demagogue on 19/4/2012 at 04:04
For what it's worth, I've said it before and even again a few posts above, but if you like scifi trading sims I can't recommend Hardwar enough... (
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWsbdXYmDYU) Video
Not just my favorite trading sim but in my top 5 favorite games ever. Art direction is awesome, best electronica soundtrack in a game ever (AFAIK, just a notch over Homeworld IMO), mechanics are great considering how complex the simulation is (totally open economy & autonomous NPCs), fighting is fun, the story is great, dark but good... You can get it from "a certain site", by which I mean (
http://www.amazon.com/Hardwar-The-Future-is-Greedy/dp/B0002CWQ0S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334808109&sr=8-1) Amazon of course ... Looking at it now, FFS you can get it for less than $3. Everything you'd need to know is on the fan site: (
http://zedo.hardwar.org.uk/). Ok, I'll get off my soapbox.
PigLick on 19/4/2012 at 05:21
You know, I played Hardwar on your reccomendation in another long ago thread about these sort of games, but I just couldnt get into it, maybe because its set on one planet, but it didnt click with me.
Koki on 19/4/2012 at 06:19
How about Syndicate?
Or XCOM?
OH WAIT
demagogue on 19/4/2012 at 08:46
Quote Posted by PigLick
You know, I played Hardwar on your reccomendation in another long ago thread about these sort of games, but I just couldnt get into it, maybe because its set on one planet, but it didnt click with me.
Fair enough. It's funny I'm the opposite way, because going back to Elite or its clones, I find everything is spread out so much in open space. I liked how putting it on the planet puts all the tensions and factions and opportunities side by side so you're always on your toes, and you really feel the zones of control. Anyway Hardwar is really slow starting so yeah you'd have to get sucked into the setting before the story gets rolling.
PigLick on 19/4/2012 at 09:10
Well, I still have it around somewhere, so I might give it another crack. Maybe I didnt give it enough of a chance.
Briareos H on 19/4/2012 at 10:18
Quote Posted by Al_B
Have you tried (
http://www.oolite.org/) Oolite? It's been a while since I last tried it but it it was fun to play around
I like Oolite but tbh I arrived late to the party and started with Frontier on my Amiga. IMO the big selling point is landing on planets and, when required, to fulfill my craving for Elite I'm more likely to launch JJFFE than Oolite.
Oh how I would love to see (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO7XhaTGDYg&feature=related) that engine used for a single player game.
PigLick on 19/4/2012 at 11:38
now that would be something.
Thirith on 19/4/2012 at 11:48
Quote Posted by Briareos H
Anyway, I'd love to see an update of TIE Fighter...
Same here, although that's exactly the kind of thing that crowdsourcing, indie development etc. is unlikely to provide us with. For me, a large part of the fascination of
TIE Fighter was that the
Star Wars universe is a great fictional playground. It's visually iconic and provides a great combination of familiarity, archetypes and blank space (no pun intended) for the imagination. Take away the IP and the game simply wouldn't be as much of a draw to me - but since it is a major IP any official
Star Wars games will be corporate above anything else. Our best hope would be a
TIE Fighter TC or sequel in the Freespace engine that isn't slapped down by Lucas' lawyers.
To get back to
Ultima, which has been mentioned a couple of times (also by me): I'd love for a small studio to pick up where Origin left off with
Savage Empire and
Martian Dreams. Old-school party-based RPGs based on certain genres or types of stories that are rare in the elves-and-dwarfs-infested mainstream fantasy. I know they were planning to do a
Worlds of Ultima game called
Arthurian Legends in the
Ultima VII engine; I could imagine similar games based on Chinese folklore or Hindu mythology or steampunky alternate history. Thinking of how relatively small the teams for
Ultima VI and its spin-offs were, this might be a realistic proposition - although perhaps I'm overestimating the actual audience for such games.
demagogue on 19/4/2012 at 15:30
I forgot to mention with my Hardwar update idea, not only do I wish you could get out of your ship to walk around, I wanted you to be able to leave the planet and go into orbit and fly to other planets (when I get really going I wish it was full-on space sim like Orbiter, but then I back down; it's still a game). So the game would revolve around a half dozen planets in like 3 or 4 nearby systems, each with 2 or 3 big cities you can visit where most of the game goes on, but also some space stations where action happens, and fighting can go on in space and in the city skies and on the ground. And I thought of exactly the engine you posted a video to for the platform.
heywood on 20/4/2012 at 02:22
What I miss the most are the late 80s/early 90s casual sims, particularly Sid Meier's MicroProse stuff, early Will Wright, and Accolade. Stuff like Hellcat Ace, F-15 Strike Eagle, Pirates!, Silent Service, Falcon, Railroad Tycoon, SimCity/Eath/Life, Test Drive, Hardball, Grand Prix Circuit, Pinball Wizard, Links, and the already mentioned TIE fighter. And some of the casual strategy stuff from the same sources: Civilization, Star Control, etc.
Simulation games today have bifurcated into hardcore or arcade categories without much in between. I don't want something with a steep learning curve or massive complexity that requires a big commitment of learning time before it becomes enjoyable. But I do want something with deeper gameplay than a 3 minute race spent drifting for style points.
Quote Posted by Thirith
I've been trying to come up with C64 titles that I really miss playing and that could do with a modern update, but nothing comes to mind... or at least nothing that I don't think was done equally good or better on Amiga or later on PCs and/or that would benefit from modern tech. It's probably just me getting old, though.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Space_Station) Project Space Station
