Hello, everyone! :)

I want to use this post as an introduction to newcomers and those who have never heard about Pax Astra!

You can also ask me any questions here and I will gladly answer them!

What is Pax Astra

Pax Astra is a political RPG with 4X sandbox elements.

You play as the first elected president of Altara. Once an expansive and aggressive empire, Altara went to war against almost the entire galaxy and lost, badly. Now they have been reduced to a small planet and forced into a democratic transition, and you must shape the nation to your ideals and direction, while dealing with a very unstable political scenario and the other factions and nations of the galaxy.

The main themes of Pax Astra are centered on a triple struggle between Fascism, Liberal Democracies and Socialism/Communism, the temptation of the "great men theory" and political paranoia/extremism.

In that sense, you shape your own leader the way you want! You can play as a social democrat, a populist fascist, a communist revolutionary, and more!

I want to build an expansive open experience. This game presents the player with a vast universe that feels alive, filled with game systems, secrets and even emergent narrative mechanics. Still, all that anchored into a personal experience with a strong narrative.

You can explore space, build factories, trade, create companies, manage individual heroes who lead expeditions into uncharted planets, and you can even establish a narco-economy or build weapons of mass destruction. All of these are tools and systems meant to encourage specialization, giving you multiple paths to shape Altara and the galaxy itself.

But my main focus here, above all, is to give the player FREEDOM, to allow you to make mistakes or do whatever you want. After all, I consider Pax Astra a political ROLEPLAYING game, so I really want to nail that aspect!

My idea with this game is to achieve a mix between a branching narrative (inspired by games like Suzerain and Sir Brante) and 4X strategy elements (inspired by Stellaris and Fading Suns).

Beyond politics, Pax Astra is a SPACE OPERA!

My vision for Pax Astra goes beyond politics! I took several inspirations to shape this universe into something weird and unique, some of them being: Star Wars (from Prequels to KOTOR 2 to the EU), Dune, LOGH and more!

The political foundation slowly opens up to reveal a more fantastical universe with deeper sci-fi themes.

You will deal with strange alien races, godmachines (if you wonder what a godmachine is in this universe, think of AM from I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream), hiveminds, strange religions, and a mysterious threat coming from outside the galaxy.

There are also spiritual themes going around occultism, gnosticism, and cosmic horror too!

I want to showcase this "space opera scale" through 4X mechanics, giving lots of tools for emergent gameplay and storytelling, like the expedition systems for colonies, space exploration or the coming war/proxy mechanics, that will allow the universe to be populated with heroes and villains that form organic narratives!

Common questions

Q: What is the release date for Pax Astra?

A: I initially planned for it to release by Q4 of 2026, but I see that was too optimistic... I am currently aiming for a January release date, but that can also change. I will have one month of vacation in September, and I plan to go absolutely beast mode on the game during that month, which will greatly help me reach that release date.

Q: How long will the game be?

Short answer: 20 hours! But I am more comfortable giving you a specific answer closer to the last quarter of development.

Long answer: It can vary a lot, since the game contains lots of 4X systems. I am very confident that the base game (main narrative + basic mechanics that the player will use) will make the game at least 20 hours long, but I want to have more data on current playthroughs to have a concrete answer.

Q: How much will the game cost?

A: 10$!

Q: Will it release on mobile?

A: Yes, but it's not a priority. I will only release a mobile version after finishing the Steam version!

Q: Will the game be playable on Steam Deck:

A: I really want to, but to be honest I do not have a Steam Deck, so I will depend on the feedback and communication with my playtesters!

Q: Isn't the game too ambitious? How are you planning to fullfill on all those ideas?

A: I have a lot of time to work on this project. Yes, I am aiming for a january release, but I have no issues with delaying it a bit. Pax Astra is not going to be a multi-year project, but my dayjob is flexible and I am confident on my schedule. In addition, transparency is a very important thing for me as a dev, that means I will have dozens of playtesters across the devcycle, not only to help me with feedback and bugfixes, but also to showcase to the community that my promises are real, and that the game has a large and achievable ambition.

If you have any other questions, please comment here! :)

Play the steam demo and wishlist the game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4535930/Pax_Astra/?beta=1

If you enjoy the game, please share it with your friends or on social media! As a solodev, it really helps me!

Hey, guys, I hope you are all doing well!

You guys know I am open to criticism and I also like to be transparent on every instance and possibility.

Please, read this post until the end, as I think this is a good opportunity to address some details of my creative process.

Now, I recently got a post here on Reddit from a person who is a fan of the game claiming that Pax Astra is really good, but the text, the writing, is made by AI. That person had good intentions, we talked, he was very nice and he chose to take down the post, even though it was not necessary to do so!

Again, I like to be open. This Reddit - just like my Discord - is an open space, democratic!

So I wanted to take this as an opportunity to talk very clearly that I do not use AI for my writing process.

Now, I am brazilian, as some of you might know. I speak, write and read english and I even give private classes back in my city. But, truth be told, my english is not perfect.

It can be limited when it comes to some aspects of my vocabulary or even the way I express descriptions, thoughts, or dialogue.

In this way, for Pax Astra, I always try to communicate my thoughts and ideas in a very clear way, very open and digestible. The game deals with complex politics and ideologies, so I always try to make sure the reader can absorb these elements of the game.

What you read when playing Pax Astra is a product of my effort. If you are at my DS server, you can see I often talk about my creative process and share some dificulties I can have while rewriting sections before a new update rolls out.

I think that, in the era of AI, it is fair to be suspicious, but I am just one guy doing this with lots of passion and trying my best.

