About Witchspace

Witchspace is an open-source, browser-based space trading game, and an unofficial, non-commercial tribute to Elite.

Thank you, Ian and David

In 1984, Ian Bell and David Braben wrote Elite for the BBC Micro while they were undergraduates at Cambridge, and Acornsoft published it. They fitted 3D wireframe space flight, eight procedurally generated galaxies and an open-ended trading game into about 22KB of memory. It invented a genre, and for many of us it was the moment computers became worlds.

The ship names in Witchspace (Cobra Mk III, Viper, Coriolis and the rest) are a deliberate tribute to their work. Everything else is new: the code, the ship designs, the text and the art were created from scratch for this project.

Elite is a trademark of Frontier Developments plc. Witchspace is not affiliated with or endorsed by Frontier Developments, Ian Bell or David Braben.

Kindred spirits

• Oolite: two decades of proof that a fan-built, open-source tribute can thrive.
• Mark Moxon's fully documented Elite source: an extraordinary labour of love explaining how the original works.
• Samuel Penn's Elite ships for Traveller: the 1984 ships redesigned with deck plans and crews, an inspiration for how Witchspace's ships might work inside.

No pay-to-win

Witchspace is a non-commercial fan project, and nothing in the game can ever be bought with real money: no paid credits, currencies, ships or advantages. The in-game currencies are virtual and can't be cashed out. Everything is earned by playing or by contributing. If running costs ever need covering, it will be through transparent donations with every penny public, and supporters get thanks, never power.

What you need

A web browser, on a computer, tablet or phone: Safari 14, Chrome 87, Firefox 78 or Edge 88, or newer. Nothing to install, and under half a megabyte to start playing. On an old Mac that can't update Safari, use Chrome or Firefox. On an iPhone or iPad, add it to your Home Screen and it opens full screen, like an app.

Licences

• Code: GPL-3.0. Forks stay open.
• Content (ships, worlds, missions, text, art): CC BY-SA 4.0. Contributions stay free and credited.
• Charts on the market exchange: TradingView Lightweight Charts™, Apache-2.0.
• Music: performed by the United States Marine Band, "The President's Own": The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II (docking), Semper Fidelis by John Philip Sousa (the Marshals arrive) and Dream of a Witches' Sabbath by Hector Berlioz, transcribed by Lt. Col. Jack T. Kline (the Falcon). Public domain as works of the US federal government. Witchspace isn't connected with or endorsed by the Marine Corps.

Contact

• General: hello@witchspace.org.uk
• Code of conduct reports: conduct@witchspace.org.uk
• Security issues: security@witchspace.org.uk