Deep in cosmic voids, Void Fighters battle other intergalactic pilots in search of Dark Minerals, a rare and invaluable resource only capable of being forged by the forces of collapsing stars.
You are a Void Fighter, brave, solitary, and dedicated. As a Void Fighter, are you simply a Defense Contractor? Runner? Pirate? Supplier? Or Rogue? The answer to that question can at times blur, but in the end, only you know why you push and fight, searching the darkness.
Galvanize your resolve, prepare your ship, and brace for combat, the Void calls to you.
The Game
Dark Space: Void Fighters is a free, print & play, player vs player space combat game. Each match, players design and draw their own unique spacecrafts using ship components, represented by perscribed symbols and shapes, then battle one another in concealed combat. Players choose unique skills, ship abilties, and weapon combinations in an effort to gain an advantage over their opponent. Win a match of Dark Space by being the first pilot to destroy their opponent’s Engine Room. Because concealed combat is a key aspect of the game, Dark Space can be played againsnt oponents who are remote to you as well as in person.
what you need
QUICK START
Download and print the game files
Familiarize yourself with the game rules
Each player:
Needs a pencil and eraser (for oopsies)
Needs a Pilot sheet (from the game files)
Chooses a Skill in each Skill category (Technical, Pilot, and Structural)
Chooses their two perferred Heavy Weapons
Designs their Ship in the Shipyard (graph section on Pilot Sheet)
Scans the enemy Ship and notes the coordinates
Players are now ready for play
Players now take turns, each performing any actions available to them followed by a single attack
Win by destroying the enemy’s main Engine Room
For those interested, I was inspired to make Dark Space as a result of listening to Episode 299 of The Board Game Design Lab Podcast. I had been attempting to develop boardgames casually for a couple of years, with my only previous experience being that I am a fan of boardgames. I found myself planning and working on my dream game…s but never finalizing anything. Episode 299 highlights exactly the type of early game board “developer” I was starting to be: which is aiming too big, too many mechanics, and never getting anywhere as a result of starting too BIG. The suggestion on the podcast was that if you couldnt develop a fully fledged enjoyable game on a single peice of paper that you had no business trying to create something bigger (they said it a bit nicer than that). I took it as a challenge and while on a trip I purchased some graph paper and initially created the game in a day and play tested it that night with a family member.
wHATS NEXT FOR dARK sPACE?
Continued play testing, hopefully with your help! If you get a chance to try the game out, any and all feedback would be really appreciated. Reach out to me on Discord or Reddit, same username (exhaustx) on both.
Advance the game to version 1.0 and “finalize” the rulebook.
I have begun working on a campaign/legacy variation of Dark Space: Void Fighters. At the start of a campaign players choose a designated role, selecting between: Contractor, Pirate, Runner, Supplier, and Rogue. Each role has its own unique abilities that grow stronger as certain criteria is met. Also with each new campaign, players design their ship which will be their ship throughout the campaign. If a players ship is destroyed, their campaign run is complete. After each win, players earn Dark Minerals which they can spent on additional ship components, structure, upgrades, new abilities, or other benefits. At the start of a campaign, new ships will start slightly weaker than ships in standard Dark Space play, but will grow through wins to be much stronger than a standard ship can be. Ships gain generations and pilots gain Reputation in correlation with their ship generations. As ships level up and gain Generations, players would focus matches on pilots in their same Reputation level (could also be faciliated through a Discord server). As of right now there are plans for 12 Generations within 4 Reputation levels. Currently planned are: Void Scout (Gen 1-2), Void Explorer (Gen 3-6), Void Fighter (Gen 7-11), Void Lord (Gen 12).
Game Details
Designing your Ship
In Dark Space, its up to you to build your ship, the question is can you out-design your opponent? Your ship is constructed of three categories of Ship Parts: Rooms, which hold critical ship components that when destroyed will affect your ship negatively in different ways, Structure, which provides a ship its overall body shape and connects Rooms, and Weapons, which…well…deal damage. On your ship, all Ship Parts are represented with a unique symbol. When you begin a game of Dark Space each player takes a Pilot Sheet and gets between 10 -15 minutes to design their Ship by drawing Ship Parts in the graph section (Ship Yard). It is recommended to take a look at the Example Pilot Sheet included in the game files to gain a better idea as to how a finished Ship could look.
SHIP parts
AGILITY CONTROLS
The Agility Controls Room allows your ship to dodge a limited number of incoming attacks using a ship Boost.
STRUCTURE
Structure sections provide the primary mass of your ship and locations for you to build for your needed Rooms.
MAIN ENGINE
The Main Engine Room is the most critical Room on your ship and should be protected at all costs.
SHIELD GENERATOR
The Sheild Generator Room can project a barrier onto some sides of your ship in order to block incoming damage.
LIGHT WEAPON CONTROLS
Light Weapon Controls Rooms provide operations for your Light Weapon systems.
Weapons & Combat
Pros:
Armor piercing
Widest area damage of all heavy weapons
Cons:
Lacks armor piercing
Shallowest damage depth
gaUss cannon
Pros:
Largest area damage
Cons:
Lacks armor piercing
Medium depth
heavy weapon controls
Heavy Weapon Control Rooms provide operations for your Heavy Weapons systems and require special cabling.
Pros:
Armor piercing
Deepest damage of all heavy weapons
Cons:
Narrow damage
Can easily miss without targeting system
thrusters
Thrusters enable your ship to maneuver around your enemy’s ship in order to attack from different sides.
AUXILLARY ENGINE
(optional) Auxillary Engine Room provides a backup engine. Extends the life of your ship and by extension, the length of the game.
ARMOR
Armor can plate key areas on the exterior of your ship and prevents initial attack damage from entering the structure of your ship.
flak
Targeting System
The Targeting System Room enables a Pilot to focus areas on the enemy ship with precision.
Heavy Weapons
Heavy Weapons provide highly impactful damage but have limited ammo reserves. Heavy Weapons must be cabled to Heavy Weapon Control Rooms.
All ships come equipped with two Light Weapons (Plasma Cannon and Minigun) and the pilots choice of two Heavy Weapons. When a pilot issues an attack on their turn, they can select any of their available weapons to use on that turn. Light Weapons are less powerful but have unlimited ammo. Heavy Weapons provide much more attack power but have limit ammo reserves each game.
All weapons in Dark Space inflict a unique damage pattern and have their own pros and cons. Each damage pattern indicates its point of impact with a small circle. From the point of impact the damage pattern is then “laid out” across the impacted ship in the exact pattern shown, but keep in mind, armor and some skills can affect how damage is applied.
buster
Pros:
Deep area damage
Small explosive tip
Cons:
Lacks armor piercing
Narrow initial damage
Light Weapons
Provide consistent smaller damage to enemy ships but have unlimited ammo.
rail gun
SKILLS
Skills provide Players with special abilities for each match and are broken down into three categories, Pilot, Tech, and Ship Structure. Skills can alter basic functionality, boost certain abilities, or temper others. At the start of a match, players choose one skill from each category. Some skills can affect the construction of your ship.