SECOND WAVE: LOG ONE

Posted on 3 December 2025

As tends to happen, one small side project blossoms into something else entirely that demands attention of its own.

I had the idea for Second Wave in early October and while the MOONWELL muse was away, I started to put the bones of it together. In November I decided to only work on it until the end of the month so that I can get back to working on Aegis Ascendant- but that plan has been delayed! Instead I'm over 40,000 words in on Second Wave and can't make out the horizon somewhere in the 300k-400k range if my estimates are right. But still, I want to wrap it up as soon as I can to get back to finishing Aegis.

The core idea of Second Wave is that you play as the captain of a small surveyor ship. You and your crew are part of the second wave of manned exploration beyond Sol. You've got 5 years before you need to head back home and overhaul the ship/turn in your survey results, and what you do with your time inbetween is your own choice. Plot your path through the stars and make it home, all while cataloguing and surveying the sights and phenomena of the stars beyond.

No small part of this was inspired by me finally watching DS9, but ultimately I think the idea crystallized while feeding my Stellaris habit. I always enjoyed the survey ships and their little reports and thought what a game that got a bit more granular on the survey process would look like.

The plan iterated through a few forms- beginning as a very basic Seedship style explorer with very basic explanations of what you find where to instead what it is now- a much more grounded narrative driven by your crewmates and your decisions.

Setting-wise, this is a post-scarcity society that has overcome much of the trials and tribulations of humanity and discovered a means of warp-esque travel and are just starting to use it to see what's in the local galactic neighborhood. Personally, I'm a biological pessimist- I don't think we'll find much life- if any- beyond our star, but I take Second Wave in a more optimistic direction. You won't be shaking hands with suspiciously human looking aliens with the cheapest possible face makeup, but you will be exploring the stars and encountering the strange and wonderful sights beyond.

My goal is to have the bulk of the writing work done by January, and to have enough of the writing done to provide an HTML-playable demo by the New Year which will give a snapshot of one year with your crew and a good 20-30 stars to explore- with the end game being more in the 50-100 star systems area.