StarDrive is part of the Space Sector’s sci-fi/space games you can’t miss in 2012 list, and it is definitely a very promising space game to look for this year.

For the ones of you that are not yet familiarized with this title, StarDrive was announced to the world in December of last year through the kickstarter crowdfunding platform. The pledge was a success and Daniel DiCicco (StarDrive’s single-man show developer) received support from 647 backers to finish his game (+135% more than he asked for).

StarDrive is a real-time 4X space strategy game with a bit more action to it than usual in 4X games. It will provide more action because on top of the traditional 4X features StarDrive will let you control your flagship in an arcade shooter kind of way. The game is currently in alpha stage and is available at Desura, where you can pre-purchase it and have access to the current alpha builds all the way through closed beta (to happen somewhere in spring time), followed by final release, which is targeted for this summer.

I played around with the current alpha for a bit. The game is not really playable yet, since a lot is still missing but here is a small preview of what you can expect later this summer. Enjoy!

The 4X Universe has become prettier

The first thing you notice when you launch the game is the music, which is excellent. I don’t know where you got that music from Dan but let me tell you that it’s just phenomenal! The next beautiful thing you notice is the planet’s and stars rendering quality, and the ships models that look great also.

But before launching a game you must setup a few things first, which includes the need to customize your race. In this customization process not only you need to choose a name and a flag for your empire and race, but you also need to choose between a set of negative and positive traits (your race’s specific abilities). Those will be your strong and weak points that will make your faction unique. Thank god, Dan! Finally someone included this key feature in a 4X game again. It was about time.

The starmap is 2D but you can tell (and experience) that the objects are projected in an isometric 3D kind of way. This is particularly interesting because you can take advantage of a more realistic presentation but without having the hassle of real 3D map navigation, which can be a cumbersome experience sometimes (like in Star Ruler or Sword of the Stars for example).

So, if you approach one of your ships from one side and zoom-in you experience a sense of depth. Well done. Not only it’s very easy to navigate through the various star systems, but the objects (planets, stars, asteroids, ships) also look wonderful. The stars rendering when you zoom-in an zoom-out are absolutely fantastic. StarDrives offers the best stellar representations I’ve seen in 4X games to date, for sure.

Now, the game unfolds in real-time which may be seen as a downer by many. After all, most 4X gamers are TBS lovers, so, this may be seen as an obstacle. In fact it doesn’t have to be a problem at all if the pacing is the right one. For example, Distant Worlds unfolds 100% in real-time but it offers a pause mode, and multiple time span speed options, which resolves the real-time pacing issue completely and offers the best of both worlds (at least for me it did the trick). So, Dan, if you read this preview (that I’ll make sure you do :) ), please have a careful look at this timing and pacing issue. I strongly recommend that you implement a timing control mechanism, if you’re not planning that already that is.

The diplomacy screen is not functional yet, however you can get a small taste of what’s to come when you interact with other factions when you meet them. The contact with the races is cool and feels good. I don’t know, it has something to do with the game’s tone, combined with the music and the sound. Everything in StarDrive seems to transmit a feeling of lightness, which I’m loving.

Another important aspect worth noting already at this time is the quality, the lightness and the accessibleness of the UI. All StarDrive screens are very sharp, simple and easy to use. I didn’t have a single doubt using them. They are simple but as everybody knows it’s not that simple (it’s very hard in fact) to come up with such quality and elegance. All is looking good in this front also. I just have a remark/suggestion to make in the planet screen. The sliders. They need locks. Pretty obvious suggestion ok, but never hurts to stress that.

I found the research system to be quite simple yet compelling. Basically you accumulate research points and then use those points to unlock techs. It’s not your traditional research, wait a bit and breakthrough tech system (which is a more realistic way to approach it in my view), but I guess this simplified mechanic of accumulating points and spending them to unlock techs could work out ok in the end. We will see.

Ship design is probably one of the game’s flagship features. I played with it for a while and got absolutely fascinated by its simple yet fun mechanics. You can allocate your components freely (power, defense, weapons, etc). You actually decide in which part of the ship you put them (in the rear, the middle or in the front). And on top of that you need to design your ship in a way in which all your components must get connected with the ship’s power network (you even have power conduits to connect components to power sources!).

