That Tiny Spaceship

About this game

Taking a Cue From Coin-Op – Utilizing tried and true mechanics that helped define the shmup genre, That Tiny Spaceship’s gameplay returns to the days where forward was the only way to go and getting a power-up opened up new tactical options. Warp from one side of the playfield to the other, just like in the arcade titles of yesterday.

A Few Seconds Can Feel Like A Lifetime – Each mission in That Tiny Spaceship might only be a couple of minutes long but when a flaming asteroid or enemy fighter comes barreling towards you with little notice, reaction time can make the difference between placing a high score and being another piece of space debris.

5 Levels – Travel from the narrow spaces of an asteroid field to a battle for survival within orbit of a blazing sun in That Tiny Spaceship’s 5 campaign missions. Each mission features a unique locale, unique gameplay mechanics and challenges that build upon the foundations established in prior missions.

10+ Achievements – Mastering each of the 5 levels is just the beginning for those looking to obtain all of the achievements in That Tiny Spaceship. Just like console games from the 16-bit era, there’s going to be a number of hidden Easter Eggs and challenges if you want to 100% That Tiny Spaceship.

Physics of Fun – Every moving object, hazard, ship and projectile utilizes a built-in physics simulation. While this does not provide the “pixel perfect” accuracy that earlier shoot’em ups made their name on, it provides a unique sense of movement and flow not found in similar games.


Full Controller Support – Now fully supports the Xbox One gamepad from the first menu right through to your last pulverizing explosive death when an asteroid careened into That Tiny Spaceship.

Chose Where You Play – At launch That Tiny Spaceship will be available on Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux. More information on the macOS and Linux ports will be released at a later date.

Dynamic Backgrounds – That Tiny Spaceship generates the stunning and vibrant particle based backgrounds as the game is played. Enjoy the majesty of virtual space with ever changing colorful swirls and stars.

Brand New Tutorial System – Key mechanics, gameplay tips and strategies will be available through both standard static tutorial screens and interactive lessons.

Latest news

• Announcements·24 Nov 2020Official

  Regarding Early Access Release and 35 Minutes of Gameplay

  Hey everyone. Rae Michelle here from the That Tiny Spaceship development team with a small update on our tiny game. We haven't posted an update on the Steam side of things in a while since announcing that a demo was coming in the summer and if you live in the northern hemisphere you probably notice there is snow on the ground. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32807519/f0283c88c9feb3d0fd023278b7b7f25025a1b059.png Release Plans? With everything happening in the world and also some personal stuff, work on That Tiny Spaceship has been slower than expected. While it wasn't posted on Steam at the time, I did live-stream and archive 30 minutes of gameplay that was played live on Twitch as well as talk about what has gone into the game's production. You also might have noticed that our Steam page now lists That Tiny Spaceship for Early Access release. It was my intention to have two builds of the game released simultaneously this coming week but we've hit a big snag. That Tiny Spaceship will be available via two routes – a public test version that will be replace the “free demo” until development is completed, and an Early Access version of the game. Both versions of the game are built from the same codebase and will be updated simultaneously but will provide players with slightly different experiences. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32807519/88e29d7eaef312621ed371bdcaf42d34b68a76e5.png Steam’s never public test options allow you, the players, to simply click a button and apply to test the game. Once approved on our end, a test build of TTS appears in your steam library. Why a public test build? To be honest I really want feedback on how the ship handling, encounter difficulty and power-ups feel and to call that a “demo” when the final product could change based on player feedback feels disingenuous. What’s Featured In Each Early Access Build • “Public Test Build” – Free to anyone to apply to test and hopefully leave feedback. 1 level – the opening level of the game. 1 visual novel section, introduc...
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• Patch Notes·24 Dec 2018Official

