Open Regatta

A gold storm wave rolls across the Ember Belt and the corporate racers fold their sails. One small patchwork ship angles into it, its frillfox's frills blazing white, two old panels burning through, and shoots past the fleet.

The 201st Great Regatta is the first open to everyone, and you are one of its new independent entrants. You start in the Clearing, a junkyard ring of dead ships that people live in and that sing when the wind blows through them. Zara Khoury works at her bench and teaches salvage, Adua Khoury gives the hammer test and the storm rule, Mora Voss runs the navigator drills, and the corporate fleets of SolCorp, AquaVein and Helion race with everything money can buy.

Strip whole beached ships in the Western Reach for panels, tap-test each plate and fit your ship's slots at the cradle. Then launch at the Solar Gate and race the Ember Run in orbit, where speed comes from the angle of your sails to the light. Trim into the catch band, thread the glowing rocks of the Ember Belt, fold your arrays to tack home against the light, and bank litres of water at the finish.

Ride a storm at 47 degrees and your ship flies three or four times faster, if your old panels hold. Every race asks three questions: how much light can my panels take, will I ride the storm, and will I turn back if someone calls? When a burning ship sends a mayday you can leave the race to shield it. It costs you standing, the crowd remembers, and nobody ever dies: escape pods launch in time.

The first release has the Clearing hub, the Western Reach salvage field, the Ember Run circuit and one hull, the Wren: twelve panels in three arrays, four materials in three states of wear, three instruments and two utilities. Races run eight ships, with computer-flown racers filling empty slots. Fly alone or with a friend as navigator, and every ship carries a frillfox.

Litres of water are the only currency, earned in play and never sold, and they buy the parts salvage did not find. Your frillfox shows the light in five frill colors, and its attunement grows only with time spent together, warning of storms early and finding safe gaps in the Belt. Kael's chart offers small daily marks with no streak, Regatta Saturday doubles the standings, and new circuits are planned: the Deep Drift, the ice rings of Frostheim and a Grand Regatta of twenty ships.

Based on Solar Sails by Declan Foley: the patchwork ship, panels that each have an age and a shine, the storm ridden at 47 degrees, the fold, water as currency and a finale where a crew gives up the race to save a burning ship are all from the novel.

Open Regatta is a finished game design for Roblox, and Greenlight Games is looking for a studio partner to build it.