Space flight simulation game
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A space flight simulator game is a genre of flight simulator video games that lets players experience space flight. Highly realistic examples lacking any sort of combat include Orbiter and Microsoft Space Simulator. Space flight simulator games are distinct from space-based shoot 'em up games that use side-scrolling or top-down perspectives.
Space flight simulators, at one time popular, have for most of the new millennium been considered a "dead" genre.[1][2][3][4][5] However, massive effort of open-source communities has managed to produce some working, modern titles. It is remained to be seen whether this effort will re-vitalize the genre. Kerbal Space Program has notably been well-received, even by the aerospace community.[6]
Sub-types
Space combat simulator
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Strike_Suit_Zero_-_Screenshot_05.jpg/260px-Strike_Suit_Zero_-_Screenshot_05.jpg)
Space combat simulators[1][7] feature futuristic scenarios involving space flight and extra planetary combat, as opposed to the modern-day and highly realistic simulation of space flight in other space flight simulators. Such games generally place the player into the controls of a small starfighter or smaller starship in a military force of similar and larger spaceships. The prominent Wing Commander, Tachyon: The Fringe, X-Wing and Freespace series all use this approach. Exceptions include the first Independence War and the Star Trek: Bridge Commander series, which model craft at a larger scale and/or in a more strategic fashion.
Space combat simulators tend to be mission-based, as opposed to the more open-ended nature of space trading and combat simulators. Also, this type of game usually does not feature realistic physics modelling and focus on gameplay elements instead of mastery of the spacecraft that the player can control.
Space trading and combat simulator
The general formula for space trading and combat simulators,[8][9][10][11] which has changed little since its genesis, is for the player to begin in a relatively small, outdated ship (that said, the ship the player controls is generally larger than that in pure space combat simulator) with little money or status and for the player to work his way up, gaining in status and power through trading, exploration, combat or a mix of different methods.[12][13][14] Notable examples include Elite, Wing Commander: Privateer, and Freelancer.
In some instances, plot plays only a limited role and only a loose narrative framework tends to be provided (in certain titles of the X series, for instance, players may ignore the plot for as long as they wish and are even given the option to disable the plot completely and instead play in "sandbox" mode[12]) -- but many games of this genre place a strong emphasis on factional conflict, leading to many small mission-driven subplots that unravel the tensions of the galaxy.
Games of this type often allow the player to choose among multiple roles to play and multiple paths to victory. This aspect of the genre is very popular, but some people have complained that, in some titles, the leeway given to the player too often is only superficial, and that, in reality, the roles offered to players are very similar, and open-ended play too frequently restricted by scripted sequences.[12] As an example, Freelancer has been criticised for being too rigid in its narrative structure,[13][15] being in one case compared negatively with Grand Theft Auto,[15] another series praised for its open-ended play.[16]
All space trading and combat games feature the core gameplay elements of directly controlling the flight of some sort of space vessel, generally armed, and of navigating from one area to another for a variety of reasons. As technology has improved it has been possible to implement a number of extensions to gameplay, such as dynamic economies, cooperative online play and realistic flight models based on Newtonian physics, but the core gameplay has changed little over the years. Some recent games, for instance EVE Online, have expanded the scope of the experience by including thousands of simultaneous online players in what is sometimes referred to as a "living universe"[12][17][18][19]—a dream some have held (though maybe not in EVE's exact format) since the genre's early beginnings.[20]
An additional sub-class of space trading games eliminate combat entirely, focusing instead entirely on trading and economic manipulation in order to achieve success.
As with the space combat subgenre, the realism of these types of games is limited to what the game designer deems to be appropriate to the story of the game.
Control systems
Most modern space flight simulators on the personal computer allow a player to utilise a combination of the WASD keys of the keyboard and mouse as a means of controlling the game (games such as Microsoft's Freelancer use this control system exclusively[15]). By far the most popular control system among genre enthusiasts, however, is the joystick.[4] Most fans prefer to use this input method whenever possible,[15] but expense and practicality mean that many are forced to use the keyboard and mouse combination (or gamepad if such is the case). The lack of uptake among the majority of modern gamers has also made joysticks a sort of an anachronism, though some new controller designs[4] and simplification of controls offer the promise that space sims may be playable in their full capacity on gaming consoles at some time in the future.[4] In fact, X3: Reunion, sometimes considered one of the more cumbersome and difficult series of space simulations to master,[21][22] was initially planned for the Xbox but later cancelled.[23]
History
Early attempts at 3D space simulation date back as far as 1974's Spasim, an online multi-player space simulator in which players attempt to destroy each other's ships.
The earliest known true space trader dates to 1974's Star Trader, a BASIC program that included a star map with multiple ports buying and selling 6 commodities.
