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LongGone
12-05-2008, 08:54 PM
I've always enjoyed space sim/exploration types of games, such as Elite and Starflight among others. Those are some oldies though (like in the late 80's I think). Anyway, I'm also a big fan of Indie games in general and while browsing around I stumble across a game called Flatspace and it's sequel, Flatspace II.

It's a top down view space trading, exploration type game that says it's pretty open ended and gives you alot of freedom. I've downloaded the demo of the first one from: http://www.lostinflatspace.com/ but I've been busy and haven't had a chance to play it yet. Hopefully I'll be able to check it out over the weekend.

Anyway, just thought some of you may be interested and/or have played it before.
ohms_law
12-05-2008, 09:13 PM
I've actually never heard of it before, but I always loved Starfire myself. Have you ever played it?
LongGone
12-05-2008, 09:29 PM
I've actually never heard of it before, but I always loved Starfire myself. Have you ever played it?

I've never played Starfire, but I did a quick check on the web and it sounds interesting. I'm installing Flatspace now and will take a quick tour to see what it's like.
ohms_law
12-05-2008, 10:15 PM
Yea, it's a fun game. It's not a computer game, though...
Flatspace sure looks interesting.
LongGone
12-06-2008, 12:36 AM
Yea, it's a fun game. It's not a computer game, though...
Flatspace sure looks interesting.

That was the first thing I noticed about Starfire, but not being a computer game isn't necessarily a bad thing either. :) I grew up playing tabletop games with dice and paper and still play APBA that way when the mood strikes me. I'll have to give Starfire a closer look.
defcheetah
12-06-2008, 06:55 AM
Yes I bought Flat Space II about 2yrs ago. I wish it didn't have the overhead view and 3-d cockpit style view instead. I loved be the police officer and using stun missiles on the bad guys and taking them to jail. Another game of interest if you like this style of game is Jack of All trades at dingogames.com. But if you truly want some cockpit style fighting checkout Evochron Renegades at Starwraith.com. You can play the game on you computer using the money you make from racing, pirating, mining or trading, then buy equipment and get into some dogfights with the other players online for free.
ohms_law
12-06-2008, 09:02 AM
Flatspace sounds a lot like a (better, more modern) version of Wing Commander...
LongGone
12-06-2008, 12:13 PM
Yes I bought Flat Space II about 2yrs ago. I wish it didn't have the overhead view and 3-d cockpit style view instead. I loved be the police officer and using stun missiles on the bad guys and taking them to jail. Another game of interest if you like this style of game is Jack of All trades at dingogames.com. But if you truly want some cockpit style fighting checkout Evochron Renegades at Starwraith.com. You can play the game on you computer using the money you make from racing, pirating, mining or trading, then buy equipment and get into some dogfights with the other players online for free.

Yeah, the overhead view will take some getting used to. I prefer the 3-D first person perspecitve like those found in the old X-Wing and Tie Fighter games (those were a blast to play! Wish I could find the collector's edition of those 2. I've read that you can get them to work on Vista.). Flatspace isn't a bad game though, but I'll have to spend some more time with the demo to see if it warrants a purchase.

I'll checkout Renegades....sounds like fun. :)
defcheetah
12-06-2008, 01:42 PM
Another 3d game of interest is Void War it was the 2004 independant game of the year. Its just a 3d style dog fighting game, but it has a rockin demo for a death match mode with 10 other ships. It looks like a scene out of Star Wars.
LongGone
12-06-2008, 06:05 PM
Just grabbed the demo for Void War. From reading the web site, it looks like alot of fun. Looking forward to trying it out later this evening.
Arctic Blast
12-06-2008, 09:32 PM
By the way, there's a freeware title out there called Wing Commander : Saga. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but others that have have really enjoyed it. The introductory chapter is available from their website here (http://www.wcsaga.com/).
defcheetah
12-06-2008, 10:33 PM
Another free cockpit style game is called Furthertime, their is also an updated Elite Clone called Oolite which is also free.
LongGone
12-06-2008, 11:13 PM
Oh man. You guys are killing me with all these great game suggestions! :D But I'm not complaining, the more the better.....it will just take some time to work through the ever growing stack of games to try.
Arctic Blast
12-07-2008, 02:59 AM
I'll just be mean and add to the free pile of goodness, then...:D

