Hartforge Games

Skarnfall

Mine asteroids by hand, build a factory on the hull of a derelict ship, and fight your way home through a star system run by the cartel that left your station for dead.

  • Single-player
  • Open-world flight
  • Factory building
  • Ship-to-ship combat
  • Story campaign
  • Windows PC
Steam page coming soon See how it plays

The story

Lone Star is a mining station. It travels to asteroid fields far from home, mines them for years and brings the metal back. You're its flight engineer, the one who keeps its ships flying.

On the way home from a long job, the station's jump went wrong. It came out in the Shoals, a star system none of the crew had ever heard of, and a cartel called the Skarn was waiting. They wrecked the station, tore out the crystal that powers its jump drive and left.

Most of the crew didn't survive. The ones who did are sealed in shelters with the power out. The only ship still able to fly is the small mining ship you'd been rebuilding in a back bay, so that's where you start.

Gameplay

You'll mine, build, fly and fight, and all of it goes toward getting Lone Star home.

Fly anywhere

Take your mining ship out of the hangar and fly wherever you like: through the wreck field around the station, out to the asteroid belts, or toward whatever just showed up on your scanner.

Later you'll fit a jump drive to reach the other planets and build a fighter of your own. You can dock at stations, at wrecks and at your own factory ship.

Mine by hand

Mining is hands-on. Your ship's laser cuts wherever you aim it, and you carve asteroids apart piece by piece. For finer work, you can climb out in your suit and use a hand cutter.

Each planet's asteroid belts hold different ores, and some of the best finds are hidden.

Build around the hull

Your factory goes on the outside of Bellhaven, a derelict refinery ship with a round hull. As you walk around it, the ground curves with you. Place machines, choose what each one makes, and run conveyor belts around the hull to connect them.

Building on a curved surface changes how you lay out every production line.

You can craft everything by hand, but before long you'll want machines doing it for you.

Fight ship to ship

The Skarn send ships to find out whether anyone survived. You start with the lasers on your mining ship, then build a fighter with a wing of drones.

Further into the Shoals you'll take on turret rings, fortified stations and ships many times your size.

Bring the station back

Lone Star is badly damaged, and people are still living aboard. Every repair makes a visible difference: power brings the lights back, air lets people out of the shelters, and the station slowly starts working again. The crew notice what you fix.

The Shoals

Skarnfall takes place in the Shoals, a system of five planets, each with its own asteroid belts and resources.

The Shoals are the only known source of Kyanite, the crystal jump drives run on, and the Skarn have controlled it for fifty years. They keep a station at every planet, and the way home goes past all of them.

Tarn

Where Lone Star ended up

A dry, dead planet close to where the station came out of its jump. The wreck field and belts around it are where you learn to fly, mine and build, and the belts hide some good finds.

Ore
Iron, copper, carbon, quartz
Held by
Drask, a Skarn listening post
Also here
Lone Star and its wreck field
A Skarn warship

The Skarn

"Skarn vessel."

It's the only thing their ships ever say. The Skarn began fifty years ago as hired guards for a mining company in the Shoals. When the company went under, they kept its stations, its weapons and its crystal mines, and they've run the system ever since.

They don't mine or build anything themselves. Every settlement in the Shoals pays them a cut of what it makes in exchange for the crystal its jump drives need. Settlements that fall behind get a visit, and every station the Skarn have broken is a tally mark painted on one of their hulls.

The crew

A few of the survivors you'll get to know.

Crew manifestLone Star
Jonah HalloranyouSenior flight engineer

The station's flight engineer, and the only one who knew there was still a ship in the back bay.

Maren SolbergChief

Was running flight control when the attack hit, and ended up in charge of everyone who survived. Steady, dry, and quieter the more worried she gets.

Tobias FerreiraEngineer

Took you on as an apprentice and taught you most of what you know. His leg was crushed in the attack, so now he runs the fabricator and grumbles at you over the radio.

Dace AlbrechtQuartermaster

Keeps count of every plate, ingot and credit on the station, and knows what every trader in the Shoals will pay for them.

Dr. Yusra HaleMedic

Runs the infirmary and life support. Warm, stubborn, and not someone you talk over.

Trailer and screenshots

The trailer comes with the Steam page.

What's next

  1. In progress

    The campaign

    The full story is being built and playtested, from the first asteroid to the final battle.

  2. Next

    Steam page

    Wishlisting opens when the page goes live.

  3. Planned

    Playable demo

    A free demo covering the opening of the game.

  4. Planned

    Early Access

    The full campaign on Steam, with updates shaped by player feedback.

Follow development

Contact the developer

Questions, comments, concerns and ideas are all welcome.