Tom Francis, best known for Gunpoint (which we loved), is now seeking additional staff for his newest project Heat Signature, a stealth game set in randomly generated space. The offer is mentioned in Francis’ latest video detailing the game.
Heat Signature casts players as various flavors of stealth operatives—current classes are Thief and Assassin—aboard a small ship in “a region of space dominated by colorful gas clouds.” The objective is to infiltrate and plunder other ships per your assigned mission, avoiding detection in order to escape with your prize.
Of course, it’s not as simple as “fly around and steal things.” The game gets its name from the defense systems which will pick up your approaching ship if you come in too quickly, meaning players need to dock with target vessels smoothly and quietly. The innards of ship piracy, too, are trickier than they look: guards and turrets pepper most ship interiors, requiring the iconic takedown skills polished in Gunpoint.
Blow your cover, and you’ll likely wind up thrown out the airlock—but not inexorably doomed, as you can remotely guide your ship to pick up your floating, bleeding body before you succumb to the depths of space. True to the rogue-lite spirit, dying will forfeit all obtained upgrades.
Interestingly, once captured, enemy turrets can be used to assault other ships. Francis demonstrates this near the end of the above video by detaching the portion of a ship housing his target item in lieu of taking on its horde of guards.
Art- and music-types interested in working on Heat Signature can inquire about and apply for the position here.
