SPACE DEFENDER: FRONTIER SQUADRON — PRESS FACT SHEET

Studio                  Petit Vaisseau — Guillaume Merle (solo developer, France)
Genre                   Top-down space shooter with RPG progression
Platform                PC (Windows), Steam
Early Access            May 2025
Full release (1.0)      September 29, 2026, 10am PT / 7pm CEST
Price                   $9.99 / €9.99
Languages               English, French
Controls                Mouse and keyboard, full controller support
Website                 https://petitvaisseau.guillaume-merle.fr
Steam                   https://store.steampowered.com/app/1731170/
Discord                 https://discord.com/invite/AUMtECDCx8
Trailer                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVd2VChcjos
Contact                 spacedefender.game@gmail.com


ONE-LINER
Lead a squadron against the Drone invasion in a top-down space shooter with RPG depth.

SHORT DESCRIPTION (50 words)
Space Defender: Frontier Squadron is a top-down space shooter with RPG progression. Take contracts across three galaxies, outfit and upgrade your ship, recruit up to three wingmen, and fight a Drone invasion through a three-act campaign that ends against the Nexus. Made by a solo developer from France.

LONG DESCRIPTION
The Drones have swept through three galaxies, relay by relay. Station after station goes dark. Command has one answer left: you, a ship, and whoever you can convince to fly with you.

Space Defender: Frontier Squadron blends twin-stick space combat with RPG progression. Between fights, players dock at stations to trade, buy ships, research upgrades and recruit pilots. In the field, they take on 13 kinds of contracts, from convoy escorts and holdouts to hunts, rescues and fleet battles, against Drones that each fight in their own way.

KEY FEATURES
- Wingmen: recruit pilots at stations, give them ships from your hangar, fly with up to three of them; downed wingmen eject in rescue pods
- 13 contract types with modifiers (asteroid fields, elite leaders, reinforcements, time limits)
- Enemies with distinct behaviours: snipers, minelayers, carriers, missile jammers, shield-support hulls, elites and packs
- 8 ships and over 60 pieces of equipment: lasers, pulse cannons, railguns, flak cannons, guided missiles, turrets, shields, generators, batteries
- Energy management: every fitted item changes how the ship flies and fights
- A three-act story campaign (13 story missions) with Admiral Voss, Ilse Marin and ARIA, ending with the battle against the Nexus
- Ranks from Recruit to Admiral, a research tree, a mission journal, three difficulty modes

HISTORY
Space Defender is Guillaume's first game, developed alone alongside a full-time job. It entered Steam Early Access in May 2025. Player feedback shaped the 1.0: the wingmen system started as a player suggestion. The 1.0 update adds the story campaign, nine new contract types, enemy behaviours, new weapon families, a redesigned interface and a full balancing pass, and renames the game Space Defender: Frontier Squadron.

CREDITS
Design, programming, writing: Guillaume Merle
Music: Alkakrab (Sci-Fi Music Packs, alkakrab.itch.io)
Sound effects: ZapSplat
Font: Exo 2 by Natanael Gama (SIL Open Font License)
Engine: Unity

PRESS ASSETS
logos/      transparent logo, logo on dark background, game icon
key_art/    Steam capsule, key art with and without logo, vertical key art
screenshots/ and gifs/   in-game captures (1920x1080 PNG, animated GIFs)
All assets may be used freely in coverage of the game.