hardspace-shipbreaker game sourced
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
A zero-gravity salvage sim in which the player cuts derelict ships apart with a laser cutter and grapple, manages decompression and volatile systems, and sorts salvage to pay down a large debt.
parts
7 mechanics, as Hardspace: Shipbreaker does themcore · 2
Rigid-body physics
Ships are assemblies of separable parts; freed parts keep mass and momentum in zero gravity and are pulled or flung with the tether grapple toward the right receptacle.
Surface work tools
The laser cutter severs structure at cut points and joints; cutting live electrical wires or coolant pipes can cause an explosion, so where and in what order to cut is the core decision.
supporting · 5
Daily action budget
Shifts are timed; Open Shift mode removes the limit.
Fluid and gas simulation
Rooms hold atmosphere, and an uncontrolled decompression flushes the player and loose objects out of the ship.
Loans and debt
The character owes $1.2 billion to Lynx Corporation, and salvage earnings pay it down.
Procedural checklists
Systems must be made safe in order: pressurized rooms vented, electrical and coolant lines avoided, and reactors delivered before they melt down; mistakes produce the physical result rather than an error.
Survival meters
Oxygen and thruster fuel deplete during a shift and must be replenished.
core loop
start a shift -> scan the ship -> vent pressure and make power, fuel, coolant, and reactor systems safe -> cut parts free -> grapple them to the correct receptacle -> salvage value pays down debt -> buy tool upgrades
design notes
Each ship is a physics assembly of joined parts and typed hazards rather than an authored level: cutting into a pressurized room causes explosive decompression, cutting live electrical wires or coolant pipes can explode, and a reactor removed from its casing must be delivered before it melts down. The order of disassembly is the puzzle, and the taxonomy lacks a mechanic for it (proposed as salvage-deconstruction). Oxygen and thruster fuel act as survival stocks, and shifts are timed except in Open Shift mode.