285: The Greatest Game Never Played

[jjcobra]

It was really a great game. I played when it was a beta, and still didn't have all the features. But even at that time, I could immediately tell the game was ages beyond anything else. I was completely blown away how well the game handled everything, even considering most players were only connecting with a 14.4 or 28.8 Baud modem.

In 2004 Microsoft released the source code to the public. The game is still being developed and run by a small group of individuals.

Here's the current website for Allegiance.
http://www.freeallegiance.org/

 

[eightbitsprite]

Never heard of it before, but it sounds interesting enough to check out. It's a shame that the game didn't do well- it sounded like a great idea.

 

[noles82]

I'm still curious why space-combat games took a nose-dive in the late 90s. I know the reason they were prevalent in the first place was because you could make a good one even with the technological limitations of the time. ... Why isn't this being done anymore?

I've been scratching my head over this same question for the past 10 years. Freespace 2 was the last space-combat simulator I played, and it was fantastic. I looked forward with fervor at the increasingly monstrous capabilities of powerhouse systems, and could only anticipate how amazing the next generation of space simulators would be. But that game never came.

'Why' continues to puzzle me. Is it because gamers now prefer the banal, evidenced in the blockbuster success of arcade-esque Call of Duties, released ad infinitum, with its godmode killstreaks and X-rated playercards? No, because that wouldn't explain the success of incredibly unique and distinct games like Bioshock, Shadow of the Colossus, or Demon's Souls. Is the flight simulator dead? Not really. One or two get released a year, though to rather bland reviews. Gamers obviously aren't sick of the realm of space or science fiction, as the Starcrafts, Mass Effects, and Dead Space have all done well and continue to dominate in sales.

The capability of a developer to create a fully interactive universe, with visitable planets and space stations, and ripe with space traffic, is totally within the capabilities of today's systems' computing power. And yet the gaming industry is void of anything resembling the space simulators of the 90's.

It's a shame.

 

[tthor]

Downloading right now! (thank you for the link)
this game sounds awesome!

 

[The Cake Is Annoying]

If I ever meet Justin Emerson I'm buying him a beer. Or a sandwich. Or a thank you card. Whatever, something nice. This looks like a real jem. I'd played Oolite until the loneliness and repitition killed my space wanderlust, and this looks as exciting as an asteroid about to collide with the Bangco. Fireworks Interstellar Ltd warehouse planet.

I've never actually heard about this game until now, sad though it seems like something I'd really like, gonna see if I can get some free time to try it out soon. One question though does this game seem at all familiar to anyone else? The premise I mean? It seems an awful lot like the 'Training Simulation' that shows up in the third act in the story "Ender's Game" by Orsen Scott Card.

Oh snap! YES, absolutely though the same!

I really want to play this game once my internet connection gets sorted in the new year.

 

[Cobalt Lion]

I don't mean to sound like a complete dickhead here but,

"So if you did like space games, and enjoyed multiplayer-only titles with no [single-player] campaign, and you heard about the title somehow, and were prepared to pay a subscription fee, and managed to connect to our servers for more than 5 minutes at a time, you would have had a chance to experience one of the most scary learning curves in gaming history."

That doesn't sound like a very good game to me. I'm not saying it was bad either. It sounds like the game basically got killed off by bad marketing decisions, but that kind of statement wouldn't make me want to rush out and buy it either.

 

[Chasom]

It was really a great game. I played when it was a beta, and still didn't have all the features. But even at that time, I could immediately tell the game was ages beyond anything else. I was completely blown away how well the game handled everything, even considering most players were only connecting with a 14.4 or 28.8 Baud modem.

In 2004 Microsoft released the source code to the public. The game is still being developed and run by a small group of individuals.

Here's the current website for Allegiance.
http://www.freeallegiance.org/

I went and downloaded the free version. A word to the wise, my anti virus caught 2 trojans in the artwork folder of the game, be aware and download with care.

 

[brodie21]

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!

I came up with the idea for this game in my head around 2007...90% of my "revolutionary" idea was already done in 2000???