Being honest, I am satisfied with the results so far, I am proud of my work. But that does not mean I can not get better! Perhaps my writing can be so "sanitized" in some areas that it comes across as artificial to some, and, if that's the case, I want to improve.

I understand that there are lots of areas where I can get better, and I want this game to not only be "good", but INCREDIBLE.

If you guys find a section of the text or dialogue, you look at it, and you think "this is BAD", that's ok! Just come to my Discord server, post it on the feedback and bug reports section and I will rewrite the text and learn something new that can help me.

Surely, I know it is my job to write the game, of course, but I am not perfect and I am not working on my mother language. I will make mistakes, this is certainly the biggest project I have ever wrote in english and I am trying my best.

You would actually be helping me A LOT, do not be afraid, I will take no offense if you just come to my server nicely and give me your feedback over at the feedback and bug reports section, truly.

I am always looking to improve my craft ❤️

Now, lastly, I would like to showcase some proof that what you read is handmade. It feels a little bit weird to do so, because nowadays what is really proof of writing? But I want to try and I want to be transparent.

So, first, I have some small showcases of the original text in portuguese.

Secondly, I have a collection of screenshots taken from my server, showcasing the many typos that were found by the community.

Of course, typos are not something to be proud of, but I would like to show them as proof that my work is organic, as I believe we all understand that a machine is not going to be making dozens of typos while writing.

Thank you for your attention, I will keep doing my best to deliver you a fantastic political space opera! :)

Working on the new systems for the Godmachine!

Will share more through this week! Again, this entire system is fully optional. Players do not need to build the Godmachine.

A opener to this set of ramblings comes from the richness in story telling of Pax Astra and how one can deliver different literary themes. Religion has yet again made a big splash. We have just officially met the Gnostic Church, one with it's own fascinating history that of course ties itself to us, Humanity, the Forerunner Race. However, as I said, I'd like to focus first on a literary tool being used.

Dichotomy

The purpose of Pax Astra's religions is slightly different then our own, as the pillar's of faith and spirituality hold temporality. Godmachines are real, one can peak beyond the vail, and of course it seems all the major religions are very much aware of truths the rest of the Galaxy very isn't capable of understanding at the moment. So unlike us, where Religions serve as a reason for what or why, Pax Astra's religions operate in the next step of that chain, how?

How should religion operate in the World? How do should religion best express the ideals of Faith?

This is where I believe Pax Astra has hit the ideal of story telling in being able to identify with the human touch, as expressed through the Dichotomy of the Archon, and Horacious.

Horacious is a man who has become disenchanted with faith. The Doctrine's answer to how the universe should work was shattered quite literally with the broken back of the Altaran Empire in the Forth Grand War. Horacious's answer to disenchantment was to look at the world, pilgrimage and travel, learning from the world which had in a very real way proved the answer of faith wrong. As he returns Horacious precents the idea of modernity, revitalize the faith by bringing the World to the Church.

Mirroring, the Archon faces the same dilemma of disenchantment, but in the world itself. The PACT is corrupt, (more on this later), people suffer in poverty, and there are real tangible existential threats to the galaxy. Thus this is where are Dichotomy truly blossoms, the Archon's answer to disenchantment with the world was to delve deeper into faith, to look past the vail and find understanding beyond the temporal. As he takes action the Archon precents the idea Reactionism, to revitalize the World by bring the Church back into it.

Religion is a very human thing, and thus it needs a human touch in seeing it. Precenting the ideas of Modernity and Reactionism though the actual current struggle of religious disenchantment as found in individuals, I think creates a far deeper and truthful story of faiths then can be seen in most fictional depictions.

Moving past our "little" opener, I'd look to reflect and theorize on my favour part of this update, the Odd Bed Fellows we may get to see in different storylines. Is it just me? But my godmachine, listening to the Archon talk about PACT trillionaire conspiracy, plots, and corruption just makes me want to see him in the same room as our femme fatale Altaran reporter.

There both on the same beat aren't they?

Straight buddy cop vibs honestly! "In this Weeks Episode our Heroine teams up with Father Frank to go undercover at Greed Corp to discover undisputable proof of the CEO's misdeeds! Will the Mayor listen to what they have to say?"

What I wouldn't give to see that back and forth!!!

I never thought I'd have this excitement over the detective plotline. (Because I'm not a real fan of them.) But man! I can not get the Buddy Cop angle out of my head.

Anyway, to close on this latest reflection on the Religions in Pax Astra I'd just express my joy in how well the "Fifth Element" style vibs I got from the Gnostic Church meeting translated.

First, I'll say, the Art was spot on! Both major set piece feeling like something straight out of the Fifth Element! Fantastic!

Pax Astra is not only a Political Narrative game, but a Space Opera, and in paying tribute to alot of great sci-fi fiction it's doing a fantastic job.

As mentioned, Religion has a Temporal aspect at this point in the future, and the Throne's not just a insane potentially lost sentient human super computer. They know what's out there, the Archon sees it, the Doctrine might have a idea, and one way or another we've seen it.

Makes me wonder what the Hivemind's thoughts on Religion are? Could it be converted? Because the Spiritual aspects of the faiths as far as we know, aren't precent to them. They seem to be as blind about what's going on outside the galaxy as the PACT or USS.

Religion was a big part in the Fifth Element in the preservation of old knowledge, obscure as it may be sometime. So, seeing something similar here makes me ask, how much of a inspiration was the Fifth Element to Pax Astra and in the religions' storyline?

And that's where I'll end it.

New trailer for Pax Astra!

Hello, everyone! I'm proud to tell you that the Pax Astra demo has officially been released on Steam!