  Devlog #1: Happy Holidays - Update on That Tiny Spaceship

  Happy Holidays from We Make Small Games! https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/32807519/19c089a1a126fbcad42a38d52327dc8882c8b894.jpg The year is winding down and while the crisp December air might be chilly - we’ve been working hard to keep warm by focusing on several key aspects of That Tiny Spaceship. Since our last update in September we’ve finalized planning on what gameplay elements will comprise the 5 levels for the final game, tweaked the physics model used for ship movement to make the flow of gameplay faster, completed a draft version of Original Soundtrack and have a number of other things planned that hopefully will surprise players when we launch in 2019. I've poked both Luca Bicano (Art Lead) and DJ NekoArc (Music) to talk to them about what inspired their contributions to That Tiny Spaceship and what working on the game has been like. Making Games Is An Art “Hello! My name is Luca Bicono, I’m a trans woman and also one of the artists working on That Tiny Spaceship! When I was first commissioned to work on TTS, I expected to only be kept on for a few assets. Words can’t describe how excited I was when Kitsune asked if I wanted to join We Make Small Games’ dev team; I was nervous and scared but also so honored and motivated to put my best foot forward to make sure I did the team proud! In addition to helping me test my skills when it comes to background assets and vehicle designs, working on TTS has been a great exercise in character design; being able to try my hand at designing characters without first having names or backgrounds to help shape their visual appearances has definitely been an interesting venture. Not being limited by a strict set of rules allowed me to design not only the sorts of trans- and gender-neutral-coded characters that I wish I had to look up to as a child, but also remedy problems that I’ve seen in other fantasy/sci-fi media (for example, female anthropomorphic creatures being mostly human in appear...
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• Announcements·20 Aug 2018Official

  Pre-Alpha 2 (Build 0.05) Now Available

  Our next pre-alpha build is now available - this time focusing on Controller support for Xbox One and Xbox 360. Media and video from this build will be updated on our store page at a later date. That Tiny Spaceship Pre-Alpha 2 Patch Notes: ------------------------------------------- New Features: - Dynamically generated galaxy backgrounds added to all scenes (demo level, main menu) - Xbox One / Xbox 360 Controller support added. - New graphics for galaxies and asteroids have been added. - New health system added (TTS can now take up to 3 hits before expiring) - New U.I and color scheme adopted to address concerns surrounding accessibility. (more accessibility options to come in future builds). - Main menu adjustments (controller support / exit game option) - Level 1 has had its ending adjusted to be more dramatic (this is a surprise :D) - Physics model used for TTS acceleration completely re-written to feel comfortable on an Xbox One controller. - Brand new tutorial to replace the previous PC only 'non interactive tutorial'. This new tutorial contains a lot more information on how to play TTS. - Sound added to the main menu. Known Issues: ------------- - Xbox One control scheme is a work in progress. Right now all functions are mapped to multiple buttons but in a later patch the control scheme will be user set. - That Tiny Spaceship does not display a 'hit animation' when taking damage, only when exploding. - Music loops on the main menu after two minutes. Music track on the main menu is temporary (from level 1) and will be replaced in a future build. - That Tiny Spaceship currently fires projectiles from the center of its mass rather an on the canons on its sides. - Xbox One controller or Xbox 360 controller is REQUIRED for this build. Keyboard commands are disabled at this time.
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• Announcements·5 Jun 2018Official

  Pre-Alpha Test Delayed

  Hi The announced pre-alpha test for That Tiny Spaceship that was scheduled to take place on June 6th will be delayed a couple more weeks. I'm not ready to confirm a date just yet but more time is needed to polish things up and include a few surprises for testers. All those that signed up for the pre-alpha via the Google Form will still recieve their codes. Can't wait to show all of you some of the new stuff that's being worked on. Just hang in there! Rae Michelle Richards We Make Small Games
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• Announcements·25 May 2018Official

  First Round of Media Coverage For That Tiny Spaceship

  Earlier this week We Make Small Games sent out a PR blast to several industry influencers, journalists, YouTubers and other contacts. In response to this, That Tiny Spaceship has been covered on IGN Video, the GameTraillers YouTube Channel and several smaller gaming outlets. Below is a curated list of sites that covered our game. Hopefully we will see more coverage after the first closed testing session. TTS Trailer on IGN Video TTS Trailer on GameTrailers YouTube TTS coverage on Tech Trailers As soon as more coverage of TTS appears online we'll make sure to post it to our Steam Community. Rae Michelle Richards We Make Small Games
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