From the Star Trader documentation:
- "IT IS THE FUTURE. Interstellar space ships link the small community of newly discovered worlds. YOU captain two merchant ships with the future of the young, emergent worlds depending upon you and your fellow skippers. You land and you liftoff, you buy local merchandise and sell what you have on board. You trade with the merchants and haggle over prices. Bid too high? Try a little lower. Bid too low? Try again next time!
- You buy your raw materials (like Uranium and Metals) on the less developed, newer star systems. With a full ship, you lift off and return to Class I or Class II star systems. There you sell out and load up on goods such as Heavy Equipment, or Medicine. Then out to the periphery for another haul."[24]
The modern space flight simulation genre emerged at the point when home computers became sufficiently powerful to draw basic wireframe graphics in real-time.[14] The game Elite is widely considered to be the breakthrough game of the genre,[14][18][25][26] and as having successfully melded the "space trading" and flight sim genres.[27] Elite was highly influential upon later games of its type, although it did have some precursors, and games similar to Elite are sometimes called "Elite-clones".[28][29][30][31]
Elite
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c4/BBC_Micro_Elite_screenshot.png/200px-BBC_Micro_Elite_screenshot.png)
Elite has made a lasting impression on developers, worldwide, extending even into different genres. In interviews, senior producers of CCP Games cited Elite as one of the inspirations for their acclaimed MMORPG, EVE Online.[26][33][34] Thorolfur Beck credits Elite as the game that impacted him most on the Commodore 64.[26] Developers of Jumpgate Evolution, Battlecruiser 3000AD, Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Hard Truck: Apocalyptic Wars and Flatspace likewise all claim Elite as a source of inspiration.[25][35][36][37][38]
Elite was named one of the sixteen most influential games in history at Telespiele, a German technology and games trade show,[39] and is being exhibited at such places as the London Science Museum in the "Game On" exhibition organized and toured by the Barbican Art Gallery.[40] Elite was also named #12 on IGN's 2000 "Top 25 PC Games of All Time" list,[41] the #3 most influential video game ever by the Times Online in 2007,[42] and "best game ever" for the BBC Micro by Beebug Magazine in 1984.[43] Elite's sequel, Frontier: Elite II, was named #77 on PC Zone's "101 Best PC Games Ever" list in 2007.[44] Similar praise has been bestowed elsewhere in the media from time to time.[45][46][47][48][49]
Elite is one of the most popularly requested games to be remade,[22] and some argue that it is still the best example of the genre to date, with more recent titles—including its sequel—not rising up to its level.[13][14][17][18] It has been credited as opening the door for future online persistent worlds, such as Second Life and World of Warcraft,[42] and as being the first truly open-ended game.[16][50] It is to this day one of the most ambitious games ever made, residing in only 22 kilobytes of memory and on a single floppy disk.[17]
Trade Wars
Though not as well known as Elite, Trade Wars is noteworthy as the first multiplayer space trader. A BBS door, Trade Wars was released in 1984[51]as an entirely different branch of the space trader tree, having been inspired by Hunt the Wumpus, the board game Risk, and the original space trader, Star Trader. As a pure space trader, Trade Wars lacked any space flight simulator elements, instead featuring abstract Open World trading and combat set in an outer space populated by both real and NPC opponents. It was influential in its own right[52][53], with modern space traders like Star Citizen, Jumpgate, and Earth and Beyond[54] citing it as an inspiration, and other games like EVE Online and Pardus frequently compared to it[55]. In 2009, it was named the #10 best PC game by PC World Magazine[56].
Trade Wars has shown an extraordinary reach and longevity. As of 2013, nearly 30 years after its original release, multiplayer Trade Wars games have been hosted on over 20,000 sites in 59 different countries, with hundreds of game sites hosting thousands of players in 2012[57].