Battle for Wesnoth (http://wesnoth.org/) is a pretty fun little Heroes of Might and Magic style game that fans are still modding and developing for. And UFO : AI (http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/) is a GREAT fan remake of Xcom (with much better graphics and a much more diverse tech tree and list of weapons).
defcheetah
12-07-2008, 04:19 AM
Ahhh X-Com, I actually bought Laser Squad Nemesis which was made by the creator I believe. But it's not my thing its cool bringing out the troops and placing them, then in the end you can watch your battle like a little gunfight movie but it takes soooooooooo long. There is also a game similar to Flatspace called X you can find it at Best Buy for under $10.
LongGone
12-07-2008, 04:26 AM
Thanks to you guys, the goodness continues to grow. :D Seriously though, I appreciate all the info and links. I played X-Com when it first came out and I enjoyed it, so I'll check out UFO: AI.
LongGone
12-07-2008, 04:44 AM
Not a space shooter, but Orbiter (http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html)looks very interesting. It's a free space flight simulator. I remember playing Falcon 4.0 back in the day and I thought it had a steep learning curve, I think Orbiter has it beat in that department. :)
Arctic Blast
12-07-2008, 08:05 PM
Ahhh X-Com, I actually bought Laser Squad Nemesis which was made by the creator I believe. But it's not my thing its cool bringing out the troops and placing them, then in the end you can watch your battle like a little gunfight movie but it takes soooooooooo long. There is also a game similar to Flatspace called X you can find it at Best Buy for under $10.

It's been well known for awhile now that the Gollop Brothers (guys behind the first 3 Xcom games) really want to do another, but whoever holds the license rights (I think it's Atari) wants ludicrous money.

Definitely give UFO : AI a try...I really liked what they did with it. Or, Hell, the entire Xcom lineup has been optimized for XP and Vista and is on Steam and Gamersgate. I think it's $15 for the whole series (though, really, Interceptor and Enforcer were just awful).
RedsoxRockies
12-07-2008, 08:16 PM
Space Games aren't really my thing, they never really have been. I do like flight simulators and stuff like that though (Likely the airforce blood in me)
Alloutwar
12-07-2008, 11:01 PM
I LOVE X-Com: Apocalypse. I could play it endlessly, for all time. If UFO:AI is anything like it, I'll give it a try.

The other two, UFO Defense and TFTD, were too slow...I liked the real-time option in Apoc.

About a year ago I bought UFO: Extraterrestrials, I think it was called...supposed to be an X-Com sequel in spirit...but wow, it sucked. It was basically UFO Defense...with slightly improved graphics. After 10+ years of innovation, it was just sad.
LongGone
12-08-2008, 01:47 PM
There's another game that I've played and really liked. It's called Space Trader and originally came out for the Palm and Pocket PC platform. But they have a Windows version at: http://spacetraderwin.sourceforge.net/home.php

No flashy graphics, it's more of a strategy type game, where you can choose to be a trader, pirate, etc. The goal is simple, make enough $$ to buy your own moon and retire. It's a lot of fun though and I've wasted countless hours on it especially when I was stuck in the hospital. :)
Arctic Blast
12-08-2008, 05:41 PM
I LOVE X-Com: Apocalypse. I could play it endlessly, for all time. If UFO:AI is anything like it, I'll give it a try.

The other two, UFO Defense and TFTD, were too slow...I liked the real-time option in Apoc.

About a year ago I bought UFO: Extraterrestrials, I think it was called...supposed to be an X-Com sequel in spirit...but wow, it sucked. It was basically UFO Defense...with slightly improved graphics. After 10+ years of innovation, it was just sad.

Yeah, the whole commercial UFO series (Afterlight, Aftermath, ET) is just a wannabe Xcom.

The freeware one if probably the most closely related to the first Xcom, though it does seem to have a faster pace, both in terms of R&D and in the tactical battles.