This is a huge step for the game, and I'm really excited to share this new update with you. A lot has been added, including:

1. New story event where you meet the Gnostic Church
2. New events for the expedition mechanics in Terrea
3. Colonial Drugs Edict and Narco Economy systems
4. New artwork, reworking some of the earlier pieces to better match the current art style
5. Lots of bugfixes
6. Lots of typo fixes
7. A minor feature that lets you track your playtime
8. Reskinned UI for the terminal sections
9. Dossier mechanics, so you can keep track of some active situations
10. An overall higher level of polish
11. New dialogues for the Friends in High Place start

There's still a lot that needs improvement, and I want to be clear that this is an early version of the game. Some codex entries are still missing, a few systems need proper balancing, and of course there's the rest of the story and more features still to come.

I originally planned to release this demo alongside another story event, where you'd meet the Communist Party, but the artwork for it isn't ready yet.

Let me know what you think of the demo, and please share it with your friends if you enjoy it. Word of mouth genuinely helps me a lot at this stage!

Hope you enjoy it :)

Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4535930/Pax_Astra/

Hello, guys!

I wasn't very active on my Discord server today, I would like to apologize to you all. Today I had a busy day at work, but I still managed to get some work done on the game! :)

Here is some character art for the upcoming Holy Church of the Gnostic Truth event, coming with the next update. Tomorrow, I will also announce the official release date of the Steam Demo!

The game isn't fully polished yet, but there are no game breaking bugs and most typos have been fixed. I'm still working on some extra polish, plus adding a few new features and story events, but I believe the demo update is practically ready.

One of my Discord members is experiencing a story-event bug on the mobile version of the game, I'm also working on correcting that. Only one person has gone through this bug, and it seems to only be present in the mobiel version, but still I'm trying to see what's the cause of it so I can fix this mistake.

Here is a sneak peek at some work in progress art, certainly not finished yet, for the first encounter the player has with the Gnostic Church.

For this scene, the player was originally planned to visit the planet of Parousia. That changed. Instead, the encounter now takes place aboard a massive ship in a secluded part of the galaxy, deep inside the dead zone, close to a small black hole.

I wanted to use this post to share a bit more about how the art process for Pax Astra actually works. Designing an entire game with this much art is genuinely tricky, haha. I do have help from two people, but they are contributing purely out of their own goodwill, with no real obligations to the project.

So lot of the time I have to improvise!

For some images, I have been using screenshots from Space Engine 2, which I have confirmed is fully legal to use. I then edit those screenshots and layer in my own pixel art to make something unique.

It is not the most organized workflow, and the artistic process behind Pax Astra varies quite a bit depending on what is needed. But I wanted to use this as an opportunity to share how it actually comes together.

Sometimes you just have to get creativ!

.See the other slides for a 1:1 showcase of the process!

Here is a sneak peek at the Altaran Congress UI. Inside this menu, you can see the full seat distribution, party names, and the upcoming voting sessions on major legislation, such as: Public Security, Tax Reform, War Tribunals and more.

Each party's voting intention is visible ahead of time, which opens up room for negotiation and deal-making during story events.

The democratic path in Act 2 will introduce congressional elections, meaning the balance of power you see here is not permanent, with the composition of congress being able to shift depending on how things play out.

Starting this thought with a small personal comment about myself before looking at what I think is the true beauty that one can find in fiction for Green Politics.

I personally don't believe in "Green" Political Parties IRL.

Not for the reasons one may think though. I dislike them because it forces polarization over common sense topics, and reasonable consideration all political parties should work towards. It usually results in environmental policy being only ever cared by one side and a antithesis for the other.

All this being said, I absolutely enjoy the idea of Altara have a Green Party and was something I was not expecting the game to have. Truely though, as Lore has been established, I think a Altaran Green Party is actually a very Romantic thing, and would be a rather Romantic view on Altara.

Let's remember, Altara is very close to a hive world, and a planet ravaged by war. Food is imported and the land is beyond scared. The concepts of Nature, Lush Trees, Farmland, and hell the Beach! Either complete luxuries you can only dream of seeing off world, or in local media as ideas of fiction.

It leads the idea of green politics not being of preservation and stewardship as we seen in our time, but to a very different tone.

Reclamation, Rebuilding, and Healing.

Altara is scared from the war, we are rebuilding, and right in this moment of rebuilding only, Altaran's have the opportunity to grow something beautiful on the planet that isn't just more steel jungles.

On this, I believe also reveals more lovely depth for Vicario. As explored in the Coalition update, he is a man who has seen alot, and knows a great amount about Altara's history. Expressing himself, he shows us even a man of his stature, one of the most powerful men during the Empire, Nature on Altara was a novel romantic idea for even the nobility. Lushness of times gone by in his case. It leads one to wonder what his thoughts might be on rebuilding and the Altaran Green Party?

Perhaps Vicario is a sideline supporter of them, and will nug the President into working, or supporting there ideas?

If we break-up with Vicario, in a Democratic path, it would make alot of sense, if he is still interested in politics, to see Vicario in the Congress as a member of the Green Party.

Grand Opera holding struggles of manipulation and the unknown are great narratives, but it's the little things which create Romance. Vicario and the possibility of a Altaran Green Party trying to inject a little beauty into the ashes of a planet which may have never had any for a long time struck a cord with me, a little romance if you will.

The Expeditions Update is here! Pax Astra now has a working colonial expedition system for the planet of Terrea.

This update marks my first serious step into building emergent gameplay systems for Pax Astra, starting to fill the galaxy with myth, life and story.

What is in the update:

The main feature presented here is the Expeditions system for Terrea. There are three regions to explore right now, with the final total sitting somewhere between five and eight. Expeditions use a procedural leader system with permadeath, a level up mechanic, and a barebones nemesis system with distinct enemy types.

