Indie Space Sims - post 'em if you find 'em

[Jashiin]

Someone should get David Braben in touch with kickstarter so he can create elite 4. I still dream about Elite 2 frontier on my amiga. I might give that pioneer project a spin.. Anyway I came across this fanmade full wingcommander game that runs on the freespace 2 engine, I haven't yet played it but it might interest some folks here.

http://www.wcsaga.com/

http://www.shacknews.com/article/72996/wing-commander-saga-the-darkest-dawn-launches

 

[MisterStone]

Bros, check out this in-dev game called Ring Runner:



This looks like it may be the mother of all EVN games.

 

[Jashiin]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/18/space-rangers-2-remastered-fresh-campaign/

Looks like space rangers 2 is getting a new coat of paint again plus an extra campaign. Might finally get me to play it.

 

[Kz3r0]

JudasIscariot signaled this project:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seanpollman/kinetic-void
Customizable ships, every component has stats, dynamic galaxy, C&C and a demo adjourned regularly, anyone interested?


Edit:
Here two new projects:
SKYJACKER a space shooter promising lot of freedom:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/digitilus/skyjacker?ref=category

Drifter: A Space Trading Game:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/celsiusgs/drifter-a-space-trading-game

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

http://blockaderunnergame.com/

Blockade Runner. Imagine Minecraft in space where you build ships out of blocks. How you put the blocks together determines how the ship handles, fights, and so on. Also, getting shot destroys those blocks.

 

[mikaelis]

JudasIscariot signaled this project:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seanpollman/kinetic-void
Customizable ships, every component has stats, dynamic galaxy, C&C and a demo adjourned regularly, anyone interested?


Edit:
Here two new projects:
SKYJACKER a space shooter promising lot of freedom:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/digitilus/skyjacker?ref=category

Drifter: A Space Trading Game:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/celsiusgs/drifter-a-space-trading-game

All sounds quite good. Will probably back Drifter, though Skyjacker sounds great as well. Hell, customizable ships in Kinetic Voids are also nice, but I fear there will be nothing more than that.

Also Skyjacker will have a hard time to get funded. 200k is no nickels and dimes for a niche genre.

This part of their kickstarter boiled my blood a bit:

"Our main interest is in innovative gamplay feature and/or technology rather than in game genre. This said, there are indeed some genres and themes that WE do not particularly like (sci-fi, adventure, SPACE SIM)" (UbiSoft)
"Thanks for showing me Skyjacker – it looks like you are fairly far through development – congratulations for getting this far. Unfortunately this would not be of interest to EA, but good luck on moving it forward." (Electronic Arts)
"I'm rather busy at the moment so I can't provide detailed feedback for a couple of weeks. From a very brief glance, I'd say that this probably isn't right for US." (Square Enix)

 

[cutterjohn]

JudasIscariot signaled this project:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seanpollman/kinetic-void
Customizable ships, every component has stats, dynamic galaxy, C&C and a demo adjourned regularly, anyone interested?


Edit:
Here two new projects:
SKYJACKER a space shooter promising lot of freedom:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/digitilus/skyjacker?ref=category

Drifter: A Space Trading Game:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/celsiusgs/drifter-a-space-trading-game

All sounds quite good. Will probably back Drifter, though Skyjacker sounds great as well. Hell, customizable ships in Kinetic Voids are also nice, but I fear there will be nothing more than that.

Also Skyjacker will have a hard time to get funded. 200k is no nickels and dimes for a niche genre.

This part of their kickstarter boiled my blood a bit:

"Our main interest is in innovative gamplay feature and/or technology rather than in game genre. This said, there are indeed some genres and themes that WE do not particularly like (sci-fi, adventure, SPACE SIM)" (UbiSoft)
"Thanks for showing me Skyjacker – it looks like you are fairly far through development – congratulations for getting this far. Unfortunately this would not be of interest to EA, but good luck on moving it forward." (Electronic Arts)
"I'm rather busy at the moment so I can't provide detailed feedback for a couple of weeks. From a very brief glance, I'd say that this probably isn't right for US." (Square Enix)

Backed Drifter and Skyjacker myself, along with Malevolence & Project Fedora(Tex Murphy)...

 

[potatojohn]

Arvoch Alliance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdoGyvV6GMA

The feature list looks fantastic. Will demo it next time I turn on my wintendo console.