Ship design in StarDrive indeed feels like … design. It’s like having a mini game inside the game. It looks very promising. Just one remark. Be careful with the references to “vulcan cannon”, “vulcan scout” or even “United Federation” for the human race. You don’t want CBS (that owns the Star Trek franchise) after you because of that ;)

Conclusion

Looking good Daniel! Keep up the good work, I think you’re in the right track to develop a very enjoyable game. Many things are still missing of course, but the music is great, the art is phenomenal and the tone awesome. Everything looks great.

Playing your game’s alpha build was a pleasure and it brought me the good old Master of Orion feel days. In a way the game does capture some very good elements of the Master of Orion series. I’ll be watching StarDrive’s progress closely. Everything seems to be headed in the right direction.

You can pre-purchase StarDrive in desura for $19.99 USD. You have a few more screenshots here.

Looks like free-to-play MMO games are here to stay. Possibly we’re even only seeing the tip of iceberg still, from what I can tell. Every day there seems to be a new free-to-play online game that gets released or announced. Three of the latest strategy MMO big shots were Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances, Jagged Alliance Online and UFO Online. Three big franchises that now see their new installments go free-to-play online.

UFO Online: Fight for Earth is a new sci-fi browser-based MMO developed by Gamigo, that is obviously inspired in the turn-based tactics X-COM series (UFO: Enemy Unknown, X-COM Terror from the Deep among others). Powered by the Unity 3D graphics engine, which is becoming a serious case of success on browser games btw, UFO Online looks quite amazing for a browser-game, as you can witness by the screenshots and the gameplay video below that was presented at Gamescom 2011. Long gone seem to be the days of walls of text and constant server-side calls that lagged your playing experience on the web browser. Now, with AJAX and game engines like unity, browser-games look better and better by the day.

UFO Online takes place in a near future where Humanity has split into three factions that are competing for the few remaining resources left on Earth. Energy is in short supply and, to top it all, first contact has been made with extraterrestrials. They seemed friendly at first, but nah, not really. They plans were dark. This is where you come in.

Features

- Sci-Fi strategy MMOG with tactical battles;
- 3D graphics battles in your browser;
- 3 playable factions. Each side has its advantages and disadvantages and its own goals;
- A variety if classes with unique skills to choose from (tank, medic, sniper and more);
- Upgradeable weapons and items;
- Tactical battles against the AI and other players (PvE and PvP);
- Storyline with countless quests;
- Expandable base for conducting research and training troops;
- Free to play

By MMO HDTV.

UFO Online entered closed beta around a month ago, so, we’ll probably have some news about open-beta soon. I’ll keep you guys informed!

About Heart of the Swarm

Heart of the Swarm is the first expansion pack to Blizzard’s sci-fi real time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Heart of the Swarm continues Wings of Liberty’s story with 20 new missions now focusing on the Zerg race and the female hero character Kerrigan. New multiplayer content is also expected to be included in the expansion, as well as new features and upgrades to the Battle.net online platform.

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is being developed for Mac and Windows. There are no current plans for any console platform. Current release date is still TBA.

GTB is expected to be released sometime in Q1 2012 for both PC and Mac.

Trailer

There is no release date announced yet but there is already a gameplay trailer and some screenshots that you can find below. For more information checkout the game official website.

Features

• Simple and addictive game play: explore, discover, build a fleet, conquer.
• Turn based fleet combat.
• Galaxy Map helps you navigate your fleet through many constellations.
• Stunning universe dominated by four civilizations.
• 80 one-on-one turn based battles in stunning 3D space constellations.
• Fleet combinations consisting of Laser, Missile and Repair spaceships.
• A dozen special attacks, each with stunning visuals.
• Over 20 mother ship turn based card battles.
• Crystal Mining mini game to find crystals needed for special attacks.
• Search For Life mini game with 5 levels of achievements – each with a crystal pack reward.
• Simple crafting panel in the space station.
• Achievements panel “Hall of Fame” with medals and ranks.
• Boost your leadership status to become an admiral.

Gameplay Trailer

Screenshots

Legends of Pegasus is a 4x space strategy game currently being developed by Novacore Studios.

The game shall feature a mix of turn-based and real-time strategy gameplay. Turns when moving around in the starmap and real-time during space combat.

Legends of Pegasus is targeted for release in Q2 2012.

Have a look at this first look trailer. It is a video made at the Gamescom 2011 event. You cannot move forward the play and it is taking a bit of time to load so I wrote some impressions after.

You can tell the guy was a bit nervous presenting the game (or at least in a rush). I guess they sent the marketing guy without presenting him the latest build :) “You have … aah … different  … aah … icons in the colony” yikes!

