and supplies (good backhaul opportunities).
- Storm events can delay departures or damage hulls; Jupiter is rougher than Saturn.
Asteroid Belt Stations
- Mining and ore-processing stations. Export heavy raw materials; import equipment, supplies, and people.
- Routes through the belt carry debris and collision risk; hull rating matters and hazard pay increases.
- Ceres acts as the major hub and refuel waypoint, the gateway to the outer system.
- Station variety: large established stations, rough mining outposts, and possibly a shady independent station offering high-risk contracts.
10. Docking Bays & Discovery
- Every discovered location has a contract board (its freight market), like the job markets in American/Euro Truck Simulator. Any idle ship can pick up work wherever it is, so backhauls are always possible and a ship is never stranded.
- Docking bays are HQs (like ATS garages), rented at a discovered location. A bay is where pilots are hired, where newly bought ships are delivered, and where pilots can be unassigned. A bay does not control where contracts are offered.
- A location must be discovered before it has a board, a bay can be rented there, or ships can deadhead there. Discovery happens only by completing a delivery to that location.
- Contracts to undiscovered destinations appear occasionally on discovered locations' boards as well-paying "first contact" or survey jobs, giving players a path to expand.
11. Pilots
Pilots are hired, assigned to ships, and gain XP from deliveries. XP is spent on skills that unlock better contracts and improve results.
Skills
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Long haul | Access to longer routes; better fuel efficiency on long trips |
| Heavy cargo | Access to heavy loads; reduces speed penalty from heavy cargo |
| Expensive cargo | Access to high-value cargo |
| Dangerous cargo | Access to hazardous cargo, tiered by hazard class |
| Fragile cargo | Access to medical, biological, and instrument cargo |
| Urgent delivery | Access to just-in-time contracts with time bonuses |
| Fuel efficiency | Reduced fuel use and wear |
Design rule: skills should change outcomes (speed, failure chance, fuel use), not just unlock job tiers, so every level-up changes the player's math.
Pilot Location
- A pilot is wherever their ship is. Pilots only travel by flying a ship.
- Pilots are hired at one of the player's bays and can only be unassigned at a bay, so they never get stranded.
Pilot Tension
- Salaries scale with level.
- High-level pilots may be poached by rivals.
12. Contracts & Economy
Contract Generation
- Every destination produces some goods and needs others. Contracts are generated from these flows.
- Backhaul matters: the best routes avoid flying home empty.
- Each discovered location has one contract board per player per refresh period. Contracts expire when the period ends.
- Payout is fixed when a contract is offered; travel time and fuel depend on the distance at departure.
Payout Factors
- Distance
- Cargo type (heavy, high-value, dangerous, fragile)
- Urgency and deadline
- Destination hazard
- Client reputation
Money Sinks
- Fuel (priced by location)
- Maintenance and wear
- Insurance (scales with cargo value and danger)
- Pilot salaries
- Docking bay rent
Reputation
- Standing with client companies is a second progression axis alongside money.
- Higher reputation unlocks better contracts; sometimes taking a lower-paying job is worth it for standing.
Automation (Mid/Late Game)
- Standing routes and auto-accept rules (for example, "take any heavy cargo job on Moon–Mars above X credits").
- Prevents micromanagement from becoming a chore at large fleet sizes.
13. Events & Risk
Events are rolled at dispatch time (see §14) and can include:
- Solar flares (delays)
- Gas giant storms (delays, hull damage)
- Belt debris (hull damage)
- Piracy (cargo loss, mitigated by hull rating and pilot skill)
- Customs holds (delays)
14. Technical Architecture
Offline Progress
- Every trip is deterministic from its dispatch record. Nothing simulates while the app is closed.
- The dispatch record stores: departure timestamp, origin, destination, ship, pilot, cargo, throttle setting, and RNG seed.
- Arrival time, current position, and events are all derived from that record.
- Events are pre-rolled at dispatch from the seed, so reopening the app can't reroll outcomes (prevents save-scumming).
- On load, the client gets the current time from the server, resolves completed dispatches (payouts, XP, pilots returning), and shows in-flight ships at their interpolated positions.
Backend
- Server-authoritative time, so changing the device clock has no effect.
- Cloud saves so web and mobile share one game state.
Notifications
- Web Push for arrivals and events (supported on installed PWAs, including iOS 16.4+).
- A Capacitor wrapper is an option for more reliable notifications and app-store distribution.
15. Open Questions
- Visual style
- Exact contract generation and payout formulas
- Ship roster: number of ships, prices, and stat values
- Interstellar unlock mechanic: jump gates vs. ship-based FTL
- Single-player only, or leaderboards and other social features?
- Monetization model, if any
- Tech stack: framework and rendering for the map and UI