There are many artifacts to find, going from small itens with minor value to genuinely important items that can buff Altara or open up new narrative paths.

The design intention behind all of it was to capture two contrasting things at the same time, those are the dark realities of colonialism alongside the genuine sense of wanderlust, discovery and pulp adventure you get from something like Indiana Jones or Tintin.

A note on the native mechanics: I was not satisfied with how they were working, they just felt too shallow, so rather than ship something simple I pulled them back and am rebuilding them from scratch. I want to approach everything in Pax Astra with depth, the representation of the native tribes was too cartoonish and simple. They will be done properly when they are ready.

Combat events are not based on RNG, but exploration events do. This system leans into roleplay rather than strategy, and everything you encounter, however small, is part of a larger narrative about what Terrea actually is.

Some text is placeholder. Bugs may still exist since we are in active playtesting, but I believe the game breaking ones are fixed!

IN ADDITION, THIS UPDATE ADDS AN EXCLUSIVE SCENE FOR THE FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES PATH, ALTHOUGH THE PATH STILL LACKS PROPER POLISH WHEN IT COMES TO CHARACTERS REFERING YOUR PAST AS CLOSE FRIENDS OF THE MONARCHY!

What did not make it into this update:

Two things were planned and are not ready yet. The first is an intro scene where your cabinet reacts to the colonization of Terrea! s

Some dialogue exists, yes, but I am not satisfied with it, so I need to rewrite that section before it goes in. T

The second is, as told previously, organic character reactions for the Friends in High Places path, where characters acknowledge your prior relationship with the royal family. The exclusive event for that trait is in, but other smaller reactions still need to be coded properly.

PLAY PAX ASTRA HERE: https://ben-cardino.itch.io/paxastra

JOIN THE GAME'S DISCORD SERVER: https://discord.gg/G4E4H3Je8a

I have good news and bad news!

Let me start with the bad...

You certainly noticed that the demo did not release on the 23rd, even after I personally promised it would. To my shame, I had to change plans, for two main reasons.

1 - I completely forgot about the Summer Sale! I am planning to generate some organic movement around my demo, and releasing it during the sale would work against me by a big margin. Steam's algorithm right now is focused on the sale, so the demo would get buried beneath a lot of other games.

2 - Honestly, I screwed up my planning. I faced some bugs with the expedition system, had a lot of work at my day job and just dropped the ball. I apologize. I want the demo to be as polished as possible, and it is simply not there yet. I discovered some big game breaking bugs to fix in the new systems, and I am just now finishing to correct those.

I really apologize for how I handled things. I am trying to be as honest and transparent as I can, I genuinely thought I could push it out for the 23rd, but it just would not have worked.

Now, the good news: I am cooking up a big release of the expedition system even before the Steam demo. There are still some bugs to iron out, but I will be able to bring it to you all on itch before the weekend, that I am sure of. And honestly, I think it's a really cool mechanic, probably the biggest update to the game so far. I'm also adding some new story events!

One quick note on the expedition system: it introduces human artifacts that can be found out there. Some are silly things. Trivial objects, books, even movies preserved in vacuum chambers, while others are genuinely important finds.

Everything has value though: you can sell artifacts, use them, or leverage them for influence.

Thank you for your patience, and I'm sorry for messing up the demo release. It's still coming, right after the Summer Sale wraps up!

Quick look at the fully reworked colonial system!

Also, a brief look at the expeditions menu! :)

Hello, everyone! I hope you guys are having a nice day.

I just finished work on an EARLY version of the galaxy's map. Again, this is pretty basic and clunky, I did this map using https://tcpoole.com/galacticforge/ and then some extra-editing.

Now, this here just serves to give the player a basic idea of the state of the galaxy and some sense of localization.

Obviously, I am not trying to showcase every single system on this map, just the more important places :)

Orange - Throne of Zaalsta

Green - Uniplura

Red - USS

Blue - Interestellar Pact

White - Independent systems

Light Blue - Coalition of Mantara

Yellow - Altara

Why did it take me so much time to create an actual version of the map?

Well, turns out making a galaxy map is more complicated than I expected, hahaha. You gotta find a way to showcase multiple systems, and I also still don't have the funds to commission a map artist (although that will certainly happen!).

I found a nice site that gave me the tools to create a somewhat passable rough map draft.

Now, let us talk about the lore and about the specific details of the current conjucture of the galaxy!

Keep in mind that I will change the CODEX ENTRIES that speak of specific numbers of systems commanded by specific factions/groups, to avoid lore inconsistencies.

Interestellar Pact

The Interstellar Pact came out of the Fourth Grand War extremely strong, gaining a lot of territory previously held by Altara. You can see a large mass of conquered territory to the left of Altara Prime.

You can also spot some disconnected territories to the right of Altara Prime — these tie into the Altaran Diaspora storyline, as they're ex-Altaran colonies that joined the Pact.

It's important to note that a lot of this territory was devastated by the war. Plenty of systems are still rebuilding even 15 years later, and some of the deeper core worlds were affected too.

One of greatest gains from the Pact was securing almost full control when it comes to trade routes and transport logistics, this is especially good when you take a look at the private companies inside the Pact.

Truth is, the private companies also won from the great crisis resulted from the war, in many different ways.

The territorial victories came with new resources, a much bigger sphere of influence, and more logistical control of the galaxy, yes, but they came with real downsides too.

Throne of Zaalsta

It's actually pretty funny, I wasn't originally planning for the Throne of Zaalsta to be the biggest faction in terms of territory, but it made a lot of sense as I was writing and designing the map.