 

[Ulminati]

Arvoch Alliance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdoGyvV6GMA

The feature list looks fantastic. Will demo it next time I turn on my wintendo console.

Do tell us how it turns out. I just had a nerdgasm watching that video. Also, do tell if it's playable without a joystick. I don't play enough space/flightsims these days to warrant tracking down a decent left-handed joystick

 

[Commissar Draco]

Starpoint Gemini

Seems a lot like Star Wolves.

Yes, but lot more crude.... English dialogues are mech even for not native speaker like me and SP campaign is railroaded with no choice so far ( I'm at 1/3)... Worth demoing and trying but buy Star Wolves 3 instead.

 

[potatojohn]

Arvoch Alliance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdoGyvV6GMA

The feature list looks fantastic. Will demo it next time I turn on my wintendo console.

Do tell us how it turns out. I just had a nerdgasm watching that video. Also, do tell if it's playable without a joystick. I don't play enough space/flightsims these days to warrant tracking down a decent left-handed joystick

Just finished the tutorial. Works fine with either keyboard or mouse. It has auto-aim in the central circle, a lot like I-War. In general it reminds me of I-War.

 

[SuicideBunny]

http://www.desura.com/games/zigfrak

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I'm going to merge this thread with the indie space sims thread... If there are no objections.

 

[SuicideBunny]

I'm going to merge this thread with the indie space sims thread... If there are no objections.

would make more sense if you merged it with the roguelike thread in grpgd since evn-likes are pretty close to roguelikes while they have p. much nothing in common with space sims other than general theme.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

THEME IS IMPORTANT

 

[Outlander]

Arvoch Alliance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdoGyvV6GMA

The feature list looks fantastic. Will demo it next time I turn on my wintendo console.

Do tell us how it turns out. I just had a nerdgasm watching that video. Also, do tell if it's playable without a joystick. I don't play enough space/flightsims these days to warrant tracking down a decent left-handed joystick

Just finished the tutorial. Works fine with either keyboard or mouse. It has auto-aim in the central circle, a lot like I-War. In general it reminds me of I-War.

How would you compare it to Evochron Mercenaries, if you ever got around to play it, that is?

 

[potatojohn]

Yeh it's basically the same but with missions instead of free-roaming.

Also found another free indie space sim: Ad Astra

http://www.a-astra.com/index.htm

First time I heard of it. That's why I don't like the cockdex talking about Mass Defects and Call of Doodies all the time even if it to make fun of it. It drowns out the signal about good games.

 

[Jashiin]

evochron mercenary 75% off on steam sale today, if you're on the fence might be a good deal. I'm curious if it's any good, heard mixed responses to it but going to find out.

 

[GaemzDood]

Sol: Exodus is pretty decent despite what the big "reviewers" say.

 

[cutterjohn]

evochron mercenary 75% off on steam sale today, if you're on the fence might be a good deal. I'm curious if it's any good, heard mixed responses to it but going to find out.

It sucks. Teh author implemented a sorta scripted quest system but since noone other than his few fanbois play the game it doesn't show. (I bought it too finally.)

It's basically his prior game + some improvements in gfx + the quest system that nobody cares about or uses... meh... back to X again.

 

[J_C]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/43153532/strike-suit-zero

It is an arcadey space sim, which is in the making for some time. The devs ask for 100K so they can polish up a game before release. This is looking to be a fun, high action space sim, mixed with japanese mecha (Gundam) elements. The first 1000 backers can get the game for 15 bucks.

 

[Brianetta]

Someone should get David Braben in touch with kickstarter so he can create elite 4.

That was your doing? Kudos! I congratulated them on that today... by phone.

 

[Tzaero]

An arcady space sim along the lines of Freespace 2
http://www.enemystarfighter.com/

 

[Sunsetspawn]

This used to be one of my favoritest genres. Why come the big publishers pay it no mind? They got it on the "pay no mind" list.

 

[MisterStone]

I don't get it either bro. It seems like all they want to do is make games with no point where you just wander around a huge world and grind or do crudely-scripted quests so you can save up money and then spend it on a doll house somewhere. But if that's the case, this genre would seem to offer a lot of potential. Just imagine if a company like Rockstar decided to develop a space Sim/trader game? It would work well with their formula.

Not that I think it would be a great game necessarily, but I'm surprised they haven't gone there yet.