Space Tournament

Zero-gravity racing game: Master tight controls, dodge traps, build custom missions, climb leaderboards. No drag and brakes, just momentum and timing. Drift like a legend, feel the perfection!

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Play Space Tournament on Reddit

Inspiration

The journey of Space Tournament began in 2008 when I was just 14 years old, inspired by the expanding possibilities in game development. I created a simple prototype called "Space Olympics" using Blitz 3D, a basic concept that never left my mind. Fast forward to September 2021: after years of abandoned projects and the ambitious attempt of developing an own game engine, I decided to return to this simple yet compelling idea. The core concept was simple: two engines, no brakes, pure momentum.

What it does

Space Tournament is a zero-gravity arcade racing game where players navigate using only two thrusters. There are no brakes, no drag, just raw physics and perfect timing. Players must master momentum-based control to:

  • Navigate through 80+ handcrafted campaign missions guided by Scrappy, a charming helper bot
  • Customize ships with different hulls, engines, and cockpits that affect weight, friction, and control
  • Compete on global leaderboards with replay validation and ghost racing
  • Create and share custom missions using the same intuitive editor we use for development
  • Face diverse challenges including space mines, lasers, black holes, and gravity zones

The game transforms simple controls into a deeply skill-based experience where every impulse matters.

https://www.space-tournament.com/

How we built it

We built Space Tournament using the open-source Godot engine, allowing us to focus on gameplay rather than engine development. Our small but passionate team at Trash Titans includes:

  • Nico Kluge (project lead & programmer), handling all code and game logic
  • Jonas Höllinger (lead artist), bringing visual life to our space environments with experience from studios like Kurzgesagt and Lego
  • Team overview

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was balancing accessibility with depth. Zero-gravity controls are inherently difficult, players need to overcome traditional racing game habits. We solved this by:

  • Creating beginner-friendly ship parts that provide stability training wheels
  • Designing a progressive difficulty curve in the campaign
  • Adding visual feedback systems to help players understand momentum

Technical challenges included:

  • Building a robust replay system for leaderboard validation
  • Creating an intuitive mission editor that's powerful yet user-friendly
  • Ensuring seamless cross-platform usability and consistent player experience for desktop, mobile and controller

Scope creep proved to be one of the biggest hurdles. New features, such as the mission editor, significantly extended our timeline and added unexpected complexity. As project lead, I had to dive into many areas that were completely new to me. One of the hardest parts was learning quickly while keeping priorities clear and resisting the temptation to get lost in details.

Despite these hurdles, we’re proud to have overcome them and to now be able to wrap up the project as a complete, fully realized game and we learned a lot. Not only on the technical side of development, but also about what truly matters when creating and finishing a game.

What's next for Space Tournament

Next, we’re launching the game on Reddit to see how it resonates with players. So Reddit will may become our main, or even sole, platform for the game, letting us share it directly with the community and gather feedback for future improvements.

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