The Throne was fairly isolated in the north of the galaxy and stayed mostly out of the war. As the lore works, they hold a lot of territory, but that doesn't mean inhabited territory. Most of the systems under the Throne of Zaalsta are mining sectors or scorched planets that only exist to fuel Zaalsta, sparsely populated holy worlds filled with underground engine rigs, sacrificial farm worlds, with little consistency or political organization.

There are also a number of minor, previously independent worlds that were converted by the Throne during small holy wars waged while the Pact and Altara fought the Fourth Grand War.

Zaalsta itself lies isolated from Altara, past the central black hole of Ak'zatan.

United Sovereign Systems

The USS came out smaller on this map than in my initial brainstorming, but again, it just felt natural as things developed.

Thing is, the USS focused heavily on inner development: Industry, technology, stability.

They joined the war right at the end, and although they didn't come away with much new territory, they had a great triumph of their own: while the rest of the galaxy, even the Pact, came out of the war with heavy losses, the USS actually managed to improve their quality of living and infrastructure, achieving full stabilization amid a galaxy consumed by chaos.

Coalition of Mantara

As explained in the game, Novara was mostly ignored by Altara during the war. Montgomia itself was also part of the USS, being a single planet/system.

Their territory consists of the region of the Mantara System, plus a few extra systems. But let us make something clear: It is basically meaningless territory. There is nothing relevant there, no logistical points, no great infrastructure. That is part of the reason why Altara is so relevant to their plans, if they can get Altara to be part of the Coalition they can become a more revelant point for trading, since they will effectively form a block between the new Pact territories, the USS, Uniplura and separate free systems.

Uniplura

Now, on the right side of the galaxy, you can see Uniplura. Their systems and planets are organized in a simple numerical way, with no proper identity. You can see they hold a large mass of territory at the extreme edge, right on the outskirts of the galaxy, leaning to the right.

A lot of systems, especially near the region of Uniplura XII, were severely affected by the war, mostly through shortage crises, and also during the USS invasion in the last months of the conflict. That includes some stray independent systems that got desperate and gave up, accepting assimilation into the Uniplura hivemind, but also some former Altaran territories. The Uniplura Altaran ambassador, for example, comes from what is now Uniplura XII.

Now, while the western front of Altara was "absorbed" by the USS, the eastern territories were left practically abandoned. The USS never annexed them.

The western territories were mostly farm colonies and slave colonies, all freed by the Pact and brought under its wing. As mentioned, these territories are still pretty poor and devastated, but at least they had some basic help from the Pact — capital invested, emergency aid.

The eastern territories? Nothing. People there were absolutely desperate, which is why even ex-Altaran worlds gave themselves up to the Uniplura hivemind.

Midas

Midas is certainly not a nation, yet they hold some small territories.

You know of Babel already, the massive station. Through the dialogue in Babel, Carthage also says that Midas legally owns the system where the humans came from (which right now is just void, an absolute void), now, Midas also has possession of the Az'Zatan system... Right at the center of the galaxy, the climax of the Second Grand War!

Now, naturally, you can make some theories out of this information...

Independent Systems and empty spots!

Honestly? I am not ready to fully speak on the independent systems! What you need to know is that there are many small states across the galaxy.

You gotta think in an angle where the galaxy is HUGE, and although everything inside the galaxy is mapped, there are some nations that are simply irrelevant to the main scenario of the game, or at least fairly discreet/invisible to the eyes of the big players.

That brings some narrative potential for small factions, and also some openings for me as a writer to organically include new concepts without disrupting the current lore.

Also, the Fourth Grand War had an insane scale of destruction, some systems were outright fully destroyed/erased, like Altheis for example!

It is the scale of scifi-fantasy, high scifi-fantasy to be more accurate.

Altara and the FTL Gate's Role

One topic being foreshadow is the importance of the Altara FTL gate. Well, a major factor of the world is FTL travel.

For example, after the 2nd Grand War, the entire galaxy lost its capability to use FTL travel, which was, of course, a huge issue.

Now, FTL travel is not really an issue nowadays... Except the Fourth Grand War not only changed the geopolitical map of the galaxy, but it also destroyed some gate routes.

Now, if you look at the map, you see that Altara Prime is located between the Mantara System, Independent territories to the North AAAAND, most important, the Interestellar Pact and its new territories, separated to the East.

Altara is not exactly in the BEST commercial position of the galaxy, but, is still a very good position for trading routes.

And for the Interestellar Pact, time, money and logistics of transportation are extremely vital. Even without the altaran ftl gate, they could still go north, but it would take longer and also be more expensive.

Now, the FTL gate is not under Altara's control, not properly.

But that might change...

Players who nationalize the gate, or at least improve altaran control over it, can have serious gains...

In the latest update we got a load of good stuff! More of the fan favorite Coalition, a extensive internal politics scene in District 6, the beginning of the Altaran Diaspora story threads, and of course more glimpse at religion.

First, as we are the Forerunners in our great Galaxy, the word Gnostic was of course a big flair to see as it is so intertwined in the early age of Christianity. I would absolutely make sense that, a religion, of some vague connection to humanity would form.

This however led me to a thought! What about the Throne and there own God Machine? So that's my little fan theory until it's confirmed or denied. A ancient machine which formed it's own religion around it? So old no one knows where it came from? I HAVE A POSSIBLE ANSWER!

It's one of our old super computers from before humanities disappearance from the galaxy. After so many years it's gained sentence of some kind at least! Would also make alot of sense why the Throne always seems to warn about things in the outer rim and beyond! A ancient human super computer which has obtained godhood probably has a good idea what's out there....

That leds to my second thought, and all the possible ways religion can be played into a New Altara. Of the 4 teased paths, Democracy, Socialist, Fascism, and Theocracy.

