Be present
The Captain has a body and a location. You can move through the ship, enter the CIC, and see the spaces your crew works and lives in. The six-deck ship is now the playtest baseline, built on the earlier four-deck foundation.
Early prototype Work in progress
ATLAS
The player is the Captain,
not the ship.
I’m building a starship command game where you live aboard the vessel as Captain, lead a persistent crew, and make decisions through people and departments. The ship is a place you move through, not a menu you sit above.
Actual in-game capture · six-deck prototype CIC · not final art
01 / The game
You command a ship.
You play a Captain.
ATLAS is built around the distance between knowing what the ship needs and getting real people to carry it out.
Command through people
The design goal is to set intent through officers and departments, then live with what they can observe and do. Purposeful crew behavior, ship time, watches, and physical relief are accepted foundations. The complete command experience is still being built.
Step in when it matters
Being physically present can let the Captain take over a station. The prototype has station interaction foundations. Ship systems are now being brought into the six-deck playtest build. Deeper command and flight gameplay, full combat, and finished integration are still ahead.
Why ATLAS exists
The game I kept wishing existed.
I grew up playing Battlecruiser 3000AD, Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific, and X-COM. What stuck with me wasn't any one feature. It was the feeling of systems bigger than the player, people you depended on, and decisions where there wasn't always one clean answer.
I'm a military officer with command experience, and I've always wanted a space game that let me live that same command fantasy. Not control a ship like a vehicle. Command one.
ATLAS is me trying to build the game I kept wishing existed.
Read why I'm building ATLAS
In-game prototype / work in progress02 / A living ship
A crew should have a life beyond your orders.
The starting company has 35 persistent named people, including the Captain. Their identities, needs, purposeful activity and watch foundations are part of the accepted prototype.
The six-deck ship is now the basis for development. I’m fitting out its spaces and bringing ship systems into the playtest build while preserving the crew’s routines, physical travel, watches and save/load. The test is still whether the ship feels alive from the Captain’s point of view.
What exists today03 / Current status
Here’s what is actually in the prototype.
No completion percentages. This is the project state I’m working from.
In place
Accepted prototype foundations- Physical Captain and six-deck ship geometry, built on the earlier four-deck prototype
- 35 persistent named people, needs, purposeful activity, and personnel records
- Ship motion, thrust gravity, coast zero-g, and physical station foundations
- Ship time, watches, physical relief, and representative CIC interaction foundations
- A separately accepted standalone ship-systems foundation
I closed out the six-deck geometry milestone on October 17, carrying remaining problems into the next stage. The ship-systems foundation first ran separately; bringing it aboard does not mean full combat is complete.
In development
Ship fit-out / active development- Fitting out the six-deck interior with working spaces and fixtures
- Crew travel, station clearances, watch relief and Medical routes
- Ship-systems integration, zero-g and save/load in the combined playtest build
The six-deck ship is the current playtest baseline. Its environment and systems integration are still in development; I’m not calling that work finished.
Later
Planned / deferred- Completed ship-systems integration and functional exterior work
- Full combat and deep damage-control warfare
- Campaign missions and broader solar-system gameplay
- Final shipwide art and production visual finish
These are design goals, not features available to play today.
No public build yetATLAS is still an active prototype. Public playable access will come later when the project is ready for it.
Last checked against the project’s current milestone and design sync: . Status will be updated as milestones are accepted.
04 / The vessel
A warship built around its people.
A working military vessel
ATLAS aims for compact, maintainable spaces and clear departmental purpose. The six-deck layout is now the basis for development, with spaces for command, habitation, daily life, mission support and Engineering. The shipwide environment is still work in progress.
Thrust is gravity
There is no artificial gravity. The decks are arranged around sustained thrust, and coasting changes movement into zero-g. That motion and gravity behavior is part of the prototype foundation.
The CIC is a place
The command room sits inside the hull, with operator stations, a shared command position, and an information display. The current playtest includes new consoles, a live wall display and a view from the Captain’s chair. Those are prototype systems, not finished tactical gameplay.
05 / Screenshots
See the prototype.
Actual in-game captures. Prototype / work in progress / not final art.
06 / Development log
Latest from development.
The main ATLAS story stays public. Following is free.
The Ship Needed a Clock
Why a living crew needs a ship day, watches and responsibilities that keep going when the Captain steps away.
Read updateWhy I’m Building ATLAS
The command games that stayed with me, and why ATLAS puts the Captain aboard the ship.
Read updateWhy I opened a Founding Crew
Public development stays free. Founding Crew is optional support for deeper development material.
Read update07 / About
Built one system at a time.
I’m Julio, a solo developer building ATLAS alongside a full-time career and family. I’m testing the Captain fantasy before expanding the game around it. Sometimes that means a build passes the technical checks and still goes back to the workshop after I play it.
Stay aboard
Follow ATLAS development.
I post the longer ATLAS development updates and additional prototype screenshots on Patreon. Following is free. I’ll share what works, what fails, and what changes as the ship comes together.
Follow developmentWant to support the work more directly? Founding Crew is an optional $5/month tier with deeper development material.See Founding Crew