Other examples
Elite was not the first game to take flight simulator mechanics into outer space. Other notable earlier examples include Star Raiders (1979), Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space (1982), Rendezvous: A Space Shuttle Simulation (1982),[27] and Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator (1982),[58] which featured five different controls to learn, six different enemies, and 40 different simulation levels of play, making it one of the most elaborate vector games ever released.[59] Other early examples include Nasir Gebelli's 1982 Apple II computer games Horizon V which featured an early radar mechanic and Zenith which allowed the player ship to rotate,[60][61] and Ginga Hyoryu Vifam, which allowed first-person open space exploration with a radar displaying the destination and player/enemy positions as well as an early physics engine where approaching a planet's gravitational field pulls the player towards it.[62] Following Elite were games such as The Halley Project (1985), Echelon (1987) and Microsoft Space Simulator (1994). Star Luster, released for the NES console and arcades in 1985, featured free-roaming open space exploration with six degrees of freedom, a cockpit view, a radar displaying enemy and base locations, the ability to warp anywhere, and a date system keeping track of the current date.[63][64][65]
Some tabletop and board games, such as Traveller or Merchant of Venus, also feature themes of space combat and trade. Traveller influenced the development of Elite (the main character in Traveller is named "Jamison"; the main character in Elite is named "Jameson") and Jumpgate Evolution.[25][66]
Decline
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Spacecraft_approaching_a_space_station_in_Vega_Strike.png/220px-Spacecraft_approaching_a_space_station_in_Vega_Strike.png)
The seeming decline of the space flight simulators in the late '90s coincided with the rise of the RTS, FPS and RPG game genres, with such examples as Warcraft, Doom and Diablo.[4] The very things that made these games classics, such as their open-endedness, complex controls and attention to detail, have been cited as reasons for this decline.[4][5]
Resurgence
Some recent franchises such as the X series[4] and EVE Online, may end a decade in which no new title of the genre was published. The open source community has also been active, with recent projects such as FS2 Open and Vega Strike serving as platforms for nonprofessional efforts.[5] Remakes of Elite[citation needed] and Privateer[67] are even being made using the Vega Strike engine, and the latter reached the stage it is offered as a working title to the public.
In November 2012 Star Citizen set a new record for crowd funding. It managed to raise a total of $6,238,563. Elite: Dangerous was successfully crowdfunded on Kickstarter in November and December 2012. Born Ready Games also closed a successful Kickstarter campaign at the end of 2012 raising almost $180,000 to assist with the completion of Strike Suit Zero scheduled for release January 2013.
See also
References
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- ^ Weise, Matt (May 28, 2003). "Freelancer". GameCritics. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
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- ^ a b c Wen, Howard (February 12, 2008). "What Happened To The Last Starfighters?". The Escapist. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ Andrew Groen (June 18, 2013). "NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab is obsessed with a certain game, and I bet you can guess what it is". The PA Report. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
- ^ "SW3DG releases Evochron Renegades". GameTunnel. October 20, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16. [dead link]
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- ^ Carless, Simon (March 5, 2008). "GDC: Game Designers Rant On Making Games That Matter". GameSetWatch. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ Peckham, Matt (March 7, 2006). "Flatspace II: The Rise of the Scarrid". SciFi.com. Archived from the original on 2008-04-16. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ a b Fahey, Rob (February 6, 2004). "X2: The Threat Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ "X3: Reunion for Xbox". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ http://wiki.classictw.com/index.php?title=Star_Trader
- ^ a b c Hartmeyer, Steve (February 13, 2008). "Dev Diary: The Inspirations Behind Jumpgate Evolution". The MMO Gamer. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ a b c Aihoshi, Richard (August 1, 2000). "EVE Interview". RPGVault. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
- ^ a b Barton, Matt (April 7, 2009). "The History of Elite: Space, the Endless Frontier". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
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- ^ Gillen, Kieron (July 17, 2006). "Darkstar One Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
- ^ Vandervell, Andrew (August 16, 2006). "DarkStar One Review for PC". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
- ^ "X: Beyond The Frontier Review". Eurogamer. October 21, 1999. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
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- ^ "Evolution and Risk: CCP on the Freedoms of EVE Online". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
- ^ Breeden II, John. "Keep Looking Up: Space-based Eve Online Enjoys Success". GamesIndustry. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ Johnson, Joe (February 9, 2006). "Infinity: Quest for the Earth". ModDB. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ "Hard Truck: Apocalyptic Wars interview". Duck and Cover. April 25, 2005. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ Carroll, Russell (October 27, 2003). "Chat with Cornutopia about FLATSPACE by Game Tunnel". Game Tunnel. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ Bergman, Jason. "Serious Brass Ones (A peek inside the world of Derek Smart)". looneygames. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
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David Braben is one of the old-time legends of British computer gaming – along with Ian Bell, he co-wrote the space simulator Elite, a hugely influential game often earmarked as one of the best ever made.
- ^ "Presented in Retrovision: Elite". Gay Gamer. May 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
Elite is still one of the most influential games to date, having inspired EVE Online, Freespace, Jumpgate, Homeworld and a handful of other space titles.
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But [the BBC Micros] weren't just for learning on, a handful of games were actually released for the Beeb - two of the most influential games ever in fact – one of which was Revs. (...) The other super influential game [besides Revs] by the way, was Elite.
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If, however - like me - you consider Elite to be the best game ever made, X - Beyond The Frontier is by far its closest relation.
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In 1984, Ian Bell was the one of the authors of a game that by many still is regarded as the best game ever written, Elite (the other author was David Braben).
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