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[lumin]

So I recently found Evochron Renegades on Google, and since I had never heard of it before, I thought I'd share it with the rest of you (cont'd from the "here's a cool little game..." thread).

Not sure how many are into space sims on this forum, but I like to give them a whirl every once-in-a-while in between RPG's.  So I am, by no means an expert on the genre, but this one seems pretty unique.

Like DF, Evochron Renegades was coded, and is supported by one man (in DarkBasic of all languages).  The entire game download is, amazingly, just under 25 MB.  The demo is downloadable from the site and is actually the whole game, with a 90 minute time limit.  Buying the 'game' is just a matter of paying $25.00 and getting a registration key that will turn off the time limit.

Here are the main features:
http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/evochronrenegades/features.htm

The developer is very active on the forums and quickly answers questions and gives feedback on suggestions.  What is cool is that the game is still now in development even though it has already been released.  He releases updates just about every month and they include bug fixes, and also new features.  He has mentioned wanting to do a lot more with planets beyond just flying through the atmosphere and visiting cities, including adding life-forms, and being able to land and walk around.

The fact that the entire universe is seamless is pretty unique.  When moving between systems, there are no load screens and no need to use jump gates.  Landing on planets is also seemless, as the space slowly gives way to a cool-looking atmosphere.

The fact that it is multiplayer is another thing you rarely see in space sims.  You and your friends can literally share the same universe together.  I think it would be cool to get a group of people here together to play a game or two online.

Edit:  If you know of any other cool space sims, post them here with your review.  I'd like to hear about some more.  Here's a good starting point.

[ May 20, 2008: Message edited by: lumin ]

[Impending Doom]

Sounds absolutely awesome. I'd download it in a heartbeat, but I'm afraid my poor comp would go into cardiac arrest at the sight of that filesize.  

Curse you, 56k dial-up.

[Cthulhu]

I tried the demo, I played for a few minutes, but I don't like time limits, and for some reason I lock up when I first start an open-ended space simulator like that.  I think it's the lack of initial direction.  I'm greatly disturbed when I suddenly am in a ship with no mention of what I should do first.

[qwertyuiopas]

can you pause it, and if you can, does the demo timer stop? Also, is the timer shown in-game?

Theoretically, memory editing might be able to give you extra time, although I think it would be better to purchase it anyway.

[lumin]

I wonder if you could just keep re-downloading the demo to re-start it.

[Deon]

Creator of 25mb seemless-space-planets sim is not that stupid =).
Also it costs 25$ which is more than I can spend for a game for now.

[Sean Mirrsen]

It's 25mb because it's procedurally generated. DarkBasic has surprisingly useful features that allow making stuff up out of primitives and copied objects. It's also a single file because it's made in DarkBasic, and that thing packs every asset into the exe. I will probably never play it because I never spend more than 5$ on games, and there're no reasonably small cracked versions out there. Also, I don't think I like the prospect of downloading 25 megs every time the guy updates something.

[yamo]

one thing bothers me.  if there are no jump gates or load screens doesn't going from star to star take a looong time?

[Sean Mirrsen]

I don't remember how it's handled there (I think there are jumpgates nevertheless) but remember that Elite/Elite2/Elite3 had similar concepts, and there was no trouble when travelling. Derek Smart would have been really Smart if he included that time accel functionality in his BC series. I might have even overlooked other flaws if repairing at a station didn't take hours of real time...

[Cthulhu]

Don't suggest that to him.

It's all part of Lord Smart's grandiose vision of an elitist wonderland where people who have nothing else to do can vie for a position to lick Lord Smart's holy boots.

[Puzzlemaker]

quote:Originally posted by Cthulhu:
<STRONG>Don't suggest that to him.

It's all part of Lord Smart's grandiose vision of an elitist wonderland where people who have nothing else to do can vie for a position to lick Lord Smart's holy boots.</STRONG>

Heck, I would just buy him new ones.

I mean, who wants to wear holey boots?

 

[Deon]

quote:Originally posted by Yamo:
<STRONG>
one thing bothers me. if there are no jump gates or load screens doesn't going from star to star take a looong time?</STRONG>

quote:Originally posted by Sean Mirrsen:
<STRONG>I don't remember how it's handled there (I think there are jumpgates nevertheless) but remember that Elite/Elite2/Elite3 had similar concepts, and there was no trouble when travelling. Derek Smart would have been really Smart if he included that time accel functionality in his BC series. I might have even overlooked other flaws if repairing at a station didn't take hours of real time...</STRONG>

There's a "hyperspace drive" on your ship which is upradeable and the better the version is, the longer jumps can be made.
Also there're jumpgate stations for really long travels.

I like that this game has the "real" sol system. The earth is inaccessible for landing though...

[Bien]

I've heard they they've released SW2, 3, 4 and Riftspace as freeware. I tried to download them from the website but I just get redirected to their start page.

[ May 21, 2008: Message edited by: Bien ]

[lumin]

I just bought the full version.  The key is pretty restrictive (does different checks that it was installed on only one computer), so I emailed Vice (customer service) and asked him how hard it would be to be able to switch the key back and forth between my laptop and desktop PC, and he quickly replied with a FREE registration key for my other computer!  Now THAT is customer service!  

Not only that, but if you ask a question on the forums, Vice will respond to your message within minutes and truly listens to suggestions by players.  Just read this thread to see what I mean: here.

This game is super mod friendly.  You can swap out just about anything you see or hear in-game with your own custom stuff and even add new planets and systems.  I swapped the music with the Alien's soundtrack and 2001/2010 stuff and am having a blast.  The game download is so small, in part, because most of the textures are really low-res.  But that can easily be fixed by swapping out the textures with your own higher-res versions.  I'm thinking that a temporary solution to not having trees/plants on the planets is just to find a super-high-res texture with foliage and fake the '3D' effect (Vice says he's going to put in real foliage eventually though).

Having such a huge seamless universe is so great.  I can literally go anywhere I want - when I want.  I haven't played multiplayer yet, but they have a few dedicated servers already up.  Since multiplayer games use the exact same universe as single player, you can do a lot of role-playing, not just combat.  If you run out of fuel in the middle of space, you can save your single-player game, jump into a server with your save and have another player bring you fuel to your coordinates.  The current server limit is 24, but Vice has plans to extend the limit if/when the dedicated servers start to fill up.

[Greiger]

...
...
...
  :eek:

Wow, I had a game like this bouncing around in the 'would be cool videogame' part of my brain since high school.  

I even tried to make a 2D sprite based game EXACTLY like this with GameMaker at one time. (It kinda failed though because once I started working on the weapons and stuff I spent more time screwing around with bullet physics and making new weapons than working on the game.)

I had everything from straightforward pulse lasers, to massive capital ship beams that worked by actually generating massive numbers of individual projectiles in a beam shape, to firework bullet spray missiles, to Worms style bananna bombs, to slow moving black hole cannons that generate their own gravity, to Decent:freespace flail cannons, to engine enhancers that turned your ship exhaust into a giant plasma sword, bombs that create massive Touhou style super complex projectile patterns.....  

Anyway thats why I ended up giving up.  But now I never have to look at it ever again.

[ May 22, 2008: Message edited by: Greiger ]