Explore planets, moons and spacecraft at your own pace. Take the controls, inspect what you find and earn rewards for each discovery. An offline Android space game built with GPT-6 Astra. Free early access with 30 destinations and 3 hours of fast-track credit.

What became possible in your product with Astra that was not practical before?

I'm a business restructuring professional with limited coding experience. On previous game projects, much of my time went into setup and fixing technical problems. With GPT-6 Astra in ChatGPT Work, I brought Earth is Optional to a playable Android early-access release in about a week. That included 3D flight, a Solar System atlas, spacecraft inspection, historical mission journeys and progression rewards. Astra helped me connect those systems and refine the visuals, controls and performance. The biggest change was how quickly I could act on feedback. I'd test a build on my phone, share screenshots or explain what felt wrong, and work through fixes for the next build. We improved planetary visuals and flight behaviour, and fixed issues such as scanning sounds continuing after an inspection finished. That made the scope and pace practical for me as a solo maker, while I kept control of the design and tested the results myself.s

Hi everyone, I’m Denis, the maker of Earth is Optional. I love astronomy and astrophysics, and I wanted to make something that lets you spend time exploring the places you read about. There’s something about seeing a world in the distance, travelling towards it, and finally getting close enough to look around. That became the idea behind this game. Choose an expedition, set your ship on its course and let the journey progress while you’re away. Come back, take the controls, explore nearby worlds and inspect spacecraft up close. Discoveries and missions earn rewards, including fast-track time for later journeys. It’s the part I enjoy most: having somewhere to go, something to discover when I arrive, and another journey to plan afterwards. I built Earth is Optional with GPT-6 Astra in ChatGPT Work. I brought the ideas and direction, tested builds on my phone, and worked through revisions with Astra. It helped me turn those ideas into a playable game much faster than I expected. What I’m sharing today is a free early-access demo for Android. It works offline after installation, with 30 destinations available from the start and three hours of starter fast-track credit. Progression and discovery rewards are active too. Those three hours are travel-acceleration credit, not a time limit on playing the demo. There’s already more behind this demo. The development version I’m testing on my phone has over 500 catalogued objects, including planets, moons, asteroids, comets and spacecraft exhibits. Real scientific data and imagery inform the worlds and asteroid models, and historical mission data lets you follow some of the journeys that took us there. Some details are simplified or reconstructed where the available data is incomplete. The 30 destinations in this release are a first selection, and I’m looking forward to opening up more of that catalogue as the game develops. I’m planning an iPhone version, more destinations, and deeper exploration and progression. I’d also like to explore mining and visiting planetary surfaces further down the line. Those are possibilities for the future, not features in this demo. If you give it a try, I’d really like to hear how the balance between travelling and exploring feels. And where did you head first? Thanks for taking a look. Denis

What became possible in your product with Astra that was not practical before?