Although the presenter says that this is a really early build, there’s really nothing that exciting aboutwatching this video presentation. There seems to be nothing really new. Reminds you a lot of Sins of a Solar Empire.

Colony Management is slot based, similar in concept to other games like Galactic Civilizations or Armada 2526.

So, is there any interesting new stuff?

Ships models look nice, and the modularity feature presented in the trailer seems interesting.

It is promised to offer a strong single player campaign, this time in contrast to most of the latest 4x space game titles that decided to offer only sand-box or scenario gameplay. A compelling story is also promised.

Non-repetitive but meaningfull voice sounds (when giving orders to ships) are also mentioned.

Let’s keep an eye on this one to see what new it has to offer. The genre is desperately needing for new ideas. Making the new “Sins” is not sufficient anymore. Let’s hope fore-coming games decide to innovate a little bit more.

For more information (features and screenshots) checkout the Legends of Pegasus press release announcement.

Beyond Beyaan is heavily inspired by the 4x classic Master of Orion series. When you start playing you can easily tell that many aspects are inspired by MoO1 (the sliders, ship design and research for example) and others by MoO2 (some parts of research and ship design also). The starmap and ships movement also remind you of MoO.

I’ve been following Brent’s work for some time now. Considering that he’s working almost by himself (and that this is his first game) I think his progress is amazing. I believe there’s much still to be done and polish but I think the game is already solid enough to be looked at more closely. There is no release date established yet though.

Next follows a brief hands-on preview of the current development/alpha version Brent was kind enough to share with me.

Game Setup

When you start your game you can choose the players (Human or Computer) and some galaxy generation parameters. When you’re done with that you generate your galaxy. When you’re happy with your galaxy you click next and start your game.

Beyond Beyaan: Game Setup Screen

The game customization screen is probably not finished yet. It needs a bit of polishing but it already contains the basic stuff, and looks fine. There are only two races currently available to choose from: Humans and Zero People. Brent will probably add more races in the future.

In-Game

When the game starts you’re presented with a starmap. You can see your star system containing your homeworld and probably other planets of different types. I already saw Tundra planets, Desert, Terran, Asteroids, Jungle, Steppe and Dead, and all of this diversity in a single system. Amazing!

You decide your planet’s output by adjusting sliders to manipulate what’s to be produced. Here the similarities with MoO1 are striking, but also in Sword of the Stars, although SotS got inspired in MoO1 in the first place :)

By adjusting your sliders you can choose to allocate funds to Agriculture (impacts population growth), Pollution (impacts max pop, not fully implemented yet), Commerce (not yet implemented), Research (implemented), and Construction (implemented).

Beyond Beyaan: Colony Screen

From what I could tell 1 population unit standing on a planet generates 1 BC (billion credits if I’m correct). You then allocate the amount of cash generated to areas like research, pollution containment, construction, etc.

Planets have special characteristics I believe, since some feature an icon representing some kind of treat. I could not tell which types of bonuses are offered though (tip: tool tips always help a lot).

To move ships around you click on your fleet (represented by a bunch of small ships next to your systems), set the amount of ships you want to send and then right-click on a location.

Beyond Beyaan: Ships Movement

To colonize planets, if I understood correctly, you transfer population by building transports. At least that was what I did since I could not find a colony type of ship. So, to colonize, you send your transport(s) to an ninhabited planet, in the same system or in a different one, and choose a planet to land. Multiple empires can inhabit the same system (something that also made me remember MoO2).

On the bottom of the galaxy screen there is a “taskbar” with 9 buttons that contain the menu options. From left to right: Game Menu, Galaxy View, Diplomacy, View Fleets, Design Ship, View Designs, View Planets, Research, and End Turn.View Designs isn’t implemented yet.

Beyond Beyaan: UI Menu

Brent confirmed that ship Design is fully implemented, but the UI layout isn’t final. Here again the similarities with MoO1 and MoO2 are evident. You can choose weapons, hulls (the models resemble MoO models a lot), number of mounts and special equipment like computers, engine, armor and shields.

Beyond Beyaan: Ship Design

Although you can tell that the models are heavily inspired by MoO I don’t remember seeing them exactly as such in MoO games. Some of the models are quite cool actually.

Research is implemented, you can already research stuff. You allocate the research points you generate from each planet throughout the different technologies you want to research.

