FTL: Faster Than Light

This article is about the video game. For the concept of faster-than-light travel, see Faster-than-light.

FTL: Faster Than Light
Developer(s)Subset Games
Publisher(s)Subset Games
Designer(s)Justin Ma
Matthew Davis[1]
Programmer(s)Matthew Davis
Artist(s)Justin Ma
Writer(s)Tom Jubert
Composer(s)Ben Prunty
Platform(s)Windows, OS X, Linux, iPadOS
ReleaseWindows, OS X, Linux
  • WW: September 14, 2012
iPad
  • WW: April 3, 2014
Genre(s)Strategy, roguelike
Mode(s)Single-player

FTL: Faster Than Light is a roguelike game created by indie developer Subset Games, which was released for Windows, MacOS, and Linux in September 2012.[2] In the game, the player controls the crew of a single spacecraft, holding critical information to be delivered to an allied fleet, while being pursued by a large rebel fleet. The player must guide the spacecraft through eight sectors, each with planetary systems and events procedurally generated in a roguelike fashion, while facing rebel and other hostile forces, recruiting new crew, and outfitting and upgrading their ship. Combat takes place in pausable real time, and if the ship is destroyed or all of its crew lost, the game ends, forcing the player to restart with a new ship.

The concept for FTL was based on tabletop board games and other non-strategic space combat video games that required the player to manage an array of a ship's functions. The initial development by the two-man Subset Games was self-funded, and guided towards developing entries for various indie game competitions. With positive responses from the players and judges at these events, Subset opted to engage in a crowd-sourced Kickstarter campaign to finish the title, and succeeded in obtaining twenty times more than they had sought; the extra funds were used towards more professional art, music and in-game writing.

The game, considered one of the major successes of the Kickstarter fundraisers for video games, was released in September 2012 to positive reviews. An updated version, FTL: Advanced Edition, added additional ships, events, and other gameplay elements, and was released in April 2014 as a free update for existing owners and was put up for purchase on iPad devices. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the game's creativity. FTL is recognized alongside games like Spelunky, Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space and The Binding of Isaac as helping to popularize the "roguelite" genre that uses some, but not all, of the principles of a classical roguelike.[3]

  1. ^ "FTL: Faster Than Light FAQ". Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  2. ^ McElroy, Justin (September 20, 2012). "FTL: Faster Than Light Overview". Polygon. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  3. ^ Calvin, Alex (November 5, 2022). "10 years of FTL: The making of an enduring spaceship simulator". Ars Technica. Retrieved August 15, 2024.