Press kit

Witchspace

A free, open-source space game that runs in the browser: trade, fight, explore and build in eight galaxies of glowing vector space. A love letter to Elite (1984), built in the open with the people who play it. Everything here is free to use when you write about it.

Films and screenshots

FreeNo download, no account, nothing to buy

Any browserDesktop, tablet and phone: mouse, keyboard, gamepad or touch

8 galaxies2,048 systems each, just where they were in 1984

Open sourceCode GPL-3.0, content CC BY-SA 4.0

New, 24 October 2026

A new trailer and seven short films: the docking waltz, the Marshals arriving through a rift, the Falcon, a dogfight and a station being built. There's a vertical cut for stories.
Twenty-six new screenshots, every one taken in the game: pirate packs, military lasers on gimbals, the exchange in a famine, surveys, the Titanoboa at work, and phones.
Build: Wexley-Yorozu's Titanoboa builds stations stage by stage where everyone can see, and the roadmap and every design are open for anyone to help with.

Films and screenshots

Every picture is from the game itself, nothing painted over. Open any of them full size, download the original, or share it: each has its own link that unfurls with that picture or film.

Trade. Fight. Explore. Build. Fifty seconds over the Blue Danube: the exchange in a famine, a pirate pack and the Falcon, hyperspace, a survey, the Titanoboa building a station, and the 1984 look. — **Trailer**MP4 · 1920×1080 · 51 s · 37 MB

Twenty-three seconds, made for social posts: a fight, the market, a survey, the yard and the 1984 switch. — **Trailer: social cut**MP4 · 1920×1080 · 23 s · 15 MB

Twenty-three seconds upright, for stories, reels and phones. — **Trailer: vertical**MP4 · 1080×1920 · 23 s · 15 MB

The docking computer lines up on the slot and flies you in, to the Blue Danube. Thirty-four seconds. — **The docking waltz**MP4 · 1920×1080 · 34 s · 26 MB

Break the law badly enough and a witchspace rift tears open: the Co-operative Marshals’ Bastion slides through. Thirty-five seconds. — **The Marshals arrive**MP4 · 1920×1080 · 35 s · 25 MB

Something out there running dark: a cold white unknown, then the hull read. The Falcon. Fifteen seconds. — **The Falcon**MP4 · 1920×1080 · 15 s · 9.4 MB

A pirate pack over a ringed world, military lasers on gimbals swinging onto each one. Eighteen seconds. — **Dogfight**MP4 · 1920×1080 · 18 s · 12 MB

Wexley-Yorozu’s Titanoboa builds a station, stage by stage, where everyone can see. Twenty-one seconds. — **Building a station**MP4 · 1920×1080 · 21 s · 14 MB

53 seconds: trading, a dogfight, scooping, the Marshals, and the docking computer's waltz. The music is The Blue Danube, performed by the United States Marine Band (public domain). — **The first trailer (October 2026)**MP4 · 1280×720 · 53 s · 22 MB

Military lasers break up a pirate Mamba over a ringed world: the bounty comes in, and one of its pack taunts you on the radio. — **Mamba destroyed**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.3 MB

The wreck of a pirate Sidewinder tumbling across the planet, the military lasers still converging. No HUD. — **Debris across a ringed world**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.3 MB

A pirate comes apart in front of the planet’s rings, sparks scattering. No HUD. — **Breaking up**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.3 MB

A pirate Sidewinder crosses the planet with the rest of its pack behind it. Pirates hunt in packs in lawless systems. — **A pack closing**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.2 MB

A pirate Mamba breaks up at point-blank range. No HUD. — **A Mamba breaks up close**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

A Legend: a lone pirate running dark, red once you’re close enough to read her hull. Nobody sees her twice. — **The Falcon**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.3 MB

The Falcon at a hundred metres, wings swept, crossing a ringed world. — **The Falcon, close**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.3 MB

Military lasers on a Sidewinder at point-blank range, a Mamba beyond it and the station in the distance. The red is your own shields taking hits. — **Dogfight**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.2 MB

Pirate beams cross yours as a Mamba breaks away. Gimballed lasers track whatever is under the ring. — **Crossfire**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

Police Vipers go after a pirate band, through the wreckage of the last one. — **The police join in**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

Every face of a destroyed hull becomes a tumbling, white-hot fragment. Whatever was in the hold floats free for anyone with fuel scoops. — **Breaking up**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

Trading from the dock at Leesti during a famine: the food price candles up, with the news that moved it marked on the chart. — **The exchange in a famine**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.2 MB

The contracts board: work for the four trading companies, each with its own standing and its own file on you. — **Company contracts**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.3 MB

News travels at the speed of ships: famines, booms and a station rising, each with how old it was when it arrived. — **The news, as it reaches Lave**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.3 MB

