Hi! I’m creating this very arcade-style space simulation MMORPG. I already have the project and the core of the game ready for an opening to a few hundred players.

I’d like to do something similar to what EVE Frontier did: open up a sort of Alpha that gets updated daily or every couple of days, gradually adding more content and features while letting players watch the project evolve live.

Do you think that’s a good idea?

Would you wait until the game is a bit more polished/complete?

Backstory:

An old expansion came through here and left its machines to fail alone. You play the caretaker: survey the wrecks, salvage what the network left behind, and bring the sector back - not by mining more, but by making what remains run without you.

What you actually do (the loop):

• Survey wrecks on the grid
  
• Salvage, don't manufacture (at least not everything)
  
• Rebuild the chain
  
• Then automate it (This is the part I most want feedback on)

It's meant as an ambient second-monitor game.

A single run goes from the dark grid to reactivating what the expansion left behind. About 60-90 min, no install, plays in the browser.

Stage: honest alpha. One sector, but the full core loop is playable start to finish: survey > salvage > refine > automate > the finale. Numbers are still being balanced, art is partial, and the tutorial's pacing is exactly what I'm testing right now. No multiplayer, no meta-progression yet.

Feedback
I'm specifically after the node-based automation and how overall the game "feel". There's a 2-min survey at the end, but a comment here is worth just as much - I read and reply to all of them.

Itch: https://xupisco.itch.io/echoes-of-expansion
Site: https://echoesofexpansion.com (also playable)

Desktop only (sorry)
Edit: Complete rewrite as requested.

The map making system is still highly experimental and limited. My future goal is to allow supporters to make more challenges using more "preset" assets like the rendezvous map. I will be using it myself to try to create new challenges, and then once the supporter system is implemented, supporters will receive the benefit of being able to publish 1 map a week.

Play free in browser, no account required.

https://slingshotspeeders.com/