It's one of my favourite gaming genres with classics like Star Control 2: The Ur-Quan Masters and Escape Velocity being up there as some of the best to emerge in the genre. I was scouting abandon software recently to find some old jewels and I'm playing Elite Plus right now. What are your favourite all time Space Exploration/Alien Diplomacy games?

Dygash, I don't know you, but you, sir, are always welcome at my dinner table. [grin] Cool topic.

Sometimes I think nobody plays these sort of games anymore. I wore out a mouse playing Star Control and EV:Nova's still on my hard drive. I have to say, though, that the granddaddy of all space exploration games was Starflight: 200+ stars, 800 planets, 7 races, RPG leveling, unique "gear" in the form of alien artifacts and a changing cosmos with an epic storyline of stars exploding... all on 2 floppies. Replayed it recently and while the UI sucks (menus upon menus) and the fractal planets feel a bit emptier than I remember I've never found another game with such an awe inspiring scope.

Did you ever play Sentinel Worlds or Planet's Edge? One thing I really miss are the games that let you get out and explore stuff like ancient ruins on foot. The move to 3D has made this horrendously expensive in modern games, though, so save for postage stamp sized "areas" in a game like Mass Effect planetary exploration really now only means flying over the planet dogfighting or looking at the scenery. That's a real shame.

There are a few indie space exploration games I've seen that have settled on gameplay over immersion. Strange Adventures in Infinite Space and Weird Worlds are good, if abstract, and there's a Starflight: Lost Colony that's in beta and getting better. Another called Space Exploration: Serpens Sector is showing promise, as is Transcendence (think EV as a Rogue-alike). Production values aren't top of the line, but they do capture that "what's out there" feel.

So maybe I'm wrong, folks still play these things. Gives me hope for the space game I'm building!

Wavinator you'd best send me a menu for your dinner table, I've been known to mutate into a ravaging plague bearing alien when in close proximity to citrus fruits.

Wierd Worlds 2 was fun and its 20 minute philosophy gives the game a great feeling but on the flip I always want more time with a single campaign. Escape Velocity was the game that got me started as a kid with computer games. If you haven't already I recommend downloading the plugins for EV:Nova of the remade EV and EV:Override which fans remade for the Nova engine. For me these games in scope and story were better than the 3rd title. That new starflight beta sounds intriguing I'm going to check it out and I did come across the Serpens Sector but there seemed a lack of information on it.

About 3d games struggling to adequately cover the genre,for the most part I agree but there's one game I believe has come close. And she's a goddess. Independance War 2: Edge of Chaos. (I hope I don't get blasted for that one, but she's my queen). The number of systems, stations and the games physics, it was a blast. It just lacked enough content for this massive universe they made.

So I just found the most amazing bit of freeware. Wavinator I think you're gonna like this. This is the download link:

http://www.projectrho.com/star10.zip

Made by one Jim Vassilakos in 1998. Nono...hear me out! I've been looking around for something that would help me design galaxy maps for recreational purposes (what can I say...I don't get out much) and I got more than I bargained for. This free open sourced piece of software, whilst graphically simple and unglossed, has some fantastic programming behind it.

You create a galaxy, that galaxy is divided into a near infinite number of quadrants, as many as you want in X, Y and Z directions. Each quadrant can be displayed in a 3d map that is rotatable to view you star systems and their connecting paths (if you designate and (I have been making constellations for my project so it stands to reason I would) connections between systems they can represent trade routes etc.)

You can create as many star systems as you want in a quadrant or you can randomly generate them (with all the bells and whistles). You can then enter any solar system and design/edit it. This tool is very scientifically focused with the leeway of allowing you to visualise alot of scenarios. From triple hubbed stars to far companion (twin) star systems. Once you've finished building all your stars, astronomical objects and their associated orbits which indicate inner planes, bio diverse planes and outer planes and vaporise planes, you can you use a dirty little tool called hexworld that comes in the package to make old school global hex maps of your orbiting objects.

I'm confident someone with programming knowledge could find a way to drastically update it to our current standards. Once you've finished your map you can designate populated (habitats) hexes, associated pictures, create wiki's the frikkin works. It may be old school, but just like music, some classics just can't be beaten.

I've been recording data I create in conjunction with Excel. I'm fairly confident the data being generated would easily be compatible, if not the whole program integratable, within an appropriate game design project.

Have fun!

Kirk out...

I liked Armada on the Dreamcast. It's been years since I've played it, and I don't remember it very well, but it was an awesome game. Space seemed limitless, literally traveling hours without seeing the end. What really set this game apart, though, was the multiplayer. Up to four players co-op. It rocked.

Does anyone know Imperium Galactica or Haegemonia (Legions of the Universe)?
If they were ever released outside Hungary.

Quote:Original post by szecs
Does anyone know Imperium Galactica or Haegemonia (Legions of the Universe)?
If they were ever released outside Hungary.

I have Imperium Galactica 1 and 2. Unfortuanely they are designed for Windows 98, and I've yet to figure out how to get them running on Windows 7... Awesome games.

Master of Orion series are fun in this as well...

I'd suggest a few classics... but I'm slightly biased [grin]

Quote:Original post by EnigmaticCoder
I liked Armada on the Dreamcast. It's been years since I've played it, and I don't remember it very well, but it was an awesome game. Space seemed limitless, literally traveling hours without seeing the end. What really set this game apart, though, was the multiplayer. Up to four players co-op. It rocked.

A friend introduced me to this and we played it to death. I liked how as you got farther and farther out from home (into what he called "Scary Space") the Armada creatures got bigger and bigger. That game had so much atmosphere! (Loved the massing AI who cried, "Rally to me, all who would fight the Armada!!!")

One thing I really hated about the game, though, was the lack of significant upgrades and how pointless some of the sandbox activities were. Bases were few and far between and all the escort missions just lead ships to their deaths out in deep space. When I pointed this and other flaws out to my friend I think I earned a special place in hell because his lust for the game just dimmed and he hasn't played it since.