Excluding Theocracy, because how like come on? Theocracy and Religion? I don't know how those two would mix.

A major event coming up is whether Altara will declare a State Religion or not.

Taking from human experience for different examples, I could see religion being able to be adapted in all paths.

Democracy = Christian Democracy or Islamic Republicanism

Socialism = Liberation Theory

Fascism = Catholic Corporatism or NatSo Occultism

Then there is of course the idea of State Atheism, and the War on Religion.

Though, I suppose with building one's own literal God Machine. Religion has a far more temporal feeling Pax Astra.

Great story telling, and I enjoy the embodiment of a people being forced to rediscover themselves after there civilizational self-identity was shattered. It feels like a scramble, to grab whatever they can, and figure out what is left. As it should!

Finally, the new update is live!

This is the last update before the Steam demo, releasing on the 23rd :)

There's a small catch though... If you've been on my Discord, you might have already played some of these new events, since this update is mostly a proper polish pass on content I've been releasing there.

What do I mean? Let's get into the new content and you can see for yourself!

(ALSO, IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO DISCORD MEMBERS: I haven't been online there for the past two days! Sorry about that, personal life got in the way, sadly. But as you can see, work on the game hasn't stopped. I'll be online later today to catch up on all messages!)

4 new story events!

- A new event for the Dark Influence path, where you meet a strange prophet

- See the consequences of your decision regarding the rescue mission and the mysterious signal...

- Attend a conference of the Mantara Coalition, meet new leaders and make a choice wether to join the Coalition or not!

- Visit District 6, interact with the altaran nationalist groups, hear the proposal Sisifo and the PFA have for public security.

Small fix for phone users

Right now, I am not putting too much focus on the phone interface, I have been open about that. That said, this update includes a small fix that should help phone users quite a bit... The keyboard no longer hides essential gameplay UI when you need to input a name. It's a
minor fix, and the UI can still be clunky on mobile, but it's a step in the right direction.

Small bug fixes

I corrected two small bugs, one related to a mistake in variables naming that caused the game to crash during the Coalition event, another related to the Lucero portrait not showing during the same event!

Hope you enjoy the new update :)

Play it right here, on my itch page: https://ben-cardino.itch.io/paxastra

(Image showcases a WIP rework of Lucien's portrait!)

Hey everyone!

I've been a bit quieter online these past three days, but work on Pax Astra has been going strong :)

The Steam demo drops June 23rd, right after Next Fest wraps up!

Again, the demo releases on June 23rd, but why after Next Fest? Since the full release is planned for January, I decided to skip the June fest and save the Next Fest debut for October instead.

Here is the current the plan: Two demo releases on Steam. One in June, one in October with more even more content and polish.

So what's actually new in the June 23rd build compared to what's out now? Whole new systems, new story events, and some serious polishing! Fixing typos, fleshing out dialogue, and cleaning up the art.

On that last point: I'm genuinely proud of where the art is standing right now, but since I've been working with two other people on it, we never sat down early on and nailed a consistent style. The result is that some of the earlier portraits ended up too detailed or exaggerated while others leaned more minimal. I'm trying to go back through those old portraits and bring them in line with each other.

There are also a bunch of bugs getting squashed, and the big the Expedition system is finally coming with the Steam demo.

The scope of all this is honestly pretty large. I really appreciate your patience your support, there's a lot more coming and I can't wait to share it with you guys :)

Thanks for being here!

Hello, everyone!

Today I am sharing a little bit more regarding some inspirations I have for the lore, as well as the general tone behind some plot decisions. This is not a post about the politics of the game, but rather the more mystical/weirder side of the setting!

Two important points before I begin:

1 - The purpose of this post is to share a little more regarding the creative tone of the universe. The universe does not spin around mysticism, as you probably have noticed. However, as a space opera, I also plan on going deeper into weirder paths for the narrative.

2 - I also want to showcase the inspirations clearly, as I want to prepare expectations. For example, although I like cosmic horror, I am not trying to draw inspiration on HP Lovecraft. I like him as a writer, but you won't be meeting Chtulhu or anything similar to that. I would say the religious side of Pax Astra is much weirder and diverse.

So let us move to some inspirations :

Star Wars Inspirations (the Outer Rims, what lies beyond the galaxy, etc)

Pax Astra is set in a single galaxy, and that galaxy is a small dot. The universe itself is vast, other galaxies exist, sure, but what fills them is anyone's guess. That mystery is part of the setting.

Star Wars influenced this, specifically the Outer Rim concept. I do enjoy the movies, but the real deal for me is the expanded universe (like KOTOR 2 for example).

And you will meet some characters who act like wanderers, trying to travel between galaxies...

What always grabbed me about the Outer Rim (in Star Wars) was that idea of a known universe with a hard edge, and past that edge you have danger, mystery and things that do not follow the same rules you are used to. Actually, you might now, but they literally have insane entities and hive minds outside of the main galaxy of Star Wars!

So I wanted to pick this idea and make it a core concept of Pax Astra, make it this setting where you have a space opera that looks inward at its politics and wars, but keeps gesturing at the fact that there is a lot more beyond the known limits.

The Yuuzhan Vong, also from Star Wars, are worth mentioning here! They are this outside force that invades the galaxy. I am not planning a literal invasion storyline, and an invading race is not something I am currently building toward. I already added this in the setting with the Fist Grand War, and I tried making the Uruq a far more alien threat, almost mystical.

But the player will encounter threats from outside the galaxy throughout the narrative, that is absolutely a part of the main storyline.

Spirituality, Lore and Entities - Dark Tower, Abrahamic Religions, AM and Schizo Conspiracy Theories

Ok, so this is an aspect that might be harder to explain.

