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Original post by Vopisk Space-game development should bypass consoles all together and focus on the area of development that gives them the wide-open opportunity to take full advantage of the countless minutae that take place in a space game. Yes, it COULD be dumbed down to console level, yes you don't NEED a keyboard, but the keyboard just makes it that much better.

You really need to find a way to play Star Control II for the 3DO. Strategic mining and ship building, Real-time ship to ship 2D dogfight combat (very fun), seemingly real interaction with alien species, and all the exploration you can imagine. I believe there were around 500+ stars, with each star containing 2 to 16 planets.

My favorite aspect of the game was the strategy mixed with real time action. I loved upgrading my ship, then running into Ur-Quan territory and fighting an endless stream of dreadknoughts. Some planets also had extremely valuable minerals to mine, and some even sported new alien species, so there was always that looking for treasure feel to it.

The game was so fun, a keyboard would be the last thing on your mind.

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Original post by Kest Quote: Original post by Vopisk Space-game development should bypass consoles all together and focus on the area of development that gives them the wide-open opportunity to take full advantage of the countless minutae that take place in a space game. Yes, it COULD be dumbed down to console level, yes you don't NEED a keyboard, but the keyboard just makes it that much better. You really need to find a way to play Star Control II for the 3DO. Strategic mining and ship building, Real-time ship to ship 2D dogfight combat (very fun), seemingly real interaction with alien species, and all the exploration you can imagine. I believe there were around 500+ stars, with each star containing 2 to 16 planets. My favorite aspect of the game was the strategy mixed with real time action. I loved upgrading my ship, then running into Ur-Quan territory and fighting an endless stream of dreadknoughts. Some planets also had extremely valuable minerals to mine, and some even sported new alien species, so there was always that looking for treasure feel to it. The game was so fun, a keyboard would be the last thing on your mind.

Perhaps, but imagine the same game brought to the PC, where you could have thousands of star systems, randomly generated at run-time of course to make the game different each time it's played, unless it's a sustained world in the case of an MMO*. There was a game called... "Planets" I believe it was, back in the very early nineties, just after the PC replaced the Apple II series in most homes. It evolved through a couple of editions, but the first was always the best. It was somewhat of a pre-cursor to Master of Orion, if you ask my opinion and I believe it was shareware/freeware distributed via internet, of course another relatively "new" feature in the world at that point. Even so, I loved that game to death too, and while it had a "multiplayer" function, allowing different people in the same room, at the same PC to play against/with one another, there was no such thing as massive, multiplayer anything in the graphics world back then.

Anyway, I'm sure it's all well and good, but in this day and age, the gamer is looking for something different, unless you count the nostalgic old-timers (such as myself and the rest of most of us) who long for the glory of the good old days when RPG's were played only with pen and paper and a set of dice on a tabletop and there was no such thing as "Final Fantasy" to change the entire definition of what we had come to know and love.

Anyway, I will continue to stand by my statements that PC is the best method of delivery for a space game, because it can be truly open-ended in the case of a PC. Given "updates" and "expansions" you can continue playing the game forever(so long as the developer keeps developing or allows a method for modding and expansion).

Anyway, that's more of my cents, or nonsense. Something to chew on.

Vopisk

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Original post by Vopisk Perhaps, but imagine the same game brought to the PC, where you could have thousands of star systems

Ahh man, trust me, there were already plenty. I haven't even seen them all. There's just a lot more to do in the game than explore.

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Anyway, I'm sure it's all well and good, but in this day and age, the gamer is looking for something different, unless you count the nostalgic old-timers (such as myself and the rest of most of us)

Well, it's not that old. Or at least not as old as the old-timer glory days. Believe it or not, it's not one of those games where only hard core gamers can dig their nails into the action. The atmosphere and gameplay would certainly survive in today's market. Even the graphics were really decent - for a 2D engine. They are lacking for current standards, but the aliens still look great - especially the Sireen :P

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Anyway, I will continue to stand by my statements that PC is the best method of delivery for a space game, because it can be truly open-ended in the case of a PC. Given "updates" and "expansions" you can continue playing the game forever(so long as the developer keeps developing or allows a method for modding and expansion).

This would require an invisible wall to block players inside of the developed area? Personally, I'm not so much for huge open ended space. I would prefer a lot of content.