New Game+ doesn't have to mean replaying the same content.

How do we provide a New Game+ that is interesting and full of choices?

Lifeship is a game of branching narratives, and while retreading old choices to see the Path Not Taken^TM is a tried and true method, we can, and have done better. A game where each run is unique, where the second run is affected by your choices in the first, where there is completely new content to explore...that's what Lifeship is all about.

To begin, let me explain some of the larger mechanics of Lifeship. The Game takes place over a 4 year span, broken into months. Each month, the Super Team will undertake a mission from a selection of available missions. Missions become available as you approach them, unlock them via other missions or encounters, or when they are forced upon you by factors and factions you have previously upset. This is a long winded way to explain that a single run of Lifeship, is 48 missions long. You will usually get to select from 2-4 options each month, which is accomplished using a unique timeline and a mission window. A mission's window can vary from 1-4 months. What this means for you, is that your first run, you will choose 48 missions from ~100 available.

So how do we bring people back? How do we make Run 2 feel new, and special? One of the ways we keep the game fresh is by removing the missions you have already completed from your options. Now you're thinking that Run 2 would have no choices to make, just mopping up the remaining 48 missions, right? Wrong. When you launch your second Lifeship, AKA Run 2, another ~50 missions becomes available. These missions are only available during Run 2. But this is just the beginning.

Run 2 comes with a completely new ship (Back side of the Ship Board), with new buildings and challenges. The enemies get small upgrades to their AI and the enemy modifier deck gets a little scarier. The factions you sided with in Run 1 will be commensurately more powerful, making missions against them more dangerous. While Factions you worked against in Run 1 will be weaker. This becomes your problem because those missions you skipped in run 1, are now much more appetizing and are likely to be working for factions you weakened and against those you strengthened. Everything you do in Lifeship has a consequence.

Four paragraphs into this article, I realize that while the multiple run concept plays out very neatly in my head, it is quite complex to discuss. The only reason any of this is possible, is our custom website. Mint Design is creating the Lifeship website companion that will take you seamlessly through every mission, track your choices, and pay them off appropriately. When I say the multiple run concept is complex, I don't mean that it is complex for the players. Players get to make every interesting choice in the game. We (The Design Team) have worked very hard to take on all of the uninteresting busy work by offloading the complex stuff to a machine.

So if you are a content junky, or just enjoy seeing the fruits of your labor rewarded in the universe, then you are going to be in for a treat.

TL:DR - Lifeship is packed with meaningful choices, and completely bespoke content at every phase of the game.