I have a clear vision for the cosmology/spiritual side of Pax Astra. I love this idea, in real life, that we have this massive universe that is absolutely unknown.

I don't know about you guys, but when I hear folk tales about supernatural events, alien abductions, secret cults or insane conspiracy theories I just get WIRED. Time for a confession: I LOVE conspiracy theories. Not "9/11 was an inside job", now, that is WEAK stuff, give me the REAL deal!

Give me a crazy dude talking about how "the elites worship Saturn" or how DMT connects you to entities from outside our dimension! I love this level of insanity! Do I believe them? NO (maybe just a little)!

But they evoke this sense of the unknown. That there is something WEIRD going on out there, that religion might be a little stranger than we've come to expect from the Abrahamic base of the major religions, and I wanted to capture that.

I think the shorter explanation here is that I want to mix "standard/core" religions with occultism and mystery. How do you replicate the fear and awe of being a kid going on the Internet for the first time and hearing about the Illuminati, ancient aliens or weird cults? That is my intention here!

So, let us start with the DARK TOWER! It is a famous, and far from perfect, book series. But what I love about it is how grandiose and crazy the lore is, with all these weird entities orbiting the central concept of the Crimson King.

One specific character in the game is also directly inspired by Randall Flagg/The Man in Black.

I've heard some players disappointed at the current state of religions in the lore, but I can assure you I have a lot more coming when it comes to this aspect of the universe :)

You will visit the Throne of Zaalsta, you will learn more of the Doctrine, and you will meet my favorite religion in the game, which I am keeping secret for now, but it is basically the institutional hierarchy of the Catholic Church mixed with Gnostic beliefs and occultism.

Zaalsta works as a mix of the Aztecs, the Abrahamic religions of the Old Testament and AM (from I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream).

The Doctrine works as a hyper-individualistic religion that served the interests of the Altaran Empire, but now, with the Empire gone, is trying to modernize itself with a dangerous new approach.

And there are still secret cults, worshipping unknown beings. The current Dark Influence storyline drops some hints on that...

THE GRAND WARS - Doctor Who, Star Wars and Evangelion (?)

I love the concept of the Grand Wars. I wanted every Grand War to feel different, although I will admit that perhaps the Third Grand War is the least interesting — it is an expansionist war where the Altaran Empire officialized its position as a superpower.

Now, I got some of the concepts for the First Grand War and the Fourth Grand War from Doctor Who! I LOVE Doctor Who, although there are many parts of it I hate. Two concepts in particular I love: the Time War and the War in Heaven!

There is NO time travel in Pax Astra, but I love the idea of the Time War in the show as this insane conflict with a scale we cannot even comprehend.

In a similar way, there is another non-canon arc involving a crazy concept of a war between different timelines and an Entity. Peak weird sci-fi! Again, there is no time travel in Pax Astra, but I tried to borrow the scale of these concepts for the Grand Wars!

I also imagined the Uruq kind of like the Angels from Evangelion - except they only have one shape (the monolith), but in vibe I wanted to capture this alien, almost angelic being.

I could also go back to the Uruq and tie them to the concept of the Vong in Star Wars. Although I am not doing the whole idea of an invading race in the current game, I did borrow that idea for the Uruq, just making it more mystical :)

The Dark Influence storyline continues with a new story event...

Some people asked me about the current situation of the Altaran diaspora! What about all the other altarans that were part of the empire?

Well... You will get some answers to that on the next update, especially with Sardukaria and Lucero Dialtas!

Sardukaria is a small desert world, harsh and fairly isolated from the rest of the galaxy.

Its people are divided into warring tribes, its culture shaped by centuries of conflict and scarcity.

Sitting at the galaxy's outermost fringes, Sardukaria only made first contact with the wider galactic community two centuries ago, and at that point its most advanced regions had barely reached the early industrial age, with technology varying wildly from region to region.

From the moment of first contact, Sardukaria was placed in a deeply precarious position. It had no strategic value, no advanced resources, nothing the galaxy's powers truly needed.

What it did have was gold and diamonds, commodities that still held their value among the galactic elite, especially when they could be extracted at almost no cost.

And then there were the wars... The constant, brutal intertribal conflicts turned Sardukaria into a paradise for shady arms dealers across the galaxy. Even a low quality laser rifle was a marvel to a Sardukarian warrior, and a decommissioned, barely flight-worthy ship could be sold for an outrageous price to the right local warlord.

Decades before the start of the 4th Grand War, a disgraced Altaran baron arrived on Sardukaria, exiled from the Empire, stripped of his standing and convicted of corruption. He quickly monopolized the gold and diamond trade, built himself a comfortable kingdom far from the civilization that had cast him out, and died having achieved exactly nothing of consequence. Rich, comfortable but entirely forgotten.

His son, Lucero, is a different kind of man entirely. Born on Sardukaria and never having set foot on Altara, he wants to build a legacy for himself.

He is unifying the tribes by persuasion when possible and by force when necessary, envisioning a new Altaran state rising from the desert. He sees himself not as a colonizer but as a civilizer, bringing order, "progress", and his own particular idea of what civilization means.

Lucero does not present himself as a conqueror or warrior, no. He portrays his own image with "elegance", putting himself as the savior of the Sardukarian people, a man who - on his own words - is making the life of every sardukarian better, marching the planet into the future...

You will see more of Sardukaria and Lucero on the next update!

Hello, everyone! Just sharing here the new official capsule art for Pax Astra over at Steam!

I was really proud of the first capsule art, but it was basically a mashup collage of different assets with some editing.

Now, I got an artist and friend of mine to create a proper nice capsule art, and here it is!

