Space
Posted by ithamore Sun, 10 Jun 2007 06:04:00 GMT
Takashi’s Space is not the final frontier, but it is the winner of the of this year’s Super Game Bakedown at selectbutton (results).
I have to agree with the voters that it is better than the other two finalists
(Overlords
by Alan Gordon and bd7007
by !=). bd7007 is too short, and it has too little to it. The recommendable Overlords is a good, challenging, minimalistic strategy game that fits interestingly between the RTS and turn-based variations of the genre, and it’s the most developed entry. But I have a crush on Space and all of its large polygon goodness, so my preference for it is a bit biased.
Space is a simple game that lets you develop your own planet from resources stored inside of the surrounding asteroid ring. Not all of the game’s planned features have been completely implemented, but it shows some potential. In some ways, it reminds me of Alex Ghignola’s rather old, 58 Kb Crystal Pixels, although Space is simpler and more playable.
Speaking of simple, Space could honestly use more development. The planet can only be built with industry or residential sections, which don’t seem to evolve. After depositing resources in the Starbase, it becomes pointless to mine the asteroids, since the Starