Spaceport Trading Company

I'm 11 or so hours in. It's EA. I really like the feel of the game. The graphics are perfect for the style. I have flown around the solar system and warped to another. I have traded, fulfilled missions, ran Out of Gas, jettisoned cargos, gave my money away to the tax man, upgraded and downgraded ships, added so much cargo space by pods on my ship that I cornered the market on almost every buy-able product, bought high and sold low... the breadth of the game is so promising. The developers fix things or add features pretty quickly. I report what I find, give suggestions, and read the forums. The devs are very interactive. I play a runthrough of the timed game about 1-2x a day just to see what's changed. For example, they fixed a minor nit I'd picked, and added a hangar option. I bought a second ship and drove that around for a while. Thanks for the game and I hope readers get a bunch from my review.

There is barely anything to this game yet. I didn't encountered any bugs, but there is 2h of gameplay at best. I think this game went in Early access... a little bit (a lot!) too early. Also don't be fooled like me thinking "Story Mode" is disabled in the demo but available in the full game. It isn't. Having features showing up in the UI when they have not been developed at all is rather misleading. Doesn't give a good impression of the development team. I've requested a refund for the game and I'm not sure I'll keep it on my wishlist.

[i]Author's note: Spaceport Trading Company is currently incomplete. The information provided in this review (along with the TL;DR score) is expected to change over time.[/i] [h1]TL;DR[/h1] 5/10: The [i]time trial[/i] mode of play adds purpose to playing, but the price tag is heavy for a casual indie game. (And an incomplete game at that.) [h1]Overview[/h1] Games featuring space travel are pretty cool, and [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] is only a slight exception. With the campaign currently a work of progress, the player can either just pointlessly fly around the universe (or just a single galaxy if they prefer) or take on a time trial in which the player has to make as much money in a one year period as possible. The time trial seems a bit pointless in the sense that there's no rewards for making a certain amount of money or earning achievements. While it may be overly pessimistic to describe anything as [i]pointless[/i], there is a fun factor (and potential for improvement) in [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i], and the chill experience is nice until the player gets burnt out. [h1]Graphics and Sound[/h1] The graphics are basic but do have a nice aesthetic to them. For the most part the player will be looking at three things: A top-down view of the map of the star system where the player is currently traveling through. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259196790 The next thing the player will be looking at quite a bit, are the jobs that the player can take for heads of whatever faction is most prominent on a planet. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259196816 And lets not forget about the planets themselves. Most planets have tangible graphics upon the player landing on them, while some places (most notably an asteroid belt called [i]Far Point[/i]) are just merely scenes of open space. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259196837 The sounds are all basic, and the electronic ambient music does sound nice while also being a perfect mood setter. [h1]Positives and Negatives[/h1] The player either gets casual strategy games, or they don't. While [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] isn't going to be kicking the player's butt like [i]FTL: Faster Than Light[/i], players may or may not enjoy [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] without [i]campaign mode[/i]. For ol' Il Pallino, there's enjoyment, but the burnout is inevitable. [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] has great ideas, and who knows how many more are bound to come! Ideas for things like [i]gadgets[/i] to add to one's spaceships made for an interesting experience, while the extra ships capable of intersystem travel adds an extra interesting element to the game. (Don't expect to raise enough credits in [i]time trial[/i] mode to afford such a ship, and especially when such ships are only available in [i]Far Point[/i].) The idea of adding jobs to survey planets in one of three ways is interesting, as is the idea of appeasing prominent people who will provide bonuses to the player as they progress through the game. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] Incomplete, but the developer has made a good faith effort to improve the game, and with excellent communication, this proves that [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] is not at all being abandoned. If the player likes the concept of the game and can wait for the best to be yet to come, the player is encouraged to buy [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] to help out the developers, and let them know that they have an audience. [h1]The honest word of Il Pallino... OR ELSE![/h1] [quote]Follow our curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7871885/]OCG-Curations[/url], if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/quote]

I'm more of a causal gamer and have overall enjoyed the game. The game has either missions or the market to play. I am currently focusing on playing the market. It took me a while to figure out the current star map. However, after I flew around a bit, you can begin to identify the planet types by their economies such as Karutan - Mi -> Mining Planet. I'm most excited to see the various items and see how the economy functions. Update: Finally got a chance to tryout the missions. Missions offer a great opportunity to explore the galaxy. While grabbing the missions, the descriptions were very insightful. Recommend transitioning between missions and the market, as the days seem to fly by. Another tip is to keep an eye on the date located on the top of the screen. Please keep up the good work.

The game is ok, don't mind my playtime, I left the game running while working and getting back at the game when I want to relax my mind from programming. Short gameplay at the moment but shows great potential. You can reach the most expensive ship in an hour of consistent trading and mission chaining.

As a beginner gamer I have to say that STC is the perfect game for me. I'm a slow learner, and STC gives me the ability to move along at my own pace without the fear of falling behind. Everything is simple and easy to follow, and there are endless things to explore. I'm so happy I got to start gaming with STC and would definitely recommend this to someone who wants to start gaming themselves. I can't wait to see how this game will grow and develop in the future!

Reminds me a little of that old game M.U.L.E. I have upgraded my ship and made it out to Far Point. The game has missions, but is also a little bit open world, so you can strategize what to do. I like it.

Great game, love the graphics and the trading aspect. There is a good post on the discussions with some greate suggestions such as seeing other traders/pirates etc.

In its current state (0.3.x ?): Relaxing, could easily "amass wealth" to buy the best of ships.