Credits to the amazing artist leozito.desenhito

You can find him here on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leozito.desenhito/

Hello! Today I want to introduce another new character :)

This one is Marshal Brozovas, leader of the Social Federal Republic of Montgomia and one of the core members of the Coalition of Mantara.

Montgomia is a small, mostly oceanic planet, with a sparse population spread across small islands and also underwater. Its people are largely amphibious, not unlike the population of Vilgaxa, the main planet of the USS. For centuries Montgomia was part of the USS, until Brozovas himself pulled the plug right before the end of the Fourth Grand War.

His reasons were both personal and ideological. Brozovas always saw Saarxa as a control freak, a man more interested in maintaining his own grip on power than in actually moving toward the withering of the state. That view was shaped in part by something very personal. His grandfather, a general of the USS, was executed by Saarxa during the grand purge on suspicion of conspiracy. Brozovas never forgot that, and, when the opportunity to leave came, he took it without hesitation.

Brozovas is heavily inspired by Josip Tito, with some differences of course.

He is more flexible and pragmatic than Saarxa, but still loyal to socialist theory.

Under Montgomia, production is organized through local labor collectives with minimal state oversight. The political system, partly due to the planet's small size, is considerably less authoritarian than Vilgaxa. Political prisoners are rare. Cultural exchange with the rest of the galaxy is encouraged, and Brozovas has even pursued limited trade agreements with the Interstellar Pact.

He is president for life, yes, but his long term goal is to build a genuinely decentralized political structure, dividing Montgomia into local divisions managed by workers both economically and politically, sustained by a common army capable of defending the planet against external threats.

That plan is now under serious pressure due to the threat of a Fifth Grand War!

Brozovas joined the Coalition of Mantara after an invitation from Prime Minister Zatlar (which I will speak more on coming posts!).

The two men are very different, and the Coalition as a whole is an ideologically diverse alliance that causes constant friction against Brozovas' values. He is not comfortable there, but he believes it is currently the best way to protect Montgomian sovereignty, and his biggest fear — a direct retaliation from Saarxa — makes staying in the Coalition a strategic necessity.

Saarxa has already tried to have him killed more than once using assassins, 15 years ago when the war ended. Their relationship is stable on paper right now, but Brozovas does not trust Saarxa or the USS.

In the game, players who do not follow the socialist path and still choose to join the Coalition will find Brozovas a suspicious and uncomfortable presence. And, if you try to join the Coalition while going toward a fascist path, you will see the Coalition fracturing in some interesting ways!

He is honestly one of my favorite parts ot the Coalition of Mantara. It is a very disjointed alliance, but at the same time so curious.

The Coalition is not built on shared values, but shared interests, and those are not the same thing.

Yet, does it truly offer the best path for characters who want to not be under neither the Pact or the USS? I think that is a very interesting question that players will discover as they play Pax Astra :)

As always, I invite you to join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/CQtFhFh5f4

Today I want to share a new system I just finished coding for my game, inspired by the squad and permadeath mechanics of games like XCOM or Darkest Dungeon.

One thing that always bothered me about strategy games is how they handle colonization and exploration. There's not enough charm or mystique to it. In Europa Universalis, colonizing feels like a chore, mostly administrative busywork, with no real intention to explore the complexity of what colonization actually means. Not from a critical angle on imperialist institutions, and not from the "romantic" perspective of adventurers pushing into unknown territory either. It's just... Paperwork.

With this new mechanic, I wanted to dig into that depth and add some emergent gameplay on top of it.

Here's how it works: once you colonize a planet, you can send expedition leaders out to explore its regions. Every single leader is procedurally generated, meaning no two are alike. They each have their own positive traits, negative traits, and personality traits for flavour, with unique stats to match.

You pick one of these leaders, send them out with troops, and they start encountering random events — and here's where the magic happens. Each leader interacts with those events in their own way.

A cowardly leader might freeze up during a fight, or let innocent expedition members die to save their own skin. A courageous one will throw themselves into battle without hesitation. A xenophobic leader will cause incidents with native populations, and depending on the event, things can escalate to atrocities.

And yes, these characters grow over time, develop their own arcs, and can face permadeath.

My goal with all of this is to make Pax Astra feel like a true space opera. For that, I need to populate this world with myth and organic life, not just systems and numbers. And the beautiful thing is that this mechanic has a ton of applications beyond expeditions. Fleet commanders with rivalries and personal relationships. Generals in ground battles. The possibilities are genuinely exciting to think about.

On the expedition side specifically, you also have choices when you encounter native tribes: you can work to understand their culture and assimilate them peacefully, or... you can go the genocide route. The game doesn't stop you.

I am actually reworking on most of the colonial mechanics and UI, I want to bring a more organic experience with more options and complexity, without feeling bloated or overcomplicated.

When I say complexity here, is again, to this idea of wanting a liveable world, a galaxy that feels complex in a sense that it is alive :)

You can see more of these mechanics at my youtube devlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd5FmGl8HDg

Join our discord server: https://discord.gg/CQtFhFh5f4

Hellooooo, everyone!

This reddit page got a little bit quiet, my fault, I am sorry for the lack of updates. I actually want to share something big today!

I am working on a system that uses procedural generation to create emergent storytelling! I talk more about that in the video, but this adds a layer of simulation to the world, making the galaxy not only more realistic but also more interesting and alive!

I tried my hand at making an youtube video devlog, hope you guys like it!

Excuse me for my english hahahaha, this was my first actual devlog video, so it is far from perfect :)

I will be sharing more of these systems here tomorrow!

Join our discord server: https://discord.gg/CQtFhFh5f4

Hello, is there a Discord? The link on the website says it's invalid.