Beyond Beyaan: Research Screen

The research mechanics feels also very MoO’ish. You manipulate sliders (and can lock them) to distribute your research points, which is clearly inspired in MoO1 (other games also use this mechanic like Armada 2526 for instance), and you can choose from multiple research options in the same “field” (which resembles MoO2 way of choosing  from multiple alternatives).

Nothing seems to be left out; there is also diplomacy in Beyond Beyann.

Beyond Beyaan: Diplomacy Screen

The options presented are pretty much standard, maybe the reconcile empire and harass empire are two innovative options on this topic.

So, what’s new or different about Beyond Beyaan?

So far my experience playing Beyond Beyaan was not so different from playing a mix of MoO1 and MoO2, but subpar. I also had a few flash experiences from other space strategy games.

Beyond Beyaan’s major strength though resides on its high moddability.

Brent states that the player will have the ability to modify different aspects of gameplay. You could mod galaxy generation to create custom galaxies for example.

But the biggest things that you will be able to modify are the technologies.  From Brent’s own words:

“This game will focus on space combat and technologies, so you can create your own technologies and plug them in.  For example, if you want a torpedo to bounce off a ship towards another ship, you can script that torpedo’s “OnHit” function to tell it to bounce instead of disappearing. Or perhaps you want a missile to split into multiple missiles (not just internal code, but visibly splitting), you can script that in “Travel” function after a certain time amount has passed” – Brent Patterson.

This sounds great so I asked Brent how players could modify the game. He replied the following:

“At main menu, before starting a game, there will be a drop-down showing different game files that you can load, the normal gameplay would use “Default”.  You can add new folders, and create your own races, technologies, AI scripts, galaxy generation scripts, artwork and sounds for the game.  The game will allow you to select one of those folders and load it, so you don’t have to overwrite any of the game files. So in theory, it’d be possible to mod the game to be similar to older 4x games, or create your own game.” – Brent Patterson.

Pre-Order and Donations

Brent has plans to set up a Pre-Order service soon in order to try and raise money to fund art work and other resources of the game. Currently he has set up donations on his website. He explains what he plans to do with the funding. There will be perks involved to donors.

Brent would be delighted, for sure, to hear your comments on what you’ve seen so far. If you want to support his project, then feel free to do so! You can reach Brent through his blog.

Good luck on your project Brent. I will watch it closely.

About Brent Patterson

Brent shared his motivation on developing Beyond Beyaan with SpaceSector.

Brent is a professional programmer and a space game enthusiast that wants to see a worthy Master of Orion successor.

“I was not happy with the new 4x games being released, that I find to be too complicated or in real-time. So, I decided to create my own game, picking up from the features I liked best from MOO1, and some other 4x games” – Brent Patterson.

Brent maintains a blog where he keeps his advancement on Beyond Beyaan up to date.

Empire of the Eclipse is a 4x online real-time strategy game currently under development for Apple’s iOS family of devices (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad).

Today, ZarkSoft Games has announced that the sign-up for Empire of the Eclipse’s Beta Round 2 has begun. The beta test will go live on Sept 3 but the sign ups started today.

Love 4x space strategy games and have an iOS device? This is your chance to have a privileged first look at EotE and have the opportunity to give feedback to the devs. Go ahead and sign-up!

Lee Dotson (President of ZarkSoft Games) announced that there has been “a ton of changes in this build” which you can read about below.

Empire of the Eclipse Beta 2 change list

- Battle reports are now sent to a players in game email after a battle has been completed.
- Planet resource / unit cost rebalance
- Build times have been adjusted
- Terra formers now work properly.
- An animation is not played over the planet during combat. (Full combat display is still pending.)
Combat has been completely revamped
- planet defenses work properly.
- stealth skills now affect combat.
- fleet combat now works properly
- Items that can’t be built are now highlighted
- Chat indicator animated when messages are waiting
- Number of unread emails is now displayed
- There is a separate tab for the tech you have currently qued to research.
- You can now post screenshots to facebook / twitter by touching the screen with three or more fingers.
- Client side optimizations so detailed sector information is only sent when a player is specifically viewing a sector. (this should fix the lag problems Spart was having.)
- Lots of small graphical fixes.
- General texture memory optimizations.
- The Planet Killers planet busting ability now works.
- The technology Bio weapons now works properly.
- Solar Core Taps are now functioning and behave as ships instead of orbitals.
- Blackholes – now destroy ships when they enter their system if they do not posses hyper space physics.
- There is now a limit of 1 Shipyard per planet. The build time of shipyards has also been increased to 24 hours.

Read the remaining list of changes at ZarkSoft Games forum.

EotE has no firm scheduled released date yet. In Lee Dotson’s words “We’ll release the game when it’s ready (…) but we’re pretty confident that this next round of beta should bring us much closer to launch so we’ll most likely being going live in a couple months“. This means that we’ll probably have EotE this Fall.

Come and discuss Empire of the Eclipse in the forums: http://www.spacesector.com/blog/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=72

Players will conquer and explore an incredibly detailed 3D universe as they use economic, diplomatic and scientific means to expand their empires. Through a deep technology tree, players will unlock new technologies to customize their ships and prepare their fleets for the next alien encounter…be it hostile or friendly.

In development by Novacore Studios, Legends of Pegasus will be released in Q2 2012

Features of Legends of Pegasus include:

• A complete 4X science fiction gaming experience- eXlore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate your way to galactic conquest
• Tactical space combat – featuring a unique mix of turn-based and real-time strategy gameplay
• A realistic, immersive universe – three races and 12 playable factions exist in a living-breathing universe populated by a huge variety of non-player civilizations
• Play alone or dominate with friends – an extensive single-player campaign coupled with a strong multiplayer focus ensure an engaging experience
• Massive customization options – design, build and deploy ships created from research into hundreds of technologies based on an extensive tech tree
• Make it yours – modding options will be available, allowing players to customize missions, maps and more

About The Kalypso Media Group

Founded in 2006 in Germany by industry veterans Simon Hellwig and Stefan Marcinek, Kalypso Media is a global, independent developer, marketer and publisher of interactive entertainment software that employs nearly 100 video game industry experts world-wide.

Along with Headquarters in Worms, Germany, the company has offices in the United Kingdom and the United States. Kalypso Media also enjoys very strong global digital distribution through its Kalypso Media Digital Ltd. Subsidiary, and owns three development studios – Realmforge Studios GmbH, Gaming Minds Studios GmbH and Noumena Studios GmbH – and works with multiple leading independent developers.

Kalypso Media’s recent titles include Boulder Dash XL and The First Templar for Xbox 360, and Dungeons for Windows PC. Upcoming multi-platform titles include Tropico 4, The Dark Eye – Demonicon and Port Royale 3, along with Dungeons – The Dark Lord and Jagged Alliance: Back in Action for Windows PC. Further information about Kalypso Media is available at http://www.kalypsomedia.com.

Screenshots

I’ve written an article a couple of months ago introducing Starbase Orion. Check it out to know a bit more about the game: Starbase Orion: Master of Orion 2 with Better Multiplayer for iOS

The game is scheduled for release this Fall 2011.

Chimera Software has released a teaser trailer recently. It doesn’t show much about the game though, it really is a true teaser in that sense :)

Chimera Software has also released a few more screenshots of Starbase Orion, which includes a first look at ship combat. The complete set of new screenshots can be found here. Below you can see the screenshot of space combat.

For more information about Starbase Orion checkout the official website.

The entire project is community based. People who share the common motivation of taking Master of Orion, and the space strategy genre one step further are invited to contribute in any way they can. Some may contribute as programmers, others as designers, artists, reviewers or testers.

When I first introduced FreeOrion on SpaceSector the game was at version 0.3.13. I made a first-impressions by then. I also did an interview with the FreeOrion Programming Lead – Zach Laine – at the time. I think the interview came out really nice. If you’re a MOO fan you can’t miss it.

Now, a couple of days ago the FreeOrion project has released its 0.3.16 version. Changes since the last release (0.3.15 – from 5 August 2010) can be found in this post.

According to the FreeOrion roadmap one is led to believe that the project is still far from completion. Although a lot has been done already, apparently there is also a long journey ahead. For instance space combat, ship design and the tech tree are still being designed and coded, and diplomacy is still on its preliminary stage of design (the space combat prototype that can be glimpsed in the video preview is awesome by the way). Ground combat, space monsters and espionage, just to name a few things, are still to be done.

I loved the project the day I read about it and I think FreeOrion people have done a fantastic job so far. The problem, if we can call it that, is that the project is taking a long time to come by. The project kicked-off by 2003. Version 0.3.13 (by the time I heard about FreeOrion) dates back to 2009. Current version is 0.3.16 (released 1 year after 0.3.15).

