Hopewake

What it is

Wake the station, feed the factory

Far out in the dark, a derelict station drifts. It doesn't fly and it never will: it's home, and the place your factory grows. You are the AI aboard a small frigate with a hold and a battery. You fly it like a unit in a real-time strategy game: select it, right-click a rock, and it flies there, mines it, hauls the ore home and docks over the station's heart to unload and recharge.

At the station you build on a hex grid around the dock. Every module starts empty, and you give it a job for good: a burner for power, a smelter for iron or copper, a constructor for plates, wire or data cards. Drag a belt from one to the next and the factory runs while you're out. A sensor finds the copper far out; data centers read your data cards into research, and research is how the frigate gets bigger holds, longer reach and, in the end, a mind of its own for mining.

The look is geometric: thin outlines on black, with colour only for cargo, jobs and status. It began as the second version of Jumpgate and borrows its outline art and music.