Cozy Space Trucking

Welcome back to the Zeta Sector! Make a living by hauling goods, mining asteroids or delivering food in this cozy space trucking game. There are no enemies, no time limits and no survival mechanics. Just you and your cargo. And maybe a co-pawlet.

This is the successor/remake of my PICO-8 game Hauler.  

HAULER64 MANUAL

Hauler64 is a cozy space trucking game without any dangers, such as enemies or time limits. It's a relaxing game for doing fetch quests or exploring a very small part of the Milky Way.

You can finish the game, but it's optional. The main focus of the game is the joy of space trucking.

CONTROLS

KEYBOARD
Steering, Thrust, Brake: W,A,S,D or Arrow keys
Interact: Space,Z,C
Friendshift Drive: X,V,F
Ship Terminal: T

GAMEPAD
Steering, Thrust, Brake: Analog Stick, D-Pad
Interact: A
Friendshift Drive: B

MOUSE
Steering/Thrust: Left mouse button (point it in general direction you want to fly)
Brake: Left Mouse button on Ship or in opposite direction of flying (reverse thrust)

SHIP TERMINAL

Press T to call up the SHIP TERMINAL. Here you can navigate a list of sub menus:

SECTOR MAP
Here you can plot a route for your FRIENDSHIP DRIVE.

LOADING BAY
This is the inventory of your ship. Cargo and other items are listed here.

The inventory is mirrored on the left side of the HUD.

PROGRESSION
Your overall progression in Hauler64.

SHIBA INFU
The lore of Hauler64. See COLLECTING for more info.

MODIFICATIONS
There is a submenu where you can customize the game. Continue playing to unlock the locked options.

USER MANUAL
Learn about the game's HUD here.

NAVIGATION

There's a compass system that shows points of interest in a ring around your ship. Fly in the direction of the dots to reach them.

Yellow dot: Star at the center of the system (refuel here)
Green dot: Space Station
Blue dot: Planet
Violet dot: Restaurant
Light blue dot: Civilian/industrial installment
Orange dot: Special POI

In the upper left corner of the screen is a radar to visualize the distance to different POI.

FRIENDSHIP DRIVE

The FRIENDSHIP DRIVE is used to jump from one system to another. You can only jump to systems adjacent to the one you're in using a linear system of static hyperspace tunnels. Traveling from one end of the tunnel system to the other means jumping 23 times.

To execute a jump, press X, V, or F, or click [F] in the lower part of the screen with the mouse.

Fuel costs for jumps are dynamic and are affected by the weight of the cargo your ship is carrying. You can check your current fuel costs for one jump in the lower-right corner of your HUD.

Refuel the FRIENDSHIP DRIVE at the stars in the center of any system.

!IMPORTANT!

You can't refuel at black holes! However, space stations in systems with black holes always offer free refueling, regardless of your karma.

 Alternatively, you can refuel at space stations by selecting "REFUEL" from the station menu. You need at least 1,000 karma (PEPs) to use this feature. Although fuel supplies at space stations are infinite, they must be restocked over time.

After jumping to a system, your FRIENDSHIP DRIVE needs to cool down. Watch the temperature on your HUD to know when you can jump again. The core temperature of the FRIENDSHIP DRIVE needs to be at 42 degrees Celsius to work properly.

KARMA (PEPS)

In the world of Hauler64, there is no money. Everything is paid for in PEPS. It's 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 indicate your progress in unlocking services, additional tools, and customizations.

GENERAL GAMEPLAY LOOP

Earn karma (peps) by:

• Delivery missions
• Mining
• Exploring
• Delivering lost packages
• Rescueing stranded hitch hikers
• Responding to beacons (random event)

DELIVERY MISSIONS
Dock at a space station. Then, select "Jobs" to take on different types of missions.

CARGO HAUL
Haul cargo from one system to another. These can be rather long journeys. Take on a cargo haul job in one of the outer systems to begin a long journey to the other end of the sector.

PASSENGER RIDE
Transport people from one system to another. These are medium-length jobs.

COURIER JOBS/FOOD DELIVERY (RANDOM)
Deliver small parcels or food. They are usually short distances, which may differ depending on the location of the next restaurant.

!IMPORTANT!

Selecting CANCEL JOB in the space station menu cancels your current job and prevents you from taking on a new one in the system until you leave and re-enter it.

MINING
Find planets and fly near the asteroids orbiting them to automatically mine the material. Collect the mined material and sell it at any space station. Eventually, you will unlock a tool that will allow you to check if there are still asteroids in the current system that can be mined.

EXPLORING
Scan planets to earn karma (peps). There are a total of 50 planets in Hauler 64.

DELIVERING LOST PACKAGES
While traveling the sector, you may find lost packages. Try to deliver them to the bar they were intended for. Check the RUMOR option at space stations to learn more about all the bars in the sector and their locations.

RESCUEING STRANDED HITCH HIKERS
After unlocking a special tool, you can receive signals from stranded hitchhikers. Travel to their location, rescue them, and deliver them to any space station to earn karma (PEPs).

RESPONDING TO BEACONS (RANDOM EVENT)
Fly up to a random event (an orange blinking light on the compass ring) to trigger it. Answer these calls to find lost cargo, stranded astronauts, or pieces of lore.

COLLECTING
There are many things to collect in Hauler64. You can collect fully scanned star systems, oddities unique to every system, lore, and trading cards.

Call up the Ship Terminal and select Progress to check your overall percentage of completion for everything you can do in the game.

LORE (SHIBA-INFU)
Respond to beacons (orange blinking lights on the compass ring). Sometimes, you can find pieces of lore brought to you by a cute Shiba Inu space dog. Collect them all to fully understand the game's story.

TRADING CARDS
There are 24 different trading cards available in the game. Get a random trading card at Laureline's Restaurant by selecting "TRADING CARD" in the menu. You can only buy one card per day. You gotta catch 'em all!

Enjoy!