Capstone Project - The Hyperionian Trail

In The Hyperionian Trail, the player is put in charge of planning and overseeing a five-man space flight to the Saturnian moon of Titan. The general gameplay is derived from the old Oregon Trail games, where the majority of the game is automated, with player interaction centered mostly on buying and managing resources and supplies. At the beginning, the player will get to name their ship, along with 5 crewmembers. They will also get to pick a main profession for themselves, which determines their starting inventory and money, along with a unique gameplay perk. (For example, choosing the Medic profession will make it less likely for crewmembers to become sick or injured.) They will also have to buy things like fuel, rations, and extra space suits, as well as things such as better ship engines, or defensive weaponry. Once the expedition has started, the player will be able to manage the ship’s speed (Going faster consumes more fuel, for example.) alongside managing rations and research projects. They will also be able to mine meteroites for materials by playing an asteroids-like minigame, similar to The Oregon Trail’s hunting scenes. Events and challenges will also come up semi-randomly over the course of the journey, such as meteoroid impacts damaging the ship, or hostile encounters with space raiders. There will be several stops at colonies on Mars, Ceres, and Europa along the way that provide trading, medial, and escort services along with NPC characters that give helpful advice. Once the player reaches Titan, they will have the option of playing a ship-landing minigame as a final challenge.