Reply With QuoteFor Star Drive?
So many space games...
For Starfarer? I played the campaign for 10 minutes so far, gotta jump back into the tutorial and start from scratch. The campaign was HAAAARD. They start you off with this little bitty gunship, and eventually whole pirate fleets are following you, so you just run. I've been able to engage in a couple 1-on-1 fights, but lost each time. I had a great time though, honestly. I'll have more in a couple of days, don't rush. :)
I'm a bit behind because I was feeling awful on Saturday, so I didn't really play it. I also blame Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning for being too much fun. ;)
For Star Drive?
So many space games...
I know, it's a GREAT problem to have.Originally Posted by Mr Bismarck
The 4x + Action + Componentised Ship Building in Star Drive looks like it'll scratch a very particular itch.
But with Crusader Kings II dropping tomorrow, I can wait if the Alpha isn't in great shape just yet.
But I don't want to wait, because waiting is dull. So if you give it a good review I'll jump on it and... I don't know... sub-contract someone to play it for me.
Oh, and wait, if it's StarDrive, I dunno yet as I've yet to touch it. As you can see from the new "Coming Soon" list on my site, it's a bit down in the queue, but I could tinker with it for a few moments to give you some basic impressions, if you'd like.
That would make you some sort of space slave and I couldn't possible ask you to do that. (Who am I kidding?)
However don't worry - I'll just go play Evochron, or Mount and Blade, or Rise of Flight, or Football Manager, or Aurora, or one of the other 90 games I'm juggling in my queue.
Or do some work.
Oh, I don't mind playing it for a few moments before diving back into Starfarer. Been wanting to see it anyway. :)
If I'm looking to dive into one of these little indie gems, which am I better off putting my time into, SPAZ or Starfarer?
Well, what are you looking for? Faster, arcadey action or maybe somewhat slower, more tactical action?
That's my issue, I'm not sure which sounds better. Safe to assume though that either is a solid game? I've been leaning towards Starfarer because I'm usually into a little more tactical of an experience, but the difficulty is making me a little leery.
Starfarer isn't done yet, so it has a long way to go, it's still in the alpha. SPAZ is fairly mature at this point. I'd say that SPAZ is a more complete experience RIGHT NOW, but that likely won't be the case once Starfarer is complete.
I've been dipping into Vendetta Online for the last couple days. I haven't gotten very far in the game yet, haven't experienced PVP combat yet, but so far I've been having a good time.
I'm a long time subspace/continuum player, and I've been looking for a game that plays like 'subspace in 3d'. In other words a game that has inertial movement, inertial bullets, and is completely skill based combat. I'm not positive vendetta online fits this requirement, but it's looking close so far.
Of course, you still have to grind out 1000 bot kills before you get a great ship, but even the bot combat is entertaining.
The movement scheme is similar to evochron in that you can strafe, fly backwards, and switch between an easier 'arcade' flight model and the inertial model where you can float, turn, and fire as you pass a ship.
What is really cool imo is the projectiles follow the inertia of your ship , just like subspace. So in other words if you're moving backwards and fire theoretically you should be shooting projectiles that could have no 'absolute' movement, because you were moving backwards when you fired them.
I shall post updates when I experience the PVP dueling/pirating combat.
Also looking forward to your review Brian.
Btw: Someone said that jumpgate is a deeper game? I tried jumpgate years ago and something was just completely wrong, like lasers didnt fire as projectiles or something weird like that. Is jumpgate a good game?
Ideally there'd be a game that was totally skill based like subspace/continuum or terminus but had all the complexity of EVE.
Sadly, Jumpgate WAS a deeper game (I say was because the game is effectively dead). I tried VO many years ago, and never got the hang of it. It felt really clunky and cumbersome, and I didn't have a good time at all.
Jumpgate, on the other hand...it's likely my most played game ever. I played from the beta on and off for maybe 7-8 years, putting in, I'd guess, about 600-800 hours into it. It was the closest thing I'd ever seen to an Elite or Privateer Online, and that doesn't look like it'll change any time soon. Sadly the game is nearly dead, and one can't even log in to start or restart an account. The game, I think, went open source or some such recently, so there's hope of a revival, but it's slim. Overall, it's one of the best games I've ever played.
I'll get to VO in its own time, which will likely be a while since I'm still on 1978 on my list. Glad you're enjoying it though, and welcome to Qt3 also.
Finally, lasers shouldn't fire like projectiles because they're FREAKING LASER BEAMS. ;) You want projectiles, get a mass driver or some such. ;)
So StarDrive is...very much an alpha right now. First, Desura had to update it, which took forever. THEN, it launches in some weird resolution -- like 1600x1050 or some such -- and I had to manually edit an XML file to get it both in full screen and to my computer's max rest of 1280x1024 (it's an old machine). Once I got it to run, it looked great. You can create a custom race using several points, so the Dragonians come from a naval tradition and have excellent reflexes.
Options in the game were limited, I could only build a few ships like scouts and colony ships, but controlling them wasn't too tough. A control-click brings up a menu for each ship that allows you to give orders and such, so I ordered the scouts to explore.
I then built some colony ships and colonized the other planet in my solar system. I then went to check out another system in my own ship when the game froze on me, hard.
Up until then, it was fun, but a bit weird to control. Trying to move around the map was a bit funky since the view seems to also be leashed to your ship, or something to that effect. Overall, in the 10-15 minutes I played it, I had a good time, and I see a ton of potential here.
So there you go. Now I have to play some Starfarer so I can write about it. :)
As others have said, play both, but play SPAZ now and play Starfarer in a year or so, when it is finished.
However, if it helps sway you in one direction, when I preordered last year I got a code for 30% off Starfarer. I'll send it to the first person who sends me a pm saying they promise to use it. In order to prevent possible disappointment I warn that the code may have expired by now, but then Starfarer is super-cheap already.
Oh, that's very cool of you Airscrew, thanks!
Also Starfarer is 50% off already, at $10, it will be back to $20 when it's released.
At 10 bucks I am so preordering the SHIT out of this.
Hey guys, my preview of Starfarer is up:
http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/1743/...ing-with-style
Enjoy!
So I just tried to play some Starjack Online and...the tutorial seems broken and no one is playing it, so I'm skipping it.
Feh, probably a mobile game. Sigh.
Brian, your site's weekly updates are great. I just learned that the StarShatter source code was available from your blog, downloaded it, compiled it, and it works!
I've always been meaning to code a 3d space game, but didn't get very far. Now I've got the source for a full game! This is amazing!
Yay, thank you, and I'm glad to help. :-)
I didn't find the Starjack tutorial broken, but I did find the game boring, it takes way to long to get anywhere.
Hey guys, more blog-centric question for y'all. I had an author of a game contact me and kindly send me a copy of their game for free, a game which came out maybe 3-4 years ago.
Now, part of me thinks that I should review that game when I get to the year in question, chronologically.
Part of me thinks, though, that it would be nice to reward that kindness by moving it up in the queue to the current review queue.
Would adding it to the current review queue be pandering, or would that be appropriate since they went out of their way to send me a copy of their game? I'm a bit torn on the subject.
Thanks!
I'd do it now.
It's a nice reward for a kindness and we can all say we knew you before you sold out. So it's a win/win.
Haha, but I don't wanna appear like I'm selling out, you know? Despite that, you think I should add it to the current queue?
Yes you should.
Alright. I'll also add this to the rules section of the "about" page.
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