Archive for 2009

Armada 2526 – New 4x space strategy game – First Impressions By Adam Solo on December 24th, 2009 at 1:41 am Armada 2526 is successful on delivering the goods to be recognized as a respectable member of the 4x space strategy games genre. If it can overshadow the Master of Orion and Galactic Civilizations legacy it's still a bit early to tell. Category: Game First Impressions, Game Previews 9 comments

And the winner of the 1st SpaceSector.com contest is… By Adam Solo on December 19th, 2009 at 12:36 am ... jomo44 !! The totals are: jomo44: 14 points (winner!) gLf: 8 points Evan, dvice, naturesnacho and lilyk: all with 2 points jomo44, as winner of the contest your prize is (as you chosen): Galactic Civilizations 2: Ultimate Edition !! (includes all Galactic Civilizations 2 acclaimed expansion packs). Here he is happily presenting his prize. Category: Contests 0 comments

Holiday Season Blog Contest – Win a Game of Your Choice [CLOSED] By Adam Solo on December 7th, 2009 at 10:05 pm To celebrate the occasion, to have a little fun and undoubtedly also aim to increase the SpaceSector.com's readership, I decided to run a contest at SpaceSector.com and give a present to the SpaceSector.com readers Category: Contests 0 comments

What makes a good 4x space game economy model? By Adam Solo on November 29th, 2009 at 9:03 pm Some may say that the key is in the complexity, others will defend that simpler is better others may even argue that realism is in important factor. So what is the right balance? What makes a good 4x space game economic model? And ultimately is that such a big deal? Category: Game Design, Ideas & Concepts 3 comments

Interview with Brad Ottoson | Aphelion: Phoenix Rising main Developer By Adam Solo on November 16th, 2009 at 11:28 pm I decided to invite Brad for an interview which he kindly accepted. Here is the interview we did. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Category: Interviews 0 comments

Space Sector Forums launched! By Adam Solo on October 18th, 2009 at 5:00 pm When I first created this site I knew that sooner or later it would be essential to provide forums so that people could discuss the blog articles and all the space strategy gaming issues. Today is that day.  Space Sector Forums are launched! Usually what happens is that people stray around on several web sites to discuss a particular game or to discuss space strategy news, ideas or concepts. Some of these web sites are too general and many others are too specific. Category: News & Announcements 0 comments

Can MMO games be the future of 4x space strategy? By Adam Solo on October 12th, 2009 at 1:06 am Normally when we think of a typical space strategy game we imagine it to be PC turn-based single player, especially if we’re talking about 4x games. Will Massively Multiplayer games change all that? Category: Ideas & Concepts 8 comments

Aphelion Phoenix Rising: A new 4x Space Strategy Game under Development By Adam Solo on September 26th, 2009 at 5:32 pm Aphelion: Phoenix Rising is a new 4x space strategy game currently being developed by the Wyvern Studios a game development company founded by Brad Ottoson and Jared O'Connor. I became in contact with Brad Ottoson some days ago when we were discussing my blog article: Master of Orion 2: The Formula behind the Success. We briefly discussed about Aphelion: Phoenix Rising, a new 4x space strategy game that is being developed by Brad and Jared. Brad told me that “[Aphelion] is inspired by various 4x space strategy games like MOO2 and Birth of the Federation”. Saying that I immediately decided to investigate the game progress and write an article about it. Category: Games Under Development 1 comment

Astro Empires – MMOG – First Impressions By Adam Solo on September 17th, 2009 at 12:10 am Astro Empires is already a well established free space strategy (the free mode has some limitations, but is fully playable) web-based game known by many players. The idea of this article is to give the reader a global overview of this game to make it easier for newcomers. Category: Game First Impressions, Game Previews 8 comments

Master of Orion 2: The Formula behind the Success By Adam Solo on August 31st, 2009 at 2:26 am From time to time a game appears that revolutionalizes and makes itself the standard for a gaming genre. Released in 1996 by Microprose, Master of Orion 2 Battle at Antares is undoubtedly considered the reference for 4x space strategy games. Category: Game Reviews 36 comments

A New Way to Explore Planets By Adam Solo on August 22nd, 2009 at 1:38 pm When reaching a planet, what its normally presented? Some characteristics presented not very well detailed. Normally colonization is made instantly and all that can be done is start building facilities. I think more could be done to give the planets more protagonism and enhance the exploration excitement. Let us re-think the concept. Category: Game Design, Ideas & Concepts 15 comments

Interview with FreeOrion’s Programming Lead: Zach Laine By Adam Solo on August 17th, 2009 at 12:10 am I became quite interested about this project due not only to the fact that it is inspired in the Master of Orion series but also because it is an open source project being developed by the fan base community. Category: Interviews 0 comments

LucasArts X-Wing and Tie Fighter coming back? By Adam Solo on August 8th, 2009 at 1:06 pm Being a long time fan of the StarWars space simulation games X-Wing and Tie Fighter I thought this was the time to do my first post not exclusively related to space strategy games but about another acclaimed space gaming genre: the space simulation games. As I explain in my about page I plan to post occasionally about other space gaming genres or other non-space strategy games when I find it of interest to the space gaming community. Yesterday I stumbled in a possible rumor, or rather teaser announcement by LucasArts, in G4 TV, that the X-Wing and Tie Fighter series could come back in the near future. Category: News & Announcements 1 comment

What are 4X Games: a Definition and links to Games By Adam Solo on August 4th, 2009 at 2:54 am Although many Gamers are already familiarized with the term “4x” I decided to create an article in order to help introduce the concept for the so many that don’t know yet what it stands for, and also to clarify a bit the concept for the so many also that think they know what it stands for but are not completely sure about it. Category: Ideas & Concepts 3 comments

FreeOrion: A Free Open Source 4x Space Strategy Game By Adam Solo on July 31st, 2009 at 5:31 am While doing some research on the latest news about space strategy games under development I came across with the FreeOrion project. FreeOrion is an open-source project which goal is to build a turn based 4x space strategy game. The entire project is community-centered were people that share the common motivation are invited to contribute to build the game in many ways, some as programmers, others as conceptual designers, others as opinion makers. As stated in the project vision the game is inspired in the Master of Orion series and it will be a turn-based strategy game built in the classic 4x model style. Category: Games Under Development 8 comments

Ogame Review, Tips and Strategy Guide By Adam Solo on July 26th, 2009 at 3:43 am Playing Ogame is like a breath of fresh air brought to the space strategy 4x gaming experience since it offers the possibility to play anywhere I have an internet connection while offering a rich and free multiplayer experience. Category: Game Reviews 13 comments

Less Spaceships with more Personality is more Fun By Adam Solo on July 23rd, 2009 at 3:17 pm When it comes to Space Games, Spaceships take the central stage. They are the backbone of any space faring civilization wordy of that name. In the future I think space strategy games should pay more attention to their spaceships design concept. Category: Game Design, Ideas & Concepts 11 comments