Short description≤ 300 chars · Steam search-result blurb
Aftercode is a top-down atmospheric-terraforming game on a depleted alien planet.
Climb the Terraforming Index, build automation chains, defend through storms,
restore the biomes — then broadcast Earth. Solo or 4-player co-op.
About This GameSteamworks long description · ~900 words
The colony ship is one transmission away. You're an advance scout dropped on a hostile, biologically depleted world. The atmosphere is thin. The biomes have collapsed. The native fauna is sparse and hostile. Restore the planet, then signal Earth that it's ready.
Three loops, one world
Aftercode is built on three pillars that fold into each other:
Atmospheric Terraforming
The Terraforming Index is a six-stage ladder — Heat → Pressure → Oxygen → Biomass → Insects → Animals — that you advance with industrial machines. Heaters thicken the temperature. Atmospheric processors raise pressure. Biomass cultivators feed the soil. Each rung visibly shifts the world: the sky thickens, ice retreats, the first green creeps into the dirt. Per-biome restoration works the other way around — drop the biome's apex creature, deploy a seed pod, watch life flow back stage by stage.
Modular Base & Automation
Snap walls, floors, and machines onto a Satisfactory-style 1m grid. Build multi-floor outposts. Run power across producer → wire → consumer chains. Chain extractor → conveyor → refiner → terraformer and walk away — your factory keeps running. Storm-resistant building tiers form a progression axis: T1 walls survive local storms, T3 walls hold under planet-wide events.
Light Extraction Combat
Five sci-fi damage types — Kinetic, Plasma, Cryo, EMP, Radiation — across an agnostic 8 + 8 hotbar mixing weapons, tools, and placeables. Combat is brief and decisive: 2–5 hits per fight, ~30 seconds. Defend outposts with buildable turrets you wire to your power grid; field-deploy scout turrets when scanning a biome. Native fauna is sparse from drop. Introduced fauna is added via biome restoration — so the planet you bring back to life has more enemies than the one you started on.
The endgame: broadcast Earth
The win condition is coupled to the work. Atmospheric stages all met AND N biomes restored → build the Earth Beacon → multi-stage broadcast under ramped storm + fauna pressure → cinematic of the colony ship arriving. You can't shortcut it. You can't grind around it. The moment it triggers is the moment your entire run resolves into "yes, this planet is worth living on."
Solo or 4-player co-op
Designed for both from day one. Solo runs the full campaign at your own pace. Co-op (up to 4 players) is peer-hosted via Unity Multiplayer Services — free tier, no infrastructure. Storms hit your shared base. Pressure scales for the party. The Beacon broadcast is a 4-player set piece.
Made by a solo developer
Aftercode is built by one developer in Unity 6 LTS, with Claude Code as a pair programmer. The full development history is public on the devlog. The roadmap is shipped-to-date, not promised — every phase has a concrete deliverable, not a wishlist.
SECTION 03
Key features
Bullet list for Steam's "Key Features" field.
Climb the Terraforming Index
Six atmospheric stages — Heat → Pressure → Oxygen → Biomass → Insects → Animals — advanced through industrial machines. Each rung visibly shifts the world: the sky thickens, ice retreats, the first green creeps in.
Build like Satisfactory
Socket-based modular kit on a 1m grid. Multi-floor outposts, ghost preview, snap rules. Power producer → wire → consumer chains keep machines running while you're away.
Defend through storms
Local storms hit single biomes for ~60s; global storms are rare planet-wide raid-tier events. T1 walls survive Local, T3 survive Global. Your perimeter holds only if your power chain holds.
Restore biomes from the ground up
Drop the apex creature, deploy a seed pod, watch the biome flip. Native flora returns, then insects, then small animals, then larger. Reverse-Subnautica.
Light extraction combat
Five sci-fi damage types — Kinetic, Plasma, Cryo, EMP, Radiation. Agnostic 8 + 8 hotbar mixing weapons, tools, and placeables. Fights are 2–5 hits, ~30 seconds — punctuation, not domination.
Solo or 4-player co-op
Peer-hosted via Unity Multiplayer Services. Free tier covers everything; no infrastructure cost. Drop in with friends or run the full campaign solo.
Broadcast Earth
The endgame is coupled to the work. Atmospheric stages all met + N biomes restored → build the Earth Beacon → multi-stage broadcast under ramped storm + fauna pressure → cinematic of the colony ship arriving.
SECTION 04
Tags & categories
Steamworks tag suggestions (top 18, ordered by relevance) + functional categories.
Steam tags
Base Building
Survival
Crafting
Sci-fi
Co-op
Online Co-Op
Atmospheric
Top-Down
Singleplayer
Multiplayer
Sandbox
Open World
Resource Management
Indie
Adventure
Exploration
Building
Action
First 5 are highest-priority. Set those as your "primary tags" in Steamworks.
Functional categories
Single-player
Online Co-op (up to 4)
Steam Cloud (saves sync)
Full controller support (planned)
Steam Achievements (planned)
Remote Play Together
SECTION 05
System requirements
Targets — final pass after the 0.6 build.
MINIMUM
OS
Windows 10 64-bit · macOS 12 · Ubuntu 20.04
CPU
Intel Core i5-6600K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600
RAM
8 GB
GPU
NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX 580 8GB
Storage
12 GB available
Network
Broadband (for co-op)
RECOMMENDED
OS
Windows 11 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7-9700K / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
RAM
16 GB
GPU
NVIDIA RTX 3060 / AMD RX 6600
Storage
20 GB available (SSD)
Network
Broadband
SECTION 06
Media
Trailer + screenshots. Right-click any image to save the full-size version.
974×548 (16:9) · cropped from in-game footage. Higher-res versions available on request.
First placement — Day 1, Heat the planet to 30%.Build menu — atmospheric, power, and industrial categories.Power Pole placement — blue valid ghosts, orange invalid.Outpost online — wired power feeds an Air Purifier.Day 2 — Pressure climbing past 47% / 55%."Pad standing by" — habitat awaiting restoration.
Capsule art
Steam capsule sizes — these slots are placeholders until the final art lands.
Required: Header (460 × 215), Library (600 × 900), Small (231 × 87), Main (616 × 353), Page Background (1438 × 810).
Header · 460 × 215
Library · 600 × 900
Small · 231 × 87
Main · 616 × 353
SECTION 07
Developer & contact
About the developer
Aftercode is built by Laika Dynamics — one developer working in Unity 6 LTS with Claude Code as a pair programmer. Solo dev, no publisher, no investors. The full development history is public on the devlog.
Previous experience: shipping software, not games. Aftercode is the first commercial title — built deliberately at solo-scale, with the design space chosen specifically to fit the budget.
