At about two minutes in during the first video I began wondering how much it would cost me to build a starship bridge in my basement…
I’d make my kids and their friends play it, dammit!
Sigh, I need to buy more friends…
Oh, indeed, that would make Comms much more valuable. Very good.
Oh, I pointed the developer at this thread, hopefully he’s reading, hello!
I got it running at home over my desktop with my netbook(!) as the server tied into the HDTV. Even managed to win my first game switching between Helm and Weapons. It could use some graphical and interface updates, but the thing is chock full of potential. My wish list (just off the top of my head, not sorted by preference and CERTAINLY not sorted by reality):
- PVP Bridge vs. Bridge combat over the internet. Understand that I agree with the designer that the game should be a social one, so I’m not wild about playing individual stations from various locations, but your crew should be able get together and take on any other crew that’s out there, if you want. I want my Bridge Crew to be the 21st Century equivalent to the Friday Night Bowling League.
- PVP Fleet vs. Fleet combat (Same as above, but on a larger scale) within a possibly persistent universe.
- Give Comms (and possibly Science) a set of viewscreen controls-- both seem under-utilized, while Helm and Weapons have a lot to do in the thick of combat.
- Different playable ships (Destroyers to Dreadnoughts) with multiple fire arcs
- Different playable races, w/ race specific advantages, disadvantages, weapons, and equipment
- Keyboard shortcuts, Impulse speed tied to Joystick throttle, course and warp with text inputs
- Scenario editor
- Ship editor and/or upgrade paths
- More Orion Slave Girls
Yes, I know that this is a pretty unrealistic list of things to ask from a one person developer, but the thing is that I’ve been waiting for something like this since I was a kid, and never expected it to really come about. So, given that it did, I’m sufficiently emboldened to ask for more.
Awesome drake! Did you at least have a good time with the game as it is?
This could be super awesome, but in the vids it looks like many of the stations have almost nothing to do.
Also, everyone should be equipped with side-arms so they can mutiny and kill off the Captain.
Yes I did! It was pretty fun, but it’s clearly a team/party game-- Helm and weapons obviously need to work closely together, but I was able to win playing both without any input from Engineering, Communications, or Science. Granted, I was playing on the absolute minimum difficulty settings, but I do think those stations need to be more involved in the game play process. For example, perhaps Science can spot potential navigational threats along a projected course, or Comms can (as several people have suggested) jam communications or operate old-school SFB ECM/ECCM things.
Graphically, it’s about on par with Star Fury (in its defense, that’s also a one man programming team, and with a 7 year old engine; also, I kinda liked that engine-- I wrote one of the more favorably reviewed mods for it back in the day)… perhaps a step above, but it’s certainly not nearly as beautiful as, say, X3.
As I said before, it could use a lot more stuff added in, but for the time being, it could turn out to be the Trekkie equivalent of Rock Band. And I’m totally, completely OK with that.
Please someone try this out with their friends and report back on it. My gaming society has a convention in January and this seems suitably Larpy to get a room together and have people give it a go.
How incredibly awesome would this be?
I have visions of a bunch of drunken dorks playing this game, putting the enemy on screen, and seeinga room full of uber-l33t players in full klingon regalia, speaking in genuine klingon and demanding their surrender.
This could eb like chatroulette for people with phasers.
it could be the most embarrasing thing about PC gaming evar.
It could be awesome.
I must find a way for people to use webcams to leave video-taunts with their challenges in GSB :D
“We’re being hailed, Captain.”
“Put them on screen.”
the screen shows an entire crew… naked
“Dear God! What is that?!?”
“I don’t know, Captain.”
“Why are you talking and not firing at them!!! Fire dammit! FIRE!!!”
I LOLed.
I don’t know how long it will take to get there, but that’s where I want to go.
Hahahahahahaha, that’s fantastic. I would loooooove it if all of that could happen. :)
I noticed that the site says they’ll give out the full version of the game for free if you videotape yourself playing the demo together. I do have a decent camera…
Damn you Washingtonians! Why can’t I find other folks in LA?
Yeah, after watching that longer video me and some friends are seriously considering fiming ourselves playing while spouting around as much techno-babble as possible. I’m seriously considering wrapping the room in tinfoil to complete the illusion, but I’m worried that would mess with the camera too much.
Do you think a costume would be too much? ;)
Doitdoitdoitdoitdoit!
You’d be a way more effective with single player and screen (with a nicer gui) at that complexity level. But it’s an abstraction, right? So that’s cool.
In a roleplaying context abstractions like that are core – you could use this as a sort of tool assisted RPG.
You have a GM who ‘runs’ the game. Like Neverwinter Nights (version 1, at least): GM has a master control panel and typically doesn’t improvise completely. They load up a campaign with a lot of resources and tools and building blocks. With content made ahead of time, you could really enrich each station with tons of detail.
So ship arrives at a bustling planet, and the sensor and communications stations are flooded . Multiple ongoing communcations, eavedropping, encrypted stuff, planet maps, different sensor scanes – changing in real time. More than could be processed by a single person so the distinct stations make sense. Each station digs through, looking for clues to the overall plot, working together to combine them and solve the overall mystery or problem of the campaign. GM can manually inject data or clues into the universe to be picked up on at a station at any time.
A ton of work I guess, though just having a few good campaigns would be awesome. It’s not outrageous considering how much prep some GMs do in PNP games, and since other players could run the same campaign file it kinda scales. I could even see a campaign involving a traitor working – one of the crewmembers is secretely trying to sabatoge the ship. Crew has to force him from his station and take over to win.
And yeah, it absolutely needs to receive hails on screen. Such a classic moment. I dunno, you could use prepackaged video files controlled by the GM for some stuff, gm with webcam for others.
What sort of class Trek style bridge episodes could you run with that kind of setup, I wonder?
The minute I read this, I thought of the first couple of missions in Tie Fighter, where it was your job to scan for contraband near a busy station. Then my brain exploded from ideas again…
thud