Ranchonauts
A slapstick co-op game about herding alien sheep across a dangerous frontier. Work solo or with up to 5 friends to keep your flock together through physics-fueled disasters, pay off your ship-repair debt, and get home in one piece.
Facts
Release
2027
Platforms
PC, Mac
Steam
Contact
media: [email protected] business: [email protected]
Description

Ranchonauts is a slapstick space western co-op about herding alien sheep, where chaos is all part of the job description! You're space explorers stranded on an alien world with your ship badly damaged, and you'll need money to pay off the repairs - lots of it. Wrangle your flock from one town to another, keeping your herd, your horse, and yourself in one piece. Sound easy? You wish!

SADDLE UP, BUCKO!
Choose your horse and set out across a dangerous frontier as a crew of 1-6, using tools, teamwork, and proximity chat to move your herd to safety. More sheep mean a bigger payday, but also bigger risk!

NEW FRONTIERS!
Each ranch brings new terrain and its own challenges, so expect the unexpected: lightning storms, anti-gravity zones, and the occasional exploding bush. Ranchonauts is a physics-based adventure, so there’ll be plenty of ragdoll hilarity as your poor flock goes flying.

TIME IS MONEY - AND YOU’RE BROKE!
To escape the planet, you’ll need to pay off your ship-repair debt. To pay off your debt, you’ll need to herd lots of sheep, and be quick about it too – if you dilly-dally past sundown, you’ll get caught up in the deadly fungal blooms. Fall too far behind on payments, and the local barons will repossess your ship!

TOOLS OF THE TRADE!
Wits and luck won’t be enough to get you through: try a shrink ray when you’re in a squeeze, or cover distances quickly with a gravity cannon. You can even upgrade your horse, and of course there’s unlockable cosmetics for that extra cowboy sparkle.

Features
🤠 Herd alien sheep with your friends
🤡 Ridiculous ragdoll physics
🌩️ A perilous sci-fi frontier using procedural generation
💵 Pay off your ship-repair debt & unlock upgrades
📡 Proximity voice chat with unique effects
👒 Character customization
🛠️ Dozens of items to master
👥 Playable for 1-6 online co-op
History
Founded in 2008 by James Simpson, GoldFire Studios is an independent game studio based in Oklahoma City. The studio spent over a decade developing massively multiplayer games, including CasinoRPG and Exocraft, while also creating the popular open-source audio library howler.js.

In 2025, after more than five years of development, GoldFire released Arctic Awakening, an ambitious first-person narrative adventure for PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Following that lengthy production, the studio shifted gears with Ranchonauts, a smaller-scope co-op game focused on emergent, physics-driven comedy that also marks a return to its multiplayer roots.

Across genres, GoldFire Studios focuses on creating unique worlds and memorable experiences that players can explore, share, and make their own.
Credits
Direction
James Simpson

Development
James Simpson
Benji Kay

Audio
Benji Kay
3D Art
Alejandro Moralo
Rafael Mogas

Concept Art
Daniel McGarry
Alejandro Moralo

Music
Joff Winks