Helixteus 3 is a 2D space exploration game with incremental mechanics. You start on a planet on which you can construct buildings to produce resources. Eventually you will acquire the means necessary to explore other procedurally generated planets, systems, galaxies, and even entire universes. They are not undefended however: primitive alien lifeforms exist in every corner of the universe and will not appreciate you expanding into their land.
All active discussion is happening on our Discord server. Come and say hi!
- Clone this Git repository.
- Download the Godot game engine.
- Open Godot, select
Importfrom the projects list. - Navigate to the location that you cloned the project, and import the
project.godotfile.
Having problems with importing Helixteus 3 into Godot? Feel free to ask for help in an issue, or the #development channel of our Discord server.
This project is community-driven, which means that anyone is able to help with the development of it. Here are some ways that you can contribute:
- Localization
- Concept art
- Music and sound effects
- Code
- Bug reports
Want to add your language to the game, or improve existing translations? Localization is managed through this spreadsheet, so feel free to edit it if you have any changes that you want to make.
The game's graphical assets are found in /Graphics. An artist paid out of pocket draws most of them, however if you have a better idea of how something should look like, or have an idea for a new building, item etc., feel free to draw concept art and share it in the Discord server.
Are you a music producer, or sound designer? All of the game's music is stored in /Audio, while the sound effects are in /Audio/SFX.
Note: Music should be in .ogg format, and SFX should be in .wav format.
Helixteus 3 is built using the Godot game engine. The biggest benefit of this is that it allows for the game to be easily cross-platform and portable. Refer to the Quick start for contributors section above for information on how to import the game into the game engine to test your code.
Code
All of the game logic is written in GDScript, which is very easy to learn (inspired by Python). You will find all of this code in /Scripts.
Refactoring the code and fixing bugs is a great way to start with contributing code. If you are familiar with GDScript, bigger changes like improving algorithms and new features are welcome, however discussing such changes on GitHub or Discord is advised before working on them.
Shaders
This game also uses shaders to add visual effects. Godot uses a custom shader language, though it is very similar to GLSL. All of these shaders are in the /Shaders directory. If you are a GLSL wizard, then feel free to improve any existing shaders, or add new ones!
Found something that should probably not be happening? Please make a detailed issue with logs if possible, and information on how to reproduce the unintended behavior. You may also make a report in the #bug-reports channel of our Discord server.
No generative AI was used in creating the assets (art, sounds, text) for Helixteus 3, and contributing such assets is strongly discouraged and will most certainly be rejected. However it may be used to generate a reference or a draft to aid you in creating the final asset, which must be done by yourself from scratch. Text translation is exempt from this rule, but please re-read everything the AI generates and correct if necessary.
All contributions and kind words are very appreciated! This game will always be available for free on itch.io (only Steam version is paid, which will include higher quality audio and graphics). If you want to financially support the development, you can "buy" the game on itch.io with an amount you decide.
