Lunar Flight Takes a Sexy New Look At An Old Classic

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Lunar Flight Takes a Sexy New Look At An Old Classic

Landing on the moon before you burn up all your fuel has never looked better than it does in Lunar Flight [http://www.shovsoft.com/lunarflight/], the super-sexy update to one of the oldest and most revered videogames of all time.

Lunar Lander is very old, with roots going back to the early 70s, and very simple: bring a lunar module down to the surface of the moon in one piece before you run out of fuel. Various iterations of the game have kicked around over the years, including text-only versions written in basic and even one for programmable calculators, but never has there been one as hot-looking and complex as Lunar Flight, the upcoming sim from Shovsoft.

Instead of the old-time side view usually associated with Lunar Lander games, Lunar Flight supports up to four screens at once, offering numerous external points of view, the launch and landing pads, cockpit and more. Gameplay is essentially the same, requiring players to bring their modules in for a soft landing before burning up all their fuel, but the introduction of money and experience points, not to mention a far more complex flight model, adds a whole new layer of depth to the proceedings.

And instead of just horsing around on the moon for the hell of it, players will undertake missions, like hauling cargo or surveying the surface, for which they will earn money and experience. Experience points earn players higher ranks and, presumably, more complex and demanding missions; money is used to buy the fuel necessary to keep the ship in the sky. There are even cheevos!

Shovsoft is taking donations to cover the $1500 licensing cost of the Unity Pro [http://unity3d.com/] engine being used in the game and anyone who kicks in more than $5 will be given a copy when it comes out. Founder and head guy Sean Edwards says he's hopeful that Lunar Flight will launch on various digital distribution networks before the end of the year.



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Feb 13, 2008
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Pretty. Yes. Does it look/feel like Elite without Docking Computers? Also yes.

I dunno, that was the bit I always loathed in flight simulators.
 

V8 Ninja

New member
May 15, 2010
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Wow. Shovsoft really went to town on the whole redesign. While it's not my type of game, hopefully Shovsoft can get the 300 people they need to pay off that licensing fee.
 

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
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This is great stuff. I can't say it's really "my kind of game" either, but I really do think that indie devs like Shovsoft should be supported. Maybe it's my old age showing, or my bitterness as a neglected PC gamer, or the blow to the head I suffered during the second period of the federal election a couple of weeks ago (that's how we do it up here) but it seems that the longer I'm a "gamer," the less I care about most big-budget, high-visibility games like Modern Warfare, Duke Nukem Forever, Dragon Age and Assassin's Creed, and the more interest and appreciation I have for oddball or indie work like this. Fingers crossed that it turns out well.