Gateworlds: Ancient Return — Building My Own Stargate Adventure

There are some sci-fi franchises you enjoy for a while… and then there are the ones that become part of who you are.

For me, Stargate has always been that series.

Not just in a casual sense—I’ve marathoned the entire franchise more times than I can count. It’s a constant return point. A universe I always find myself stepping back into.

And it all started with a very specific memory.

I went to see Stargate on opening night with my grandad at the old Canon Cinema in Monkseaton. That moment—the lights going down, the first activation of the gate—never really left me.

Everything that followed comes from that place: a long-standing love for the world, the characters, and the idea that somewhere out there… the gate is still spinning.

So eventually I decided to make something inspired by that feeling.

That project became Gateworlds: Ancient Return. JUMP TO PLAY

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🌌 A Stargate Game Inspired by Old-School Gaming

One of the things I knew immediately was that I didn’t want the game to look modern in the traditional sense.

The visual style is heavily inspired by the first systems I ever played growing up:

• the Atari 2600
• the ZX Spectrum

Those machines had limitations, but they also had personality.

Games back then relied on atmosphere, imagination, colour, and abstraction in ways modern games sometimes forget. I wanted Gateworlds to feel like a strange hybrid between those old-school systems and the kind of pseudo-3D games that started appearing later in the 90s.

So the game ended up becoming this mix of:

• retro sci-fi visuals
• stylised low-resolution environments
• chunky sprites
• atmospheric lighting
• procedural worlds
• arcade-style gameplay

It intentionally feels like something discovered from an alternate timeline where somebody tried to make a Stargate game on retro hardware.

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⚠️ From Tiny Experiment to Full Stargate Adventure

The really interesting part is how much the game changed during development.

The first versions were extremely primitive.

At one stage the player and NPCs literally looked like moving USB sticks wandering around alien landscapes. It was rough. Hilarious in hindsight, but rough.

The original worlds were incredibly simple too:

• flat terrain
• minimal structures
• basic enemy behaviour
• almost no environmental variety
• very limited audio

But slowly the game kept evolving.

Every new version pushed the atmosphere further:

• more detailed worlds
• hostile and peaceful planets
• procedural music
• rescue missions
• AI squadmates
• maze-like interior worlds
• environmental hazards
• dynamic Stargates
• bosses
• secret worlds
• pyramid biomes
• SGC-inspired Earth base areas

The visual side evolved massively as well.

The characters slowly transformed from abstract stick-like figures into proper stylised sci-fi characters. Weapons became directional, enemies gained staff weapons inspired by the Goa’uld Jaffa, and the worlds started feeling far more alive.

Even the menus and title screens went through multiple redesigns before finally landing on something that genuinely felt like a Stargate game.

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🏛️ Every World Beyond the Gate Feels Different

One of my favourite things about Gateworlds is that travelling through the Stargate never feels predictable.

Some worlds are quiet and atmospheric. Others become dangerous almost immediately.

You might arrive in:

• dense urban ruins
• flooded marshlands
• volcanic wastelands
• forests
• crystal worlds
• corridor-like interior facilities
• desert pyramid worlds
• ancient necropolises

The pyramid biomes ended up becoming some of my favourites because they really leaned into the Goa’uld side of Stargate mythology.

Massive pyramids dominate the skyline while giant Sphinx-like structures sit half-buried in alien sandscapes. Combined with the atmospheric music, those worlds genuinely started feeling like places you’d expect SG-1 to visit.

And then there are the bosses.

Rare elite enemies can now appear on hostile worlds. Unlike normal enemies, these towering figures can fire blasts directly from their staff weapons, turning the entire mission into a fight for survival.

The moment one appears, the tone of the level changes instantly.

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🔥 Rescue Missions and Returning Home

Another feature I ended up loving was the rescue system.

Occasionally, stranded survivors appear somewhere on a world. They don’t appear on radar, so you actually have to explore and search for them properly.

Once found, they’ll begin following you back to the gate so you can escort them safely home.

What makes this especially satisfying is that rescued survivors permanently begin appearing back on Earth afterwards. The more people you save throughout a playthrough, the more populated the SGC becomes.

That small detail made the game world feel far more alive than I originally expected.

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🎮 You Can Play the Game Right Here

You can play it here:

One of the coolest parts of the project is that the game can actually run directly in your browser.

The controls are intentionally arcade-inspired and simple to pick up:

• WASD / Arrow Keys — Move
• IJKL — Aim
• J / Z / Ctrl — Shoot
• Space — Use the Stargate

Your mission is to recover three pieces of Ancient technology from each world and return them safely to Earth.

Which sounds easy…

Until a hostile planet, a boss enemy, environmental hazards, and a rescue mission all collide at once.

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📺 Watch the Gameplay and Join Me Live

While most of the game was developed offline, I’ve shown parts of its evolution on stream and in videos — including some of the wonderfully broken earlier builds where characters barely resembled people at all.

If you want to see the game in action, check out the gameplay video alongside this post and come join the livestreams where we talk games, sci-fi, retro gaming, technology, and whatever strange project I’m working on next.

🔴 Join Me Live on Twitch and YouTube
Twitch
YouTube

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💬 Join the Community

If you want to follow future updates, talk Stargate, retro gaming, sci-fi, or just hang out with the community:

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You can also find me across social platforms:

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🚀 More From Dr Ravenholm

If you’d like to explore more of my projects and work:

Business Centre
Download the Brochure
Learn More About Me
Read More Blog Posts

And honestly… I still don’t think I’m finished with Gateworlds yet.

Because every time I think the project is complete, another Stargate-inspired idea appears and pulls me straight back through the gate.