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First Rogue Star gameplay shows off space combat and trading indie game

Out on iPhone in the spring.

Former Fable developer James Duncan has released the first gameplay video for Rogue Star, the iOS space combat and trading indie game.

Duncan, who worked on Fable 2 and Fable 3 before quitting Microsoft-owned developer Lionhead to start up his own studio, RedBreast, told Eurogamer Rogue Star will release on iPhone at some point in the spring. An iPad version will follow, then, potentially, an Android version.

Duncan's mission with Rogue Star was to re-ignite interest in the space combat and trading genre. Since its reveal last year, the genre has enjoyed a revival of sorts, with Chris Roberts' Star Citizen and David Braben's Elite: Dangerous both securing successful crowdfunding drives.

But those games won't be released for a while yet, and Duncan hopes Rogue Star will satisfy fans of games such as Elite, Tie Fighter, Red Baron and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.

Rogue Star is set in a remote star system where the Galactic Confederation's worst criminals are sentenced to live out their days away from the civilised world. The player navigates through the system, bidding against others for cargo. If you succeed you have to fend off space pirates who want to steal it from you.

Players pilot their ship using on-screen virtual controls, and Duncan said RedBreast had done much work to make sure these are as responsive as possible. He's yet to decide how much Rogue Star will cost, but did promise it won't include in-app purchases.

Duncan is one third of RedBreast. He is joined by programmer Martin Bell (Bullfrog, Lionhead), and concept artist Dennis Gustafsson (Troddlers, Die Hard Trilogy, Terracon, Richard Burns Rally).

Watch on YouTube