Embark on an interstellar journey in Merc, a fresh addition to the beloved lineage of space trading and combat games like Escape Velocity and Endless Sky. Pilot your ship through a vast galaxy, forge a career as a trader or take on contracts as a skilled freelancer, and engage in thrilling space battles—all rendered in full 3D while maintaining the top-down gameplay of the games that inspired Merc.
- 2.5D gameplay: Experience the best of both worlds with top-down space exploration and combat, powered by a full 3D engine for enhanced visuals and effects.
- Immersive visuals: Enjoy detailed 3D models, particle effects, and scenic backgrounds that bring the space frontier to life.
- Deep economy: Navigate a complex economic system, including multiple currencies across the galaxy. Engage in commodity and currency trading to maximize your profits as you voyage between star systems.
- Diverse mission types: Take on a variety of missions, from simple cargo runs to challenging bounty hunts.
- Dynamic combat: Face off against pirates and other threats in fast-paced, skill-based space battles.
- (Coming soon) Ship customization: Upgrade and outfit your vessel with various weapons, shields, and other systems to suit your playstyle.
- (Coming soon) A more expansive galaxy: Explore a massive galaxy filled with unique star systems, each with its own characteristics, markets, and opportunities.
Whether you're a veteran space trader or new to the genre, Merc offers a fresh experience that combines nostalgic gameplay with modern graphics and innovative features.
Chart your own course through the stars—will you become a wealthy merchant, a fearsome pirate, or a celebrated hero? It's up to you!
Merc is built using the Godot game engine.
To view or develop the project:
- Download Godot. Match the version specified in the main build workflow for best results.
- Clone the repository to your machine.
- Open Godot, and import the repository folder.
Code for the game is written in GDScript, Godot's primary scripting language.
Commits or merges into the main branch will automatically build a new release for all supported platforms, and publish to itch.io. macOS builds on CI also include code signing and notarization.
Some of the code is authored with the help of Claude, which is pretty good at writing GDScript. Claude is also a great writing and content creation assistant! The included claude.py script can be used to automatically load the project into Claude to make changes.
Midjourney is used to generate some of the imagery for the game, particularly where there don't seem to be any comparably good assets available (for free or for a reasonable price) from other sources.