Station markets as a trading exchange: pairs, a candlestick chart, the order book and limit orders. NPC traders, supply chains and world events move the prices. — **The exchange**JPEG · 1600×900 · 0.3 MB

The equipment shop, with what you fit drawn on the ship in its berth. — **The hangar**JPEG · 1600×900 · 0.2 MB

The Contracts board at Lave: Vorg Industries, the Carriers' Mutual and Wexley-Yorozu each have a special assignment waiting. They supply the cargo; you fly it there within so many jumps. — **Company work**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.2 MB

The ship's computer ranks the best trade runs from where you're docked, so you can see what to carry and where. — **The trade computer**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.2 MB

Holding low over Diso while the survey runs. The data sells, and the first commander to bring it home goes on the chart. — **Surveying Diso**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

The limb of Diso, the sun beyond and the station’s traffic in the distance. No HUD. — **Low over Diso**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

A survey beacon from before the station was built, still transmitting a star chart that is no longer true. — **An old beacon**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.2 MB

The old beacon against the planet it was charting. No HUD. — **A beacon and its world**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

Eight galaxies of 2,048 star systems, generated just where they were in 1984. — **The galactic chart**JPEG · 1600×900 · 0.1 MB

Lave and its neighbours inside the fuel circle, with Diso selected: average agricultural, democracy, home of the Black Furry Felines. — **Local chart**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

Wexley-Yorozu’s Titanoboa at work: a mobile shipyard that builds stations by moons, stage by stage, over days. — **The Titanoboa**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.2 MB

The frame of a new station taking shape beside the Titanoboa, where every commander can see it. — **A station rising**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.2 MB

The Titanoboa and its new station by the moon they’re building at. — **The yard by its moon**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

The station turning, its slot facing out. No HUD. — **A Coriolis station**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

A Coriolis station from beneath. No HUD. — **The station from below**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

Nine seconds, silent, made for social posts: a Co-operative Marshals carrier comes through a witchspace rift as it closes. — **The Marshals arrive (clip)**MP4 · 1280×720 · 9 s · 3.8 MB

Commit a serious crime and the Co-operative Marshals come for you. You get half a minute's warning as a rift opens and space bends around it. — **A witchspace rift**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

An 805-metre Marshals carrier slides out of the rift as it closes around its stern. — **The Bastion comes through**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

The Bastion launches its Lancer interceptors in pairs from the bow bay. Read the signs and you'll be gone before they reach you. — **Lancers launch**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

Docked on an iPhone: a Cobra with military lasers on all four mounts. — **Docked, fully kitted**JPEG · 1170×1992 · 0.2 MB

Trading from the dock on an iPhone during the Leesti famine. — **The market on a phone**JPEG · 1170×1992 · 0.2 MB

The news as it reaches the station, each system a link to the chart. — **The news on a phone**JPEG · 1170×1992 · 0.3 MB

Flying and fighting on an iPhone held sideways: drag to aim, the fire button under your thumb. — **A fight on a phone**JPEG · 2250×1026 · 0.2 MB

A pirate pack closing, on an iPhone held sideways. — **Closing on a pack, on a phone**JPEG · 2250×1026 · 0.2 MB

The title screen on an iPhone. Add Witchspace to your Home Screen and it plays full screen, like an app. — **On an iPhone**JPEG · 1170×2532 · 0.2 MB

Messages from the companies and the work on offer, docked at Lave, upright on a phone. — **Contracts on a phone**JPEG · 1170×2532 · 0.3 MB

The local chart on a phone: drag to look around, tap a system to read about it, tap again to set your course. — **The chart on a phone**JPEG · 1170×2532 · 0.2 MB

In flight on a phone held sideways: drag to aim, tilt to steer if you like, and the missile button turns red once it has locked on a pirate. — **Flying on a phone**JPEG · 2532×1170 · 0.2 MB

A pirate pack over a ringed world in neo-vector, glowing lines and bloom. Its pair is the same moment in 1984 mode. — **The same moment: neo-vector**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.2 MB

The same moment in 1984 mode: white lines on black, as the original drew them. Press M at any time. — **The same moment: 1984**JPEG · 1920×1080 · 0.1 MB

A Coriolis station and its planet in the glowing neo-vector look. — **Neo-vector**JPEG · 1200×900 · 0.1 MB

The same scene, one keypress later: white lines on black, scaled by whole pixels so it stays crisp. — **1984 mode**JPEG · 1200×900 · 0.1 MB

A Sidewinder under fire, drawn the way a BBC Micro would have. — **Combat in 1984 mode**JPEG · 1440×1080 · 0.1 MB

Words to use

Copy, paste and edit as you like.

