About

I'm developing this browser game as a solo project for two simple reasons: First, I wanted to dive deeper into the Symfony Framework. Second, I miss that old-school browser game magic that used to keep us up all night. No loot boxes. No damn pay-to-win nonsense. Just a bit of nostalgia, lots of clicking, and maybe a few regrets when you realize it’s already 3 AM again.

Is it a bit bananas to develop a browser game in PHP in 2023? Yeah, maybe. But out of sheer passion and for the memories of better times, I want to create a game that feels like the ones I once spent way too much time on.

At the heart of this project is my lifelong interest in and love for science fiction. Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri wasn’t just a game for me—it was a window into a world of philosophy, politics, and survival among the stars. I still get chills thinking about the first time I saw a Stargate open, or the tension during a showdown in The Expanse (top-tier series, by the way—go watch it!). These universes shaped how I think about storytelling, strategy, and what makes sci-fi worlds unforgettable.

So imagine a browser game as a small love letter to that kind of magic. A game where you can name your ships and customize your fleet. Where you slow things down a bit and actually think about your next move. It’s a tribute to OGame and 2Moons, The Dark Millennium, and of course Alpha Centauri, with a subtle nod to the kind of sci-fi that asks the big questions.

On the technical side, I'm keeping things fast and smooth, especially for players across the EU. If you're into specs, here's the stack:

Backend: PHP 8.3+ with Symfony 7.2, Nginx, MariaDB (event-driven)
Frontend: Bootstrap 5.3, Vanilla JS (I'm no frontend wizard, but it works)
Server: Linux KVM, AMD EPYC™ 9634, 16GB RAM, NVMe SSD, 2.5 Gbit/s, hosted in Vienna, Austria

Right now, it’s running in a KVM, so you might notice an occasional CPU spike. If the community grows, I’ll switch back to proper bare metal.

2025 Update: With the massive advances in chatbots lately, I'm slowly weaving one into the game. From day one, I wanted the game to lean heavily on PvE. Starting with Alpha 5 in Q1 '25, you'll start encountering sneaky little bot players. They'll learn, adapt—and hopefully—start to really get on your nerves soon.

Built with love (and way too much caffeine) by a sci-fi nerd and random IT guy from Hamburg, Germany.

tl;dr: I got tired of the massive pay-to-win trash in certain other browser games. So I figured—why not just code one myself? Easy enough, right? ;)