Hauler

Welcome to the Zeta Sector in a remote part of the Milky Way.  You are a Space Trucker for the Eastwood Mifune Cooperative. Your job is to transport cargo and people from one space station to another. Or deliver a delicious Moloko Shake from a diner to a customer.

Explore a compact sector of the galaxy with planets to scan, jobs to complete, and Easter eggs to discover. Only one thing seems to be missing: Good coffee. Can you solve the mystery of where to get it?

What you can do

• Docking at stations to accept fetch quests.
• Fuel scoop at stars.
• Collect salvage or mine resources to sell.
• Scan planets to document the sector.
• Use your friendship drive to jump to other systems.

What you get

• 24 star systems with a total of 50 planets to scan.
• Switch between two pilots on the fly.
• Basic fetch quests.
• A few stellar phenomena to gawk at.
• 24 pop culture-inspired space curiosities to discover. 
• Peaceful, nonviolent gameplay. It turns out that eliminating capitalism also eliminates the need for piracy. Who could have known?
• Totally random planetary rotation every time you enter a system. I thought this would be fun.

How to play

• Tap Up to move forward, tap Down to brake.
• Press Left or Right to turn your ship.
• Stop on top of space stations to dock
• Press X or V to access the sector map.
• Hold Z or C to charge the Friendship Drive.
• You will be able to recharge your Friendship Drive at stations or at stars.

The Hud

C.R.E.A.M.?!

There is no money in this world. Everything you do is paid for in Peps. A karma-like currency first introduced by Becky Chambers in the second book of her Monk & Robot series. You should read it.

You can't buy anything with Peps. You don't need to buy anything in this game. Its sole purpose in Hauler is to be an indicator of your progress.

However, Peps are essential to start your search for the best cup of coffee in the sector.

Advanced Options

Press Return on the keyboard or Start on the gamepad to access the PICO-8 options. Here you can choose between two pilots or reset the game stats.

Disclaimer

Due to the limitations of PICO-8 (and the limitations of my programming skills) there isn't much to do in this game besides jumping from system to system, doing simple fetch quests and scanning some planets. Maybe one day I will port this game to Picotron or Löve 2D and add all the other cool stuff I had in mind for it.

Right now, this is primarily a mini space trucking sim. If you enjoy doing fetch quests in an peaceful space-themed environment, this could be fun. The search for the best coffee in the sector is just a tiny optional puzzle. This is not a narrative driven game with no specific goal in mind.

Where can I play it?

Play it right here in the browser at the top of the screen. Or download the cart and play it in your PICO-8 fantasy console. Or search for "hauler" in Splore of your PICO-8 fantasy console.