These guys deserve all our appreciation for the hard work they’re doing. I’m sure their large majority simple do it for fun, but I know it’s not always easy to combine family life, a day job and a personal project at the side all at the same time. I’m sure they would be happy if you can lend them a hand. Check out in the FreeOrion forums the best way you can contribute. You can also donate to the project here.

I hope development can speed-up significantly, so that we can all enjoy playing one of the best space strategy game experiences being developed out there as soon as possible.

Check here for FreeOrion screenshots and here for a preview video. Download the latest version of FreeOrion (0.3.16) for PC and Mac from here.

The trailer shows a campaign mission where a battle takes place in a visually stunning star system. The battle features a military base, some destroyers and cruisers. Right after battle starts we can see shields holding damage and not so much after that ships start to get destroyed, quite quickly.

In this trailer there is no glimpse on other game features like colony development, diplomacy, but research does get mentioned in the trailer.

Looks promising, but we’ll have to wait just a bit more to see what else Gemini Wars has to offer. Gemini Wars is targeted for release in Q4 2011.

Without more here is the gameplay trailer.

You can check also an older gameplay trailer.

For more information about the game go to the Gemini Wars official website.

Gemini Wars is space RTS game currently being developed by Camel 101, an independent and self funded game development studio. Gemini Wars is scheduled for release in Q4 2011.

Alliance Carrier – The Sovereign

Characteristics

• Manufacturer: Nyasin Group
• Role: Space dominance and Support
• Length: 1242 meters
• Crew: 2184
• Weapons: 1x Fighter Wing, 3x Heavy Lasers, Light Laser Batteries
• Engine: Nyasin NS

For details and lore about the Sovereign check Camel 101′s blog post.

Alliance Battleship – The Independence

Characteristics

• Manufacturer: Huasin Spacetech
• Role: Space dominance
• Length: 1242 meters
• Crew: 1208
• Weapons: 3x Heavy Rail Guns, 4x Heavy Laser Cannon, Light Laser Batteries
• Engine: Astro-Omega E800

For details and lore about the Independence check Camel 101′s blog post.

Liberty Destroyer

The Alliance Destroyer “Liberty” is a powerful and fast Fleet Escort / Attack Warship. Although old in design is still very commonly used by the Alliance forces today.

“The Liberty did more than just conquer the battlefield; it conquered the public opinion too, as the symbol of what the Alliance engineering and military could achieve” (Gemini Wars devs).

Characteristics

• Manufacturer: Omega Tech
• Role: Fleet Escort / Attach Warship
• Length: 327 meters
• Crew: 194
• Weapons: 2 Medium Laser Cannons
• Engine: Astra-Omega C300

Vindicator Battlecruiser

The Alliance Battlecruiser “Vindicator” is one of the most powerful ships in the Alliance fleet.

“It features and impressive array of armament making it capable of holding on its own against larger ships, and a full marine company ready to act on both space raids and ground missions.” (Gemini Wars devs)

Lore tells that a Vindicator vessel was responsible for capturing a very important Enemy Flag Battleship. “It’s said that a Vindicator was responsible for the capture of the USFF Mars – a legendary and supposedly invincible USF Battleship. (…) Using the element of surprise, it was able to outmaneuver and insert its troops inside the enemy Battleship (…) which were able to destroy the Mars’ engines and mains weapons, forcing it to surrender”

This Battlecruiser is a very versatile ship that is cheaper to build than a Battleship. “Although the Vindicator class is only 3 years old (…) it’s currently one of the most requested ship by fleet commanders.”

Characteristics

• Manufacturer: Galsec Aerospace
• Role: Fleet Support / Boarding Ops
• Length: 684 meters
• Crew: 510
• Weapons: 2 Heavy Laser Cannons; 2 Medium Laser Cannons
• Engine: Galsec Power 3T

Gemini Wars is scheduled for release in Q4 2011.

Alliance Assault Frigate “Raven”

The Alliance Assault Frigate, codename “Raven”, primes for its speed. It’s an attack ship equipped with light armor and light laser cannons that single-handed cannot make a difference against strong opponents but when deployed in group it is a formidable adversary. “Manufactured by Uxmay Defense, its design was tailored to suit the needs of a cheap but reliable raid vessel.” (GW developers).

Alliance young officers are assigned to Raven Assault Frigates. “Only the best (and surviving) officers get to be transferred to larger and powerful Alliance ships“.

