Why do Space flight games suck so much ass?

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kaos
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Why do Space flight games suck so much ass?

Post by kaos » Thu Dec 09, 2010 6:37 pm

I'm trying to figure this out.
Cuzz I'd like to make one, but I'm all out of ideas on how to prevent the boredom from setting in.

I dont hate them.
I used to love wing commander...especially privateer.
but even in those games there were parts where it was just drag ass boring.

The best space game I can think of in recent history is Mass Effect2, and it pretty much omits any real space flight sessions and shows you a 10 second custcene of the ship flying to where it needs to be instead.

Even Driving a car around in circles is more exciting.
Forza3 would be more fun.
and Forza3 puts me to sleep.
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Re: Why do Space flight games suck so much ass?

Post by Chewi » Thu Dec 09, 2010 8:48 pm

I loved Elite and Frontier: Elite II even more so. I last played the latter not all that long ago, which is impressive for a 17 year old game. In terms of more recent stuff, Descent FreeSpace is one of my favourite games. It's more action than sim but still worth keeping in mind. The sequel, which I've never got around to playing, is supposed to be one of the greatest games of the genre. I really should have played more in this genre. I was tempted by Eve Online but I haven't got time for MMORPGs.
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Re: Why do Space flight games suck so much ass?

Post by kaos » Sat Dec 11, 2010 5:50 am

I was going to try EVE as well, but I heard that the tutorial portion of EVE:Online lasts for at least a few days.
So you know.... Fuck that.

The White Wolf is in town, and a few months back they were looking to hire some talent to write up scenarios for EVE.
I cant imagine anyone could write up much of anything that hadn't already done to death by now though.
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Re: Why do Space flight games suck so much ass?

Post by Mik » Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:52 am

Eve doesn't really count imo, MMO-games rarely replicate their 'combat' well in terms of other games. MMO-RPG is rarely as complex or free flowing as an RPG, MMO-FPS sucks soo much there are only 2 examples I can think of and neither of them did particularly well.


There are a couple of things, that stick out right away, at least to me. It's exceptional hard to imagine and execute total 3D space without the natural laws of planetary uuuh stuff, in space there is no UP or Down or Left Or Right, it's all entirely relative.

Think of every example of space warfare you have seen; Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galatica, Starbucks, Harribo Star Mix, Space above and Beyond, Macross to name but a few. Very few of them involve fighting or movement beyond a left to right motion, the entire battle sequences are almost allegorical to old school naval battle or for fighter craft current day air combat, all be it with a lot more dog-fighting. Most of it is soo very horizontal.

You could have assaulted the Death Star from 360 degrees. Instead they all came from pretty much the one direction.

It's not game designers fault either, it's hard to imagine or think like you need to. I remember reading this one book and one section was all about a planetary assault, to get to the planet they had to get their landing craft past a Battleship, so they brought their own.

The two ships where duking it out, but the attacking craft was smaller and therefore had much less weaponary, so in a stand up fight, it was going to lose.

Both ships where like old school naval craft, with two weaponised sides (broad sides), the attacking craft decided to ram the other ship, so it turned the front of the craft towards the defending ships broadside, lowering the profile of attack to the nose cone of the ship, which was heavily armoured. Upon seeing this the other craft does the same, for a gigantic game of chicken, the defenders thinking that whichever one moves out of the way first it doesn't matter as they'll nail it in the broadside as they pass.


Just before they where to smash into the defending ship, the attacking ship kicks it in reverse and pitches the ship down, causing it to basically flip over the top of the defending ship, whilst doing this, they started to spin, so that both broadsides hit the length of the top of the other ship, which totally won the fight.


I had to read it like 5 times to understand what the fuck they where talking about.
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Re: Why do Space flight games suck so much ass?

Post by kaos » Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:32 pm

yeah....I had to read that about 3 times to get what you were talking about.

I had originally thought developing a space combat game would be fast and fairly easy.
and I think is still is in terms of controls which is just about half the game.
that much I could probably work out in a day or two.


but the other half, the real fun factor, I cant figure it out.
The feature I'd like to build for isn't enough on its own
I want to do ship damage, with pieces of the ship falling off and/or changing shape, with adverse effect on the controls, and appropriate particle effects.

But after that, its like the whole void of space is in the way of fun.

Constant Dog fighting would seem a lot like a mindless shooter.
maybe even worse, since theirs not even natural cover, and no real limits to your range you can cover while shooting.
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Re: Why do Space flight games suck so much ass?

Post by Chewi » Sun Dec 12, 2010 11:30 am

Seriously, try FreeSpace 2. You can get it on GOG or there's the controversial "HOTU" (Home of the Underdogs) version. Before release, the developers snuck a clause into the EULA that basically says you can freely give the game away to friends. Pirating it online stretched this a bit far but I'll leave that up to you. Or the demo version is still kicking around. If you get into it, check out FS2Open.
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