Are you kidding me?!??!

i was thinking of doing this in a footsoldier perspective. like rts COD

btw, i first thought of this in '05

 

[archvile93]

Sounds like it was doomed because it requires large numbers of players, and keeping them in line. How do you keep them from not just ignoring your orders and doing their own not helpful thing. I don't even trust players to in Battlefield games to do what their commander orders.

 

[sandrock42]

I've never actually heard about this game until now, sad though it seems like something I'd really like, gonna see if I can get some free time to try it out soon. One question though does this game seem at all familiar to anyone else? The premise I mean? It seems an awful lot like the 'Training Simulation' that shows up in the third act in the story "Ender's Game" by Orsen Scott Card.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Karisse]

Great article - thanks for bringing attention to a worthwhile title. I've never heard of this before, and it's a shame I'm no different from a lot of people in that regard.

Such an amazing idea for a game, released so far ahead of it's time. If such a thing were to release now, it would be devoured by the community. Something fresh and new, not done before. That's what the industry needs now, and it seems all the good ideas were released years ago, when nobody cared about them. I'll definitely give this a look.

Couldn't have said it better.

 

[Vohn_exel]

Really cool. I've always thought that some kind of RTS where you commanded real players would be cool, but I always thought that deciding who was gonna be the main leader "floating in the sky" and who the players would be could cause trouble.

I think if someone made a space sim now where you could visit planets, go into floating space stations, have dog fights, on ground shootouts, and travel around with far distances being reached with warp,etc. You'd have a great game. If it was MMO, it could be amazing, or if it was just a SP adventure with multiplayer capability, like GTA, it could still be incredibly awesome. But I suppose thats all too much to really carry out anything.

 

[pkk]

I went and downloaded the free version. A word to the wise, my anti virus caught 2 trojans in the artwork folder of the game, be aware and download with care.

FYI, the login client of FreeAllegiance (ASGS) uses Xenocode. Some anti virus programs (like Comodo, Norman, Avast) don't like Xenocode at all, because some idiots tried to hide their Trojans with Xenocode. So some AV companies putted it on their black lists and didn't talked to the manufacturer.

These alarms are false positive and community is working on replacement of that login client.

 

[HeartAttackBob]

Perfect timing for this article, I just procured a good joystick about a week ago and have been looking for games to play using it.

Actually, I wonder if the necessity for fine grained control (joystick, xbox controller, etc) had something to with Allegiance's failure. It's nearly impossible and nowhere near as fun to play flight games with a keyboard.

 

[duchaked]

I realized looking back that while I didn't play games exactly in this genre, I did begin with stuff like flight sims, X-Wing, Rogue Squadron before FPSs became the norm... bring em back!

 

[Denamic]

wth
Why haven't I even heard of this?
I used to be a big space combat sim geek, with X2, Freelancer, EVE and the like.
I'm definitely going to try this game.

 

[Bloodstain]

The X-Series meets RTS, as an MMOG?
I. WANT. THAT. GAME. NAO.
They should remake it, that's the kind of game we nee right now. I would pay any suscription fee for it.

The game's story somehow reminds me of URU: Ages beyond MYST.
Sad.

 

[repeating integers]

Whoa. I had a massive jolt when I read the first words in that article, because I thought you were gonna talk about Homeworld.

Not so...

Spoiler

You kidding me? Left 4 dead Anything, a bigger learning curve than Dwarf Fortress?

 

[beema]

"Published and promoted by Microsoft"
Well there's your problem right there.

 

[proghead]

An equally awesome game has been Battlezone [http://www.battlezone1.net/] from '98. It's also a very interesting genre mix, blending vehicle- as well as personal-FPS with RTS like never seen before or afterwards. Being way ahead of it's time, and having a somewhat steep learning curve, too, it also pretty much failed commercially. The critics loved it though, so yet another tragedy.

There's a follow up title, but they screwed that up.

A good recent example of a FPS/RTS mix might be Natural Selection [http://www.naturalselection2.com/].