Alliance Missile Frigate “Chimera”

The Alliance Missile Frigate, codename “Chimera”, is a highly charismatic ship. It served war a long time ago in a far sector and it made a decisive contribution for the Alliance victory there. “Designed by Ncom Industries (…) the Chimera was first introduced 12 years ago in the Urdani sector. It’s said that its effectiveness against USF forces greatly contributed to the Alliance victory in that region of space.” (GW Developers).

The Chimera is a support ship normally used to secure positions. “The Chimera is now frequently seen in patrol missions, supporting larger ships in task forces, or even in garrison duties.“

Gemini Wars is scheduled for release in Q4 2011.

I knew what he meant by then, but I found it a bit retro to always mention MOO2, especially in terms of future games. The more time passes the more I see the truth of his sentence.

I’m running a poll this month to assess if this is how people feel in general. I’m interested to know what do you guys think. I’m a MOO2 fan(natic), I would love to see a new sequel come to life. But this is a topic for another time, now it’s time to present Starbase Orion. You’ll see why I brought MOO2 up.

Starbase Orion

Two days ago (17th April 2011) Chimera Software, an independent publishing software company headquartered in Atlanta GA, announced Starbase Orion, a 4X Turn-Based Space Strategy game for the iOS device family (iPad, IPhone, iPod Touch).

I knew about Starbase Orion because Chimera announced their press release on the Space Sector’s forums (if you have your sci-fi strategy game project this is a good place to spread the word).

Master of Orion 2 … With Better Multiplayer

According to Chimera’s Vision statement, Starbase Orion will “retain the classic turn-based gameplay of Master of Orion 2 while embracing the simplicity and multiplayer experience of Warcraft III”. They explain in detail what they mean by that in their vision statement.

Chimera’s Software says that “(their) biggest disappointment with Master of Orion II is the multiplayer support (…) the hassle and time commitment you need to share the game experience with others is substantial“.

Chimera wants to improve the multiplayer experience of 4x Sci-fi TBS games by “make it dead simple to find other people to play with, matches lasting 30-60 minutes. Long enough to have some great battles, yet short enough to get one or two in before bedtime“.

This sounds pretty good to me, let’s see how they pull it of.

Starbase Orion Main Features

Taken from Chimera’s Software Press Release.

• Customizable Races: Choose from one of five existing races to play, or make you own by picking and choosing from a variety of race attributes.
• Customizable Ships: Starbase Orion includes a complete ship designer which allows you to design your ship weapons and systems.
• Premiere PvP Experience: Most space strategy games take hours, days, even months to play to completion. Starbase Orion is designed to provide a complete and engaging multiplayer strategy experience in a single sitting. Finding a worthy opponent is quick and easy with automated game matching.
• Battle-hardened AI: We battle tested the fleet management AI for Starbase Orion in the Google AI Challenge 2010. Our AI ranked of 698 among thousands of competing bots; it has played hundreds of matches and is ready to give Starbase Orion players a challenge.
• Built for iOS: Universal Binary, Retina Display, Multitasking, GameCenter, OpenFeint.
  To learn more about Starbase Orion, please visit:

Customizable races is there, so is customizable ships. These are two very important features. Good job guys!

The Races

Starbase Orion will feature 5 races. Here is a short introduction. For the details check the SO official races page.

The Isather have the love for battle, they are aggressive and expansionists.

The Vass are an ethereal race,  a collective. They gain bonuses if they have greater population numbers.

The Cyban are great researchers but are not that charismatic.

The Drask have a natural affinity for aeronautics, they are great fighter pilots.

The Humans are crafty, charismatic, and highly trained smugglers.

Some Screenshots

(click to enlarge)

Final Notes

It’s good to see new games coming out for iOS (Apple iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch family of devices). It’s a sign of vitality of the genre, that individuals and companies are willing to invest also in new paths (technological and markets).

It’s also good to see that the community is interested in taking the MOO2 concept and evolve it. Take what is good about it and improve what was not so good about it.

Chimera Software stated that Starbase Orion will be available for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, and that the release date is this Summer.

