Beyond Us

Inspiration

We wanted to challenge ourselves. Most of our previous projects were 2D games and during college we gradually became more focused on building a custom engine for designers rather than making games directly. Beyond Us gave us an opportunity to tackle game development while pushing ourselves into 3D multiplayer design.

We wanted to create a game where players truly feel like a crew, with success depending on communication, coordination and shared responsibility.

What it does

Beyond Us is a cooperative sci-fi survival game for one to four players. Players operate a spaceship travelling through dangerous asteroid fields.

The crew completes shipboard missions to produce Scrap, physically carries it to construction points to build and upgrade cannons and then defends the ship from incoming asteroid waves. When the hull is damaged, players must leave their stations and repair the ship before it is destroyed. Completing waves allows the crew to progress through the campaign, visit waystations and purchase upgrades.

How we built it

We built the game in Godot 4.7 using GDScript. Multiplayer is powered by Photon Fusion 3 through a Godot addon, using host-authoritative client-server networking.

We created the 3D models in Blender and exported them into Godot. Gameplay content such as missions, asteroid waves, cannons and upgrades is stored in reusable Godot scenes and resources. We also built custom shaders, audio systems and multiplayer lobbies.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was keeping multiplayer gameplay synchronized while several players interacted with the same ship systems at once. Actions such as picking up Scrap, constructing cannons, repairing damage, and changing wave states all needed to be validated by the host and replicated correctly.

We also had to design a large 3D ship that was easy to navigate while still creating pressure during combat. Balancing mission time, Scrap production, cannon upgrades, hull damage and asteroid difficulty was another major challenge.

There were many bugs we had to tackle and some still exist in game. Multiple floors and stairs were added late into development and fixing the weird stair placements will require more time.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of creating a working multiplayer gameplay loop centered around a shared, explorable spaceship. The ship is more than just a backdrop: its stations, missions, repair points, Scrap, and cannons all contribute directly to the gameplay.

We are also proud of implementing:

• A private room-code lobby system for up to four players.
• Multiple shipboard mission types.
• Physical Scrap collection and delivery.
• Buildable and manually operated cannons.
• Different cannon families with unique attack behaviors.
• Asteroid waves, hull damage, repairs, campaign progression and waystations.
• Onboarding, HUD feedback, audio and shaders.

What we learned

We learned that multiplayer design needs to be considered from the beginning. Establishing clear authority over shared game state helped us avoid many synchronization problems later. We started with LAN and only used Photon Fusion 3 later in development as well which created more bugs for us to fix.

We also learned that physically representing resources creates much stronger cooperation than simply displaying them in a menu. Carrying Scrap through the ship gives players natural roles and creates moments where communication matters.

We learned how important clear spatial design, feedback and testing tools are when building a complex 3D game under time constraints.

What's next for Beyond Us

Our next steps would be to polish the onboarding experience, improve balance and accessibility, general gameplay, look and feel, and expand the campaign with more sectors, missions, hazards and encounters. We would also like to add more cooperative mission variations, strengthen network testing under latency and disconnects, and continue improving the ship’s presentation through additional audio, visual effects and player customization.

I’d avoid “mostly tech stuff” and use clearer role titles:

Credits

• Dalton Koh: Project Lead, Game Design & 3D Ship/Level Design
• Foo Rui Qin: Gameplay & Systems Programmer, Missions, Combat and Campaign Systems
• Fadzly Zulkifli: Technical Director, Multiplayer Networking, UI and Presentation

Built With

• gdscript
• godot