Starflight

[SUBMAN1]

I so miss Starflight!!!! Today, we have the capability to make a new one that is so far removed from the old graphics and easily replaced with full 3D! Playing Mass Effect and it has many elements of the old Starflight in it, just that Mass Effect is so much smaller. Anyway, imagine if you were looking for resorces with graphics like this:

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5571/mejh1.jpg

No wonder Mass Effect is so popular. It has many of the elements gamers have been craving for ages!

-S

[SUBMAN1]

Here is another planet:

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/733/me2qk4.jpg

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/7367/me3xq1.jpg

[NeonSamurai]

Problem I had with the planets and generic missions in Mass Effect is they are all by in large the same (other then texturing), they are all mostly jagged mountains (which is odd, most of the planets in our solar system don't have this kind of terrain over most of their surface) with very little flat areas, and almost no cratering. Even planets with water (and rain) have jagged surfaces with no cratering (little cratering would be correct, the atmosphere would burn up most smaller roids/comets, however jagged surfaces would be worn down by erosion very quickly though). The bases on these planets were also identical (3 design variants, the mining cave, base 1 and base 2).

Lots of recycling in that game, the only unique and interesting areas were really the plot missions


Anyhow personally I would love to have a sandbox game like say X3 but also with planets you can land on, explore, or trade with.

[SUBMAN1]

Problem I had with the planets and generic missions in Mass Effect is they are all by in large the same (other then texturing), they are all mostly jagged mountains (which is odd, most of the planets in our solar system don't have this kind of terrain over most of their surface) with very little flat areas, and almost no cratering. Even planets with water (and rain) have jagged surfaces with no cratering (little cratering would be correct, the atmosphere would burn up most smaller roids/comets, however jagged surfaces would be worn down by erosion very quickly though). The bases on these planets were also identical (3 design variants, the mining cave, base 1 and base 2).

Lots of recycling in that game, the only unique and interesting areas were really the plot missions


Anyhow personally I would love to have a sandbox game like say X3 but also with planets you can land on, explore, or trade with.The moon has some pretty deep craters, and if you went to the moon in this game, you land in a pretty deep one. I guess only planets not rocked by cataclysm or techtonic shift or volcanic activity will be featureless. Mars has sections that make the grand canyon look like a tiny ant, and some moons in our solar system have high volcanic activity which also means techtonics at work. The highest mountains in the solar system are not on Earth for example.

Since most planets in the game you can't land on, maybe this picked all the the ones with features? :D Dunno.

Anyway, yes, a lot of recycling. Probably had more to do with the schedule fo the shipping of Mass Effect than by design. With the kind of generic underground base type deal they had, a random base generator would have been a wise choice. Something tells me though that they planned to hand craft each one but never got around to it. Crud, a good level designer could have fixed that pretty easy in a few weeks!

Mass Effect is one engine I'd like to see released to the community. I think we could make a Starflight out of it.

Anyway, I'll check out all the planets. I've seen almost all of them so far. Each definitely has a different feel which is what leads me to the idea that they didn't have the time for the bases.

-S

[Captain Vlad]

I would utterly love another game as big as Starflight. That was one of the few games that really captured a 'too far out for anyone to help you' vibe, especially when you were so far away from home you had to scroll the map a few times to see the starbase...

[SUBMAN1]

I would utterly love another game as big as Starflight. That was one of the few games that really captured a 'too far out for anyone to help you' vibe, especially when you were so far away from home you had to scroll the map a few times to see the starbase...Up in dangerous territory to boot, like Ulek (I remember they started with a U so I may have got the name wrong, but their power I will never forget!) territory way to the North (if space has North) where class 5 of everything might not even save your butt! :D :p Those were the days!

-S

[DeepIron]

Starflight III site: http://www.starflightcentral.com/Default.aspx


Looks like it hasn't seen much action as of late though. Evidently, some of the original SF authors are involved... :up:

A few years ago, some friends of mine and I considered an Open Source "space oriented" game that combined aspects of SF, Elite and Privateer... We all got pretty busy with Real Life and the project went by the wayside.

Hmm... I might still have some of those files around...

[SUBMAN1]

I've seen that before. I can play the original or the second one, but thats not what I'm after. I'm after a brand new game like Mass Effect in graphics, but with Starflight at it's core. Mass Effect is one of the first games to come along in ages that had a lot of similar elements.

-S

[DeepIron]

I've seen that before. I can play the original or the second one, but thats not what I'm after. I'm after a brand new game like Mass Effect in graphics, but with Starflight at it's core. Mass Effect is one of the first games to come along in ages that had a lot of similar elements.

-SHmm, ,might be just as interesting to do a remake of the three "Starflight" games using a more current graphic mode instead of the EGA graphics they used originally. Not in the style of Mass Effect, just better color palettes, etc.

The Privateer Gemini Gold project has been very successful in this regard...
http://priv.solsector.net/news.htm

I thinking about the actual "strategy" aspect of SF without all the eye candy... Would it be as good as we remember it?

[Captain Vlad]

The number #1 thing you'd have to get right about a Starflight remake was the...vibe, more than the strategy. The stuff you had to do to accomplish your goals was important to that (gathering resources because your planet is too cash-strapped to send out fully-equipped ships, finding potential colony sites, etc), but that whole sense of being out in space with no idea whatsoever what the next star would bring is the single thing I remember most about the game, and what made me love it so much.

[SUBMAN1]

The number #1 thing you'd have to get right about a Starflight remake was the...vibe, more than the strategy. The stuff you had to do to accomplish your goals was important to that (gathering resources because your planet is too cash-strapped to send out fully-equipped ships, finding potential colony sites, etc), but that whole sense of being out in space with no idea whatsoever what the next star would bring is the single thing I remember most about the game, and what made me love it so much.That is what made me not care much for Starflight 2. Endurium (did i remember it right?) was not a major factor when you started playing that game. In the first one though, just finding the resources to be able to continue your mission was a problem and a fun one to solve. You get to explore the galaxy in trade for what you find and bring back!

Another disappointment in #2 was the idiot blob things were the power in the Universe - The Spemen? Forget what their name was but the story just didn't grab me like #1.

-S

[Captain Vlad]

That is what made me not care much for Starflight 2. Endurium (did i remember it right?) was not a major factor when you started playing that game.

Shyneum in the second game, considering what you eventually discovered about Endurium.:D You could still use/trade in endurium, but a lot of races wouldn't deal with you if they detected it aboard your ship.

I do remember having an easier time, resource wise, than in Starflight one, and no, space didn't feel as empty. They seemed to be shooting for a different feel, a more trade/exploration centered thing, than the 'see what's out there' in the first one. I'll admit I didn't enjoy it like I enjoyed the first one, but it was still a very satisfying game.

Another disappointment in #2 was the idiot blob things were the power in the Universe - The Spemen? Forget what their name was but the story just didn't grab me like #1.

The Spemin, who remember you not so fondly from the first game, where they were the whipping boys of the galaxy, and have somehow acquired exceptionally powerful weaponry they're using to expand their...empire....