Well zigzag, MOO2 with better LAN support seems to be under way, let’s hope AI is also as good as Chimera promises it to be. Regarding graphics, well, we’ll probably have to wait a bit more on that one :)

I’m really looking forward for Starbase Orion. This range of new 4x games coming out for Apple (Ascendancy, Empire of the Eclipse and now Starbase Orion) mean that probably it is time to buy one iOS device, probably an iPad :) Well, you know where to donate don’t you :razz:

]]> http://www.spacesector.com/blog/2011/04/starbase-orion-master-of-orion-2-with-better-multiplayer-for-ios/feed/ 22 http://www.spacesector.com/blog/2011/04/empire-of-the-eclipse-gets-delayed-combat-preview/ http://www.spacesector.com/blog/2011/04/empire-of-the-eclipse-gets-delayed-combat-preview/#comments Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:29:25 +0000 Adam Solo http://www.spacesector.com/blog/?p=3972 We reached the end of Q1 2011 and still there is no Empire of the Eclipse.

Empire of the Eclipse is a 4x online real-time strategy game designed for Apple’s iOS family of devices (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad).

Zarksoft Games has decided to delay the game in what they say “we think (the delay) it’s definitely for a good cause (…) the game is simply huge and we’re doing our best to make sure that everything gets properly tested before launch“.

Zarksoft is still working on the battle aspects of the game, that as they explained will delay a bit more the game release than they expected.

EotE release is delayed to an undetermined date, but Zarksoft Games promised “we’ll definitely be out this summer“.

Below you can watch a brief video showing where combat is headed.

For more information on Empire of the Eclipse have a look at my EotE announcement article. I recommend also that you check an interview I did with Lee Dotson, President of ZarkSoft Games. For a glimpse on EotE gameplay have a look here.

Well, moving EotE from the “coming section” to the “under development” section :)

There is no fixed date set yet for the release of Gemini Wars. The release is scheduled to be somewhere in Q4 2011. For more information on Gemini Wars I invite you to read “Gemini Wars – A New Space RTS Game Being Developed by Camel 101 for PC and Mac“. You can get additional information about the game in the Gemini Wars official site or in the Camel 101 blog.

I leave you with the latest official game video, a gameplay trailer (watch it in HD!)

Star Trek Infinite Space will be the first browser-based Star Trek MMORPG game. It will be free to play (as usual in most browser-based games) so this means that no software costs and no subscriptions fees are required from the player. The player is only required to have an internet connection, a web browser and a special 3D browser plugin (that the player must download) in order to play.

Although the game core is free to play, there will be optional micro-transactions available, the usual business model of most browser-based games.

What will Star Trek Infinite Space be about?

From what I could tell Infinite Space will be a MMO role-playing game (MMORPG) with exploration, strategy (RTS) and combat elements. You sit in the captain’s chair. You choose your faction: between Federation and Klingon. You pick your vessel, from authentic Star Trek spaceships, and you’re ready to start your journey of exploration through the galaxy.

Like in any kind of RPG you raise your level (level up) as you go. You level up with the experience you acquire during your missions, supposedly from combat. As you level up you can upgrade your spaceship with better equipment and upgrade your skills.

Gameforge promises fascinating 3D graphics, which supposedly are far better than traditional flash (they really look quite amazing). As in any MMO game, Star Trek Infinite Space allows collaborative gameplay. You can embark in missions for yourself or you can join other captains when engaging in combat.

Infinite Space takes place in the actual Star Trek Universe

Star Trek Infinite Space unfolds in the Star Trek Universe. The timeline for the game will be between seasons three through six of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series (during the Dominion war).

To ensure a proper story line and a credible Star Trek feeling, Star Trek experts Mike and Denise Okuda are assisting the development team. Lee Sheldon, an experienced game designer, author, producer and script writer of Star Trek TV Shows is writing the storyline and the game missions.

Infinite Space is probably one of the most anticipated browser-game of 2011. The release date is scheduled for summer 2011 (Q3 2011). For more details about the game visit the Star Trek: Infinite Space official website.

Gameforge is back, and this time the stakes are very high. Infinite Space is an ambitious browser-based game; if it works alright this may be the turn of the tide for browser-based games. In the meantime I leave you with the official trailer, a very interesting gameplay trailer and an interview with the game’s executive producer. Also don’t forget to check here for some screenshots.

Official Trailer

Gameplay Trailer
I warn you again that the game is still in development, so the final game may look differently from what you will see below. Wow! Pretty impressive for a browser-based game don’t you think?

Video Interview with the Executive Producer

SOTS2 is the sequel to the acclaimed 4x space strategy game Sword of the Stars and it’s target for release at Q3 2011. To know more about SOTS2 I invite you to read my post “Sword of the Stars 2 Announced”. You can also check out the official Paradox Interactive SOTS2 website.

Checkout the video with SOTS2 Lead Designer Martin Cirulis.