We’re building Orbit2D — a 2D survival sandbox set on an alien world. You crash-land, survive, explore, and uncover the mysteries of a long-dead civilization. Here’s a look at the development journey so far.
PHASE 1 — THE FOUNDATION
Core engine, terrain, and basic mechanics
We started with Phaser 3 and TypeScript, built on Vite for fast iteration. The first milestone was getting a procedurally generated world running in the browser with real-time physics.
What shipped in Phase 1:
- Procedural terrain generation with multiple geological layers — surface, rock, metal ore, crystal, and deep stone
- Block-based mining and placement system with visual feedback and break effects
- Physics-based player movement with terrain collision
- Camera system following the player through the world
- Chunk-based world loading for performance
- WebGL rendering with optimised block textures
Early challenges included fixing ESM import paths for Phaser, resolving a WebGL crash caused by oversized RenderTextures, and getting terrain collision right so the player could walk on uneven ground without clipping through blocks.
PHASE 2 — SURVIVAL
Life support, crafting, shelter, and story hooks
Phase 2 turned the sandbox into a survival game. The player now arrives via a crash landing sequence — your ship breaks apart on entry, scattering debris across the landscape as you hit the ground.
What shipped in Phase 2:
- Survival HUD — Oxygen, water, and health bars rendered in real-time. O₂ depletes constantly; water drops over time; health drains when either runs out.
- Death & Respawn — Screen fades to red with “SIGNAL LOST” when you die. Respawn at your last shelter or crash site with partial resources.
- Crafting System — Recipe-based crafting using gathered materials. Craft tools, components, and survival equipment from your inventory.
- Power & Shelter — Build structures with solar panels for power and O₂ generators for breathable air. Shelters create safe zones where your vitals stabilise.
- Signal Progression — A story thread running through the survival loop. Build a signal booster, extend your range, pick up mysterious transmissions.
- Save/Load — Full game state serialisation. Your world, inventory, buildings, and progress persist between sessions.
Debugging highlights: terrain was initially too steep for the player to traverse (fixed with a height-clamping pass limiting steps to 1 block between columns and boosting jump velocity). Mining used the wrong pointer detection method. Break effects originally tried to use a particle texture that didn’t exist — switched to simple rectangle particles instead.
PHASE 3 — EXPLORATION & DISCOVERY
Biomes, lore, equipment, and the endgame
The biggest update yet. Phase 3 expanded the world from a single terrain type to six distinct biomes spanning 800×400 blocks, added deep progression systems, and introduced the core mystery driving the game forward.
What shipped in Phase 3:
- 6 Biomes — Grasslands, Desert, Swamp, Mountains, Ice Fields, and Volcanic zones. Each has unique block types, colour palettes, and generation rules.
- 15+ New Block Types — Sandstone, mud, ice, obsidian, alien metal, crystal formations, ancient alloy, and more. Each biome has exclusive resources.
- Lighting System — Underground areas get progressively darker. Dynamic light sources from torches, lanterns, and powered structures illuminate caves and shelters.
- Map & Fog of War — Full-screen map overlay (M key) showing explored terrain, biome boundaries, and discovered landmarks. Unexplored areas remain hidden.
- Equipment Upgrades — Five upgrade slots (helmet, suit, boots, gloves, pack) with multiple tiers. Find blueprints to unlock advanced gear that extends your range and capabilities.
- Scanner System — A radial pulse scan that detects nearby resources, structures, and collectible items through terrain.
- Story System — Eight data fragments scattered across the world tell the story of the vanished civilization. Find them all, locate the ancient facility, and activate the terminal to learn the truth.
- Ancient Facility — A massive procedurally generated structure hidden deep in the world. Contains the terminal, advanced technology, and the answer to what happened 1,842 years ago.
- Endgame Objective — After activating the terminal and learning the truth, the final goal emerges: REACH ORBIT.
CHARACTER ANIMATIONS
Procedural astronaut with six animation states
The player character is now a fully animated astronaut generated entirely through code — no sprite sheets, no external assets. Each animation frame is procedurally drawn at runtime using Phaser’s graphics API.
- Idle — 4 frames, subtle breathing animation
- Walk — 6 frames, full stride cycle with arm swing
- Jump — 2 frames, legs tucked, arms raised
- Fall — 2 frames, spread posture
- Land — 2 frames, impact crouch
- Mine — 3 frames, arm swing toward the target block
The astronaut features a blue helmet with a reflective visor, a suit with panel details, and directional facing — the character turns toward the mouse cursor when mining. Animation state transitions handle edge cases like landing detection and mid-air direction changes.
COMING SOON — PHASE 4: INTO ORBIT
This is the big one. This is where Orbit2D earns its name.
Up to now, the player has been trapped on one world. They’ve survived, built a base, explored the surface, and uncovered evidence of something much bigger. Now they get to leave the ground.
🚀 The Space Program
Players will build their own launch facility — launch platform, vehicle assembly, fuel storage, navigation, and comms. Then construct a single-person orbital craft piece by piece: hull, engine, fuel tank, life support, navigation, control module. You watch it go from parts to construction to a finished spacecraft. No “spacecraft unlocked” popup. You build this thing.
🔥 The First Launch
This should be one of the game’s biggest moments. The countdown begins. The engine starts. The screen shakes. The world moves below you. Then: ORBIT ACHIEVED. The camera changes and for the first time you see the whole world — your base, your shelters, your mining operations, your lights. Everything you built across hours of play, visible from space.
🛸 Orbital Gameplay
Orbit becomes a fully playable environment. Zero gravity. Different controls. Movement becomes more deliberate. The player docks with the mysterious orbital facility detected at the end of Phase 3 — and discovers it still has power. Something is still running. The central computer greets them: “WELCOME BACK.” But the player has never been there before.
🏗️ Build Your Own Station
Eventually players can establish their own orbital station — docking module, power, life support, storage, workshop, research lab. A home on the surface and a home in orbit. Resources flow between both: mining base → cargo spacecraft → orbital station → research facility. The beginning of a real civilisation.
📡 The Signal
While exploring orbit, the player detects something. Not from the station. Not from the planet. An abandoned spacecraft from outside the system, carrying a weak directional signal pointing somewhere beyond the current world. The people who built the station didn’t simply disappear — they left. The question becomes: where did they go?
The player goes from stranded survivor → planetary explorer → spacefaring civilisation.
And beyond Phase 4? The solar system. Multiple worlds. Moons, asteroids, and planets — each with different resources, environments, and mysteries.
Play the current build at orbit2d.co.
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