Blockade Runner is the beginning of a Multiplayer First Person Adventure Space Sim that will feature fully destructible, operational, crewable ‘living’ starships in a procedurally generated galaxy.
We’d like to thank both Zach Barth for inspiring us with Infiniminer, and Markus “Notch” Persson for creating Minecraft, for without either of which Blockade Runner would not exist!
The game is in development and is following the Minecraft model i.e. pay at a discount ($10) for in-development alpha releases. There is also a “Lite” version available for free that appears to be an older build, week 12 instead of week 20 of development. It seems to be in extreme early stage with pretty much a prototype engine, basically allowing you to do nothing but construct block-spaceships Minecraft style, but I find the concept interesting.
Spaceships + Legos is like catapulting my childhood into my face and then mugging me for $10 while I stand there, dazed. I’m kinda interested in seeing where this project goes.
I was hoping someone would notice this, I think they got a little bit of coverage here and there. Does buying get you a more advanced build? Is there anything actually in it yet?
The trailer of the (presumably spacesuited) dude jetting around between spaceships was pretty cool, but that seemed to be the extent of it for now. Is there actually more to it yet?
Amazing how many hugely ambitious games are coming out of the indie scene. I was kinda worried it was turning into a wasteland of TD stuff with a few real gems like Minecraft, DF and Soldak sprinkled in. And now there’s all sorts of stuff!
I eagerly await more developments, but they said something about having to rebuy it every year. Which I am not willing to do!
How much does it cost to buy Blockade Runner?
Pre-purchase for Release 1 is $10.00 USD, roughly half the expected price when R1 wraps up in 2012.
Will I have to buy “Release 2” after I’ve bought “Release 1”?
Yes, however we will provide a discount on Release 2 for those who pre-purchased the game early.
Does Blockade Runner require a subscription?
No, each yearly Release is sold and designed to be a standalone product; when you buy Release 1 you own it and can play it forever without any further charges.
I don’t think that’s a good idea, and it’s a break from the usual “support us early and you get the full game free” model that Mount and Blade pioneered (I think, anyway I don’t remember an earlier game that did that).
It’s more advanced, build 20 versus build 11,but from what I can see there’s mainly just engine work taking place at the moment. It’s very early days in development.
They’re not doing yearly expansions. They’re charging for updated releases of the beta version once a year. If you don’t pay for next year’s “release 2”, you can only play the free version. It’s functionally a yearly (discounted) subscription for receiving their updates.
The original Mount and Blade was very much a buy once and you’re receiving the final game sort of deal. As was SPAZ and Minecraft and any number of other games looking to finance beta through early sales. Warband wasn’t included in that deal, but Warband came around almost a decade after the original game entered beta, included multiplayer, a new faction and a host of major new (and oft modded in) features. It was also standalone.
I don’t mind supporting an indie company, but I’m not signing on for what’s virtually a yearly subscription to a game from a company with no proven track record.
yeah that seems a bit greedy. if someone wants me to take a risk on them with my money, i need potentially sustained value to offset that. minecraft and mount and blade got the formula right. having to rebuy yearly is a no-go for me.
Except it said in the video that release 1 focuses on “starships and their operations” and future releases would have interstellar travel and landing on planets…
Well, that depends on what you mean by “complete.” Release 1’s features appear to be more like a work in progress rather than what I would consider a full game. Of course, I don’t feel that Minecraft even now is a complete game, but at least I’m getting all updates for free as Mojang works on it.
Right. It’s a single solar system (or is that planet) until release 2, when you will have to buy the whole dang thing again. Does that sound like value for money to anyone?
