Connectivity

[jarowdowsky]

Give Freespace a try - it's the evolution of Descent - think it started with Descent: Freespace then the glorious Freespace 2

To quote the wiki page -

"FreeSpace 2's gameplay involves the player piloting a starfighter using mounted weapons to destroy enemy starfighters, or performing reconnaissance behind enemy lines, or escorting other starships. Its flight model is based on a looser interpretation of space physics instead of realistic Newtonian physics. Hence, the ships are weightless and feel more responsive, though they require constant application of engine power to move. The result is that the game plays more like a "WWII dogfight simulator" unaffected by gravity. Although joysticks are the recommended controller for this game, the mouse is a viable alternative. Single player mode is executed in the form of a campaign, which follows a story as a linear sequence of missions are executed."

Couple of interesting BSG and Babylon 5 mods as well. Came the closest I ever felt to blasting my way through giant ships in a starfighter, whilst a giant battle took place around me. Especially as I was dodging through fleets, picking off turrents, engines and shields and zipping out again for the destroyers to finish off the job.

Oh and think it was available for free but now it's up cheap on Good ol' games

Here's an overview from Youtube - it's a fucking glorious game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HFEmGcJcWA

 

[cheevocabra]

I'm sure that it is pointless for me to post a comment on here since it is already four pages deep, but I loved 5 Days a Stranger and the rest of the Chzo Mythos games that Yahtzee made; it'd be great if this space game tied in to 7 Days a Skeptic somehow. Looking forward to playing this one Yahtzee, keep fighting the good fight.

 

[Joey245]

Video game reviewer, freeware game designer, future bar owner, author, Internet celebrity, and NOW you're designing a full 3D game?!?

Jeez, Yahtzee, is there NOTHING you can't do?!?

 

[SeiichiSin]

Is it bad that the only thing that I actually thought at the end of reading the entire article was "holy shit you can use Blender?" I hate Blender, I prefer 3DSmax. But for my expensive tastes comes the lack of a 3D program on my computer. Oh well, there is always sneaking back into my old college and getting on one of the computers there.

 

[LoganAsh]

Good luck to you Yahtzee!

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

As Douglas Adams once said, with his usual spectacular insight, space is big.

Amazing. I never would have guessed.

The full quote, so you can appreciate the context:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times over many years and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers.
The introduction begins something like this:
"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts compared to space. Listen.." and so on.
(After a while the style settles down a bit and it begins to tell you things you really need to know, like the fact that the fabulously beautiful planet Bethselamin is now so worried about the cumulative erosion by ten billion visiting tourists a year that any net imbalance between the amount you eat and the amount you excrete whilst on the planet is surgically removed from your bodyweight when you leave: so every time you go to the lavatory there it is vitally important to get a receipt.)

 

[auronvi]

I am also an aspiring game developer. I am hastily working on my final project for my Audio and Visual Design class. My final is a fully 3D mock game trailer for a game. Ironically, I chose a space game as my theme. I will edit in some links to the videos I made for the game. I am not intending to actually make a game out of it because I don't know any 3D game engine yet.

Also thanks Yahtzee for reminding me of Unity. My instructor told me about it last week and I have been meaning to fuddle around with it. Downloading it now. Next semester, I am taking a class using XNA for the Xbox. Looking forward to that!

EDIT:
Here is an example of my work!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JGgWxbWZ4w

 

[RJ Dalton]

So, Yahtzee's actually going to make the game? I wish to play this thing. And then I wish to compare it to a rat's testicles.
Mwa ha ha ha!
Okay, actually, I want to play it because it sounds interesting and I hope I will be good.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Cool, I would love to try out his game when he came out with it. We also got another glance through the window at Yahtzee's childhood. I would like to see another Freelancer-like game put out sometime soon.

EDIT: Stupid connection, it double posted this. Can a moderator take care of this?

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Cool, I would love to try out his game when he came out with it. We also got another glance through the window at Yahtzee's childhood. I would like to see another Freelancer-like game put out sometime soon.

 

[mandrilltiger]

I'd be surprised if a space game could be fun if it was linear adventure seems like only being able to go to one place at a time would be too restricting. However if properly motivated then it wouldn't matter.

Half Life 2's High Way 17 did a great job of making you feel the world was big. In fact it's kind of weird to realize that Half Life 2 was divided into several different levels.

 

[Fuloqwam]

"X-Wing versus TIE fighter": a truly amazing space flight sim. "Tachyon, The Fringe": A lesser, but bigger space flight sim starring Bruce Campbell. Why the hell aren't they making games like those anymore? Who can I ***** to about that?

 

[mjc0961]

The space-buggy sections in Mass Effect 2 may have been annoying, but at least they were there.

Need to lose the 2 there.

Anyway, I have to agree 100% with this article. I've been playing Mass Effect again to make some different choices to see how I can change Mass Effect 2, and just the little bit of walking from the map to the airlock, and then after the loading screen being back in the airlock, but in armor and able to go out onto the docking platform is just so much more fun to me than "Okay guys we're getting into the little dropship and showing up on this planet." Granted, Mass Effect 2 does a decent job of explaining WHY you get into the little dropship by saying that the new Normandy is about twice as big as the old Normandy, and thus can't dock in a lot of places. But it still docks at the Citadel and on Illium, so why can't I go out the airlock on my own?

And yeah, once again, scanning sucks and driving around in the Mako, as poor as it handles sometimes, is infinitely more fun and they should have tried to improve on it for the release of Mass Effect 2 instead of ejecting it out the nearest airlock and trying something else. The first thing I did when I saw the Mako sitting there at the Normandy Crash Site was look it over and say "Okay, it looks fine to me, bring the Normandy down here and let's pick it up Joker!" Mass Effect really does feel a lot like a giant galaxy to explore, while Mass Effect 2 is more like "here's this level, here's that level, here's another level, etc".

 

[dead_rebel]

I still don't know why a game should try to please Yahtzee at all. He has so many neurosis that trying to make a game that will please him alone would literally take every game developer on earth to produce one game that only he would play.

 

[XenoLair]

Awsome man! For space flight sims / space action I always look at Freelancer. You should definitely give it a try if you haven't already - Ever since I played Mass Effect 1 I dreamed about Mass Effect's story and action RPG elements + Freelancer's space flight / fights and its economy system. And yeah, connectivity rocks! I miss that in ME2.
You also motivated me to go and start making a game with my limited knowledge of programing (but Ill go with 2D XNA as a start ^^)

 

[darthcendiarygrenade]

You know? I really missed that little airlock sequence and couldn't figure out why...now I think I know...

 

[Lucifron]

I shoot first and review my opposition later.

So, you disagree with Yahtzee's article but rather than taking it with him, you jab at people agreeing with him. That's not how I'd go about it, but then again, I have a scrotum with testicles in it, and I do not mean that in any misogynistic sense, if anyone must know.

In any case, you have missed Yahtzee's point by a mile, or let's say A.U. to keep with the current topic and to emphasize on just how much you missed it. No one is asking for repetitive gameplay, but a sense of scale, of proportion. A sense of "Holy shit, I'm really moving awesomely awesome distances in but the blink of an eye, and I know that I'm moving, for I have something to relate to other than a cutscene and the interior of my ship".
Again: no one has said that the cutscenes aren't worthless, and no one has professed that we are to be forced to walk the same path over and over again, but we should damn well have the choice of doing so, barring any other features serving the same purpouse.

 

[brunothepig]

I haven't played Mass Effect 1 or 2 but I would say it's the same jarring feeling I got from Oblivion's fast travel. The map may as well have been a tenth of the size. Fallout 3 did alright, making you travel there first, at least when you fast travel there you think "I remember fighting through raiders and monsters to get here". But I think Morrowind was the best. The cities were connected, but you had to pay. And everywhere else, you're waling my *****.

 

[Chechosaurus]

Everything you say about ME 2 makes me want it less and less but then everything every one else says makes me want it more and more so I now don't know where I stand - You've ruined my ability to form an opinion on this matter and now I think I need to go and watch gameplay videos until I want it again.

Also, I am hugely concerned that you are now spelling ARMOUR the American way .i.e. ARMOR - Most disappointing

 

[TyroSe7en]

I too need a good space sim.
No one can tell me a mixture of Freelancer and Mass Effect wouldn't be the most amazing game ever.

DUUUUDE!!!! I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!!!