Question for New Space sim …..
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I love FL…hell I play it since 2008 october nearly every day, but FL I think shaped not that much the genre, it is a space shooter in 3D, yea when we look into the past we see some more important games, like the Wing Commander series, the Privateer spinoff, Elite, Freespace, X: Beyond the Frontier or Starlancer (I miss the match speed option from FL so much),on the other hand I think after FL the genre started to stagnate. Darkstar, Space Wolves, Tarr, etc…they look cool, but hmm that is all. They look fancy. End. EVE, ye EVE is old as Freelancer, but it is a hardcore MMORPG with updates since the release it is I think something else…
So my point…everything concerning gameplay was imagined and created since Elite till Freelancer…the rest is just a …-like game with fancy graphics. Maybe one day some fellas will resurrect the genre…maybe.
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Actually, FL entirely changed control schemes. Pre-FL, joysticks with fixed guns were the standard. FL brought mouse controls and free aim guns to the spotlight. I believe most space-sim games since then have used this scheme.
However, the question isn’t really space-sims, it’s persistent multiplayer space-sims with good mod support. FL is the only game that I know of which fits these requirements.
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SF RU: AFAIK there is a MP mode coded by one of the devs in his freetime. Check out and ask around about that one at the official forums.
//Info
http://i1-mac.softpedia-static.com/screenshots/Vendetta-Online_3.jpg <- ANyone tried out Vendetta Online?
Vega Strike (Open Source)
For old games, check also Colony Wars series for the PSX out. Of course you can play those at your PC with a PSX emulator, too.
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FriendlyFire wrote:
Actually, FL entirely changed control schemes. Pre-FL, joysticks with fixed guns were the standard. FL brought mouse controls and free aim guns to the spotlight. I believe most space-sim games since then have used this scheme.However, the question isn’t really space-sims, it’s persistent multiplayer space-sims with good mod support. FL is the only game that I know of which fits these requirements.
I remember when all the joystick purists bitched and moaned because FL didn’t have it and oh noooo mice made it toooo easyyyyy.
I liked the interface a lot
In fact I had problems with X3 because the keyboarding and mousing is different enough in it. 
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I own a cheap joystick, but I can certainly say I enjoy games generally much more without them.
Except for simulators, obviously.
Anyone played Starshatter? That was great with a joystick.
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well i was not gonna comment on this thread, but i find myself strangely drawn to do so, even though i fear i may get blasted :~
anyway, in the past there have been several ‘groups’ lets call them, pop up with full intentions to develop a unofficial sequel to FL. I was part of one of them , helped found it actually, but it went off in a weird direction. Another one, i started. Now it is Not really a dead project, but the problem steams here that it is a absolutely MASSIVE undertaking for a single person. Oh yeah i did a few times have others help out, but their interest suddenly disappeared, or rather, they just disappeared.
Right now it is going through a massive game engine upgrade. I just purchased the latest version of the core engine and it is radically different in allot of areas so will take time.
Weather or not anyone is interested is kinda irrelevant at this particular juncture, and as it stands i have not updated the web site i a very long time.
At times i get quite discouraged because in the end i am doing this alone, and am trying to mimic FL features as close as possible. Which is not exactly straight forward when you have to completely rewrite major parts of the game engine to achieve the end result.
Anyway, not really sure when or if i will get to a release on it, as i have a ton of other projects to attend to. And with cash flow dwindling for me right now i have to go out and do some contract work for a while, which will last for, well however long it lasts i guess.
so if any one is interested and F***&(*&^( SERIOUS feel free to pm me with what area your interested in helping out with. Every position is kinda open from info card writers , scripts (if you can script FL, that does not apply in this case. the scripting language is allot like C#/C++), UI designers, textures artists, ect …, ect …, ect …
but only if your gonna be in it for the long haul. Not to just try and contribute then vanish into the wind or quite after a short stint.
anyway like i said, i will probably get blasted for mentioning it, or get the dreaded ‘moaning’ posts but w/e.
as it always has been, and always will be, the offer is there if there is gonna be enough REAL interest.
cheers all.
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I have bought and played alot of the more recent gaming releases but none have been overly great. I never bothered to play them for very long either.
I recently bought and have been playing GOF2 (galaxy of fire 2) on my iphone. Not too bad, add some graphics and a bit more story developement and it would be pretty good.
Even DarkStar One would have been alright it was just missing one very important option, everyone wants to buy there own ship!
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DSO could’ve probably used more than one system too….
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Yeah, they do look exactly the same don’t they. One trade station, two research stations and a load of rocks over and over again. Maybe that’s why space sims just don’t do that well in general, there’s not much anyone can do different is there.
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Probably the reason I never finished Darkstar, it’s just… No fun to explore.
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Timmy, I’d say that even X3’s utterly boring systems were a thousand times better than DSO’s. Freelancer’s systems beat both by a few orders of magnitude. They may be a bit dated nowadays, but they’re still very diverse, unique and memorable.
Don’t tell me Tau-37 and Omega-41 aren’t unique.
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the cost of making a game + the uncertainty in making one that you aren’t sure (or more precisely the people funding your project) aren’t sure if what you produce will make them more money than they will lose by funding you.
competing with space giants like star wars and star trek, X, Eve, Homeworld etc. just makes the market that much smaller for you to fit into.
partly why things seem to be entering a shooter clone era… that game Mundane Warfare made so much money when it released that everyone and their dog is trying to make one. since its practically guaranteed to sell so getting funding isn’t nearly as difficult.
which is why mods, TC’s and Indie games > the gaming industry. its free, and nearly always better than the crap game company’s churn out.
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I was always a big fan of Hokkaido.
No clue why. -
I bloody hate you FF, you’re always telling me I’m wrong, which really pisses me off because you’re always bloody right about me being wrong! Hate you!
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Glad to be of service
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bcain13 wrote:
You would think the popularity of Eve would encourage replication or duplication, but please not an MMO.
I have a hard time imagining EVE as anything else but an MMO. I’ll go for it if you make a massive breakthrough in AI technology, have fun determining how understanding and acting upon your understanding works though. You can’t plot without understanding your enemy, neither can a simulated opponent do anything particularly challenging without being able to process information in a way reminiscent of an intelligent mind.
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This seems as good a place to mention it as any. Kinetic Void is currently in crowd-funding mode on Kickstarter. What caught my eye is that the dev has quite a number of goals that bear a lot of similarity to some of Chris Roberts’ initial plans for Freelancer. Multiplayer is presently on the table as a potential (free) content update down the line.
As is, what exists now is module-based ship design from the ground up (5 vessel classes, from fighter to capital ships, and possibly stations). The plans include a dynamic, procedurally generated galaxy with factions, diplomacy, economy, trade, piracy, mining, manufacturing, and, above all, the potential for significant player influence on the game universe. Vessel management also seem quite detailed, and different classes require and enable very different styles of play.
What I’m also liking, now more than ever since I just got into it, is that the controls seem to take a page from Freelancer. I kind of hate the old notion that flying a space ship must be complicated to be accurate; technology, clearly, makes things simpler as it advances–consider the F-22 Raptor, which pilots say takes 80-90% less brain power to operate than its predecessor.
Anyway, I encourage anyone still carrying a flame for the genre to check Kinetic Void out. I’m hopeful that the campaign will succeed and the dev will deliver on all it has set out to do. This could be the one.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seanpollman/kinetic-void
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Interesting, but I have a few problems with it.
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It’s Unity. Unity’s fine for small games, but I’ve yet to see a larger game go through with it. Performance and scalability are an issue with it.
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Starlight Inception got through already. I doubt two similar games will get the same kind of coverage, and Sean Pollman is perhaps even more of an unknown quantity.
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60k is a VERY small amount. Something’s going to have to take a hit because of that.
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Many game developers talked about a multiplayer update post-release, but I’ve never heard of one actually doing it.
I’ll keep a tab on it for sure (any space sim is good!), but I won’t back it until I hear more about it.
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Fair criticism. It took some prodding from me to get the details I was looking for out of the dev, but he gave them, and I liked them. I also liked what I experienced in the shipyard, how various ships handle and, of course, building them. With the exception of games from well-knowns and knowns, plunking down money on Kickstarter projects will probably always be something of a risk.
While it wasn’t really my kind of space sim, I was actually a backer of Starlight Inception until I saw how poorly the campaign was run. It made me uneasy, so I backed out. That and watching people irrationally throwing hundreds of dollars at a $15 game just to see it made. I think Kickstarter can turn into a weird obsession for people, which has a flip side of tending to help push unlikely projects over their funding goals at the last minute. I do think there’s room for more than just one project in the genre. For instance, there’s Drifter, which is 2.5D with the deeper features of a space trade game, and it’s doing quite well. There’s also Skyjacker. Being purely combat, it’s not my bag, but it’s not doing poorly, either.
At the end of the day, I’m not expecting the world from Kinetic Void, just a solid space sim that delivers on the promises it made, with the hope that comes from an indie developer that intends on supporting its game with free content updates. What can I say? I’m a sucker for the Minecraft model.