One line

Witchspace: trade, fight, explore and build in eight galaxies of glowing vector space, free in your browser. An open-source tribute to Elite (1984).

Short

Witchspace is a free, open-source space game that runs in the browser: a love letter to Elite (1984). Start with 100 credits and a Cobra Mk III, then trade on living markets, hunt pirates who fly in packs, survey worlds and put your name on the chart, and watch new stations being built across a galaxy that runs on the same clock for everyone. One key switches to an authentic 1984 look.

Longer

In 1984 Ian Bell and David Braben fitted eight galaxies, wireframe space flight and an open-ended trading game into about 22 KB of a BBC Micro, and invented a genre. Witchspace is a fan's tribute: an open-source game that keeps the soul of the original (the crisp vector ships, the galaxy you remember, that heart-in-mouth docking, to the Blue Danube) and builds the parts a 1984 computer never could around it.

It runs in any browser, on a phone as well as a desktop. The markets are a real exchange, moved by traders, supply chains and world events, with news that travels at the speed of ships, so the commander who hears first can profit, without ever leaving the dock. Every system has its own money, from pegged stablecoins to printing presses, and some of them fail. Pirates hunt in packs and grow wary of a commander who keeps winning; a Legend called the Falcon runs dark through the lawless systems. Break the law badly enough and the Co-operative Marshals tear their way in through a witchspace rift. Explorers survey worlds and the first to bring the data home goes on the chart, while Wexley-Yorozu's Titanoboa builds new stations stage by stage where everyone can see.

Everything is designed in the open: the roadmap and every design document are public, and players can add ships, characters, stories and missions, most of it without writing code.

What's in it

Eight galaxies of 2,048 star systems, generated just where they were in 1984, on one clock shared by every commander
Shared space (beta, opt-in): fly in the same system as other commanders, live, and see them on your scanner
Flight with the original's feel, and the docking computer's waltz to the Blue Danube
Combat from Harmless to Elite: lasers on four mounts (pulse to military), gimbals, missiles and ECM, against pirates who hunt in packs and learn to be wary
The Falcon, a Legend: a lone pirate running dark, unidentified until you're close enough to read her hull
A real trading exchange, from the dock: candlestick charts with the news marked on them, an order book and limit orders
Money that works like money: a currency for every system, each with its government's policy (a pegged stablecoin, a printing press, a fixed supply), pools to swap them at every station, company stablecoins, and Bitcoin priced from the real market. All in game credits: nothing can be bought with real money
World events (famines, booms, strikes, wars) and news that travels at the speed of ships
Four trading companies with contracts, standing and the files they keep on you
The law: running dark, local records, surrender, insurance, and the Co-operative Marshals, who come through a witchspace rift
Exploration: survey worlds and moons, find old beacons and wrecks, and be first on the chart
Building: Wexley-Yorozu's Titanoboa builds new stations by moons, stage by stage, over days
Ships you own: spec a Fer-de-lance in the configurator (colour, glow, lasers, luxuries), pay a deposit and collect her from the yard, with an owner's manual. Two numbered editions, offered by invitation to contributors: the Witch-fire, 100 built, and the Dark, 50 built. Anyone can name one in the configurator and share her.
A 1984 mode, one keypress away: white lines on black, as the original drew them
Every flight is a story. Share yours in one tap: the flight recorder keeps the moments that matter (a fight, a first on the chart, a trade run worth boasting of), and a shared clip gets a page and a card of its own, playing the video you chose, with the fight rebuilt from outside a tap away. Press P, or tap the camera on a phone, for a clean photo
Made for phones as much as desktops: touch flight, a guarded missile trigger, and a view button you hold and slide to glance left, right or behind
Modern rules (insurance, flight assists) or Classic rules (one life, as in 1984)

Fact sheet

Name: Witchspace
Play: witchspace.org.uk/play
Platforms: A web browser, on desktop, tablet or phone: Safari 14, Chrome 87, Firefox 78 or Edge 88, or newer. On an old Mac, Chrome or Firefox
Size: Under half a megabyte to start playing
Price: Free. Nothing can be bought with real money
Status: Playable and growing, updated most days. Single-player with a shared galaxy clock and optional shared space (beta), where you fly with other commanders live; see the roadmap
Source: github.com/witchspace-game/witchspace
Licences: Code GPL-3.0, content CC BY-SA 4.0
Built with: TypeScript, three.js and Vite, with AI assistance, in the open
Contact: hello@witchspace.org.uk

About the name and the tribute

Witchspace is an unofficial, non-commercial tribute to Elite (1984) by Ian Bell and David Braben. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Frontier Developments, Ian Bell or David Braben. Elite is a trademark of Frontier Developments plc. The ship names are a deliberate tribute; the code, ship designs, text and art were made from scratch for this project.