Starflight

Starflight
North American box art
Developer(s)	Binary Systems, Electronic Arts
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Platform(s)	DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Mega Drive/Genesis, Macintosh
Release	1986
Genre(s)	Role-playing game/Strategy
Mode(s)	Single player

See interstellar travel for travel between the stars.

For other uses of Starflight see Starflight (disambiguation)

Starflight is a computer game published by Electronic Arts and developed by Binary Systems in 1986. Originally developed for DOS and Tandy, it was later released for the Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh and Commodore 64. A fully-revamped version of the game was developed for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991.

Set in the year 4620, the game puts players in the role of a starship captain sent to explore the galaxy. There is no set path, allowing players to switch freely between mining, ship-to-ship combat, and alien diplomacy. The story eventually expands to resemble a space opera à la Star Trek. Self-aware humor also plays a role within Starflight, such as an encounter with the Starship Enterprise, infrequent messages between a disgruntled loan shark and a smuggler, and a hidden binary code which reveals the telephone number of the developers' home office. In March 1987, Computer Gaming World declared it "the best science fiction game available on computer."

Gameplay

File:Starflightgame.png

Setting out

The player begins inside a space station orbiting a planet called Arth. The inhabitants of Arth have recently discovered two things: first, that they were once a colony world of Earth; and second, Endurium, a crystal that fuels interstellar flight. The goals of the game include exploration, collection of lifeforms and minerals, and finding habitable colony worlds. Eventually, a larger goal of finding out why stars in the region are going nova and stopping the process, if possible, comes to the forefront.

The ship is initially equipped only to haul minerals. It can be modified into a warship through the purchase of weapons, armor, and shields. The player hires a crew from five species to man the ship's six posts: Navigator, Science Officer, Engineer, Communications Officer, Doctor, and Captain (who has no actual role - the manual states that his abilities boost the crew's). A crewman's proficiency is determined by the relevant skill: a good science officer can determine more of a planet's properties and detect aliens at range, etc. Skill increases are bought. One crewman can man multiple posts, but different species have different maximum skill levels. More crew will also spread out the damage from spiky space tiger attacks and other hazards.

The hub of the game is Starport, headquarters of the Interstel corporation, and a space station which orbits the planet Arth. Here players sell their finds, buy minerals and Endurium, recruit and train crew members, and upgrade parts of the ship. The main source of income is planet exploration: the ship is equipped with a terrain vehicle that the crew can use to look for minerals and life-forms. The most lucrative source is finding planets suitable for human life. If the science officer's analysis checks out, the player can flag a planet for colonization, and name it for no gameplay effect whatsoever.

Starflight has well over a hundred stars and several hundred planets. All star systems can be entered and all planets landed on, though not always survivably. Space is also criss-crossed with "continuum fluxes," pairs of spots that allow instantaneous travel between them. Fluxes are a way to cut down significantly on fuel costs and travel time, and to make all but the most accomplished navigators lose their bearings. Space is populated with a handful of spacefaring races that patrol their own areas, probes, strange singing beings, and at one spot, the Enterprise. Most alien races begin by scanning the ship for potential danger, while others merely start shooting. If the player chooses to arm weapons or raise shields prematurely, the aliens will interpret that action as aggressive and begin firing. Alternatively, the communications officer can hail the aliens and ask questions on set topics. The science officer can also scan alien ships for general data (e.g. "88 times the size of our ship, weapons armed.")

Combat is a matter of moving around to dodge enemy fire, mashing the fire button to fire missiles when far away, and mashing the fire button to fire weaker, but inescapable lasers when near. The player's ship has ablative armor and regenerative shields. It takes damage to its hull, crew members, and individual components.

When a landing is ordered, pixelated map shows the various topography of each planet, as well as a cursor to select a landing point. The Terrain Vehicle can be deployed once the ship is parked on the ground, allowing the crew to drive across the terrain and scan for minerals. As is the case in outer space, a heads-up display monitors the Terrain Vehicle's current fuel level, which is replenished by simply re-entering the ship. If the Terrain Vehicle is destroyed or irrevocably lost, a fee is automatically deducted for a replacement.

Plot

Setting

At the start of the game, a large construct known as the Crystal Planet is slowly moving through the galaxy. The planet causes nearby stars to flare up and destroy all carbon-based life in the system. The player must explore solar systems, gather clues, special artifacts that grant access to the planet, and ultimately find the planet and destroy it before the player's home system flares.

The galaxy is composed of a number of species which can be encountered in space and five of which can be hired as part of the player's crew. (Humans apparently only exist on Arth and are not to be found among the stars other than on Interstel ships.) Other species include the Veloxi, large insects who demand bribes from ships which violate their space; androids, Interstel models which can be part of the crew, and a mechanical "race" (the Mechans) left over from the days of the Old Empire; the Elowan, a pacifistic race of sentient plants; the Thrynn, reptile creatures who are primarily interested in money; Spemin, gelatinous blobs who are known for their cowardice; the Gazurtoid, octopus-like zealots who regard all "air-breathers" as infidels; and the Uhlek, a destructive fleet of ships with a hive mind.

Story

The story begins on a planet called Arth, which is a haven for the survivors of the human race (aka the "Old Empire"). Due to heavy radiation, the inhabitants have been forced to live beneath the planet's crust for centuries. In recent times, the radiation has finally dissipated from the surface, allowing the population to unearth long-lost technology that allows for the building of spaceships belonging to Arth's original settlers. An independent company called Interstel is dispatching ships to mine for resources, particularly endurium, a crystalline mineral which acts as fuel for starships. In addition, Interstel employees are instructed to seek missing information about Arth's history, ancient artifacts, and planets with optimum environments for colonization. Early in the game, the crew encounters an Old Empire starship adrift in space; An endlessly-repeating distress call has been transmitting from the ship for over a thousand years. Before the fall of the Old Empire, a scientific expedition known as the Noah 9 left Earth in search of Heaven, a paradise world to which humans could immigrate. Ultimately, the expedition never arrived, leaving a fleet of Mechan ships forever waiting for their arrival. Once their coded questions are answered correctly, the Mechans assume that the crew is, in fact, the long-awaited Noah 9.

Further investigation leads the crew to Earth, the homeworld of the Old Empire. The planet has been burned to a cinder and is devoid of all life. Additional clues are found in the "Four Seedlings", a symmetrical system made up of four suns. Centuries ago, the leaders of the Old Empire realized something was causing hostile aliens to flee from the center of the galaxy. The greatest minds from each of the races gathered at this location, where they discovered that the Crystal Planet was slowly eradicating all life. In a last act, they sent a human named Commander McConnell to end it, but he apparently failed.

At the end of the game, the player must obtain certain artifacts in order to penetrate the shielding of the Crystal Planet and destroy it. Commander McConnell's last journal entry can be found on the surface; in it, he shares his discovery that endurium is actually a race of living, sentient beings who are being burned up as fuel for interstellar travel. These Beings are revealed to be the ancients .known at the Anc , Because their metabolism is extremely slow due to their crystalline makeup, they are not even aware of outside life and have come to view other races as a virus. The game ends after the player successfully plants the "Black Egg" artifact on the planet's surface and retreats back into space, causing the Crystal Planet to explode. Although the game can still be played after the Crystal planet is destroyed in the Genisis version. another quest is to use another black egg to blow up the Uhlek homeworld called "the ganglion" and after the uhlek homeworld is destroyed all uhlek spaceships located in space are destroyed.

Mega Drive/Genesis version

Genesis version of Starflight

Starflight was ported and re-released for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991. Aside from graphical upgrades, there are very few changes to the overall game. In addition to modifications made to the ship itself, several upgrades can be purchased for the Terrain Vehicle — renamed "TV" — including pontoons and snow treads (for transport over water and snow, respectively). The Shimmering Ball, an artifact which doubled as a cloaking device in the original DOS version, has no such ability in the remake but in fact autoscans alien ships when encountered. The option to name newly-discovered planets was also removed.

Legacy

Starflight spawned a sequel, Starflight 2: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula, and was very much the spiritual predecessor to the more popular, but similarly-themed Star Control 2. An unofficial sequel released without the Starflight name due to the inability of the designers to gain the rights to the title from Electronic Arts is the lesser-known Protostar.

Reception

Game reviewers Hartley and Pattie Lesser complimented the game in their "The Role of Computers" column in Dragon #116 (1986), calling it "stunning in its presentation and play".

See also

• Starflight 2
• Star Control 2
• Elite (1984)
• Iron Seed (1994)

External links

• Starflight at MobyGames
• Starflt.com – Resource page and downloads
• Starflight - The Lost Colony download Beta #4
• The Starflight III Project
• Starflight JDR (in Spanish)
• Boldly Going Somewhere Better Then [sic] Newer Games: Starflight – In-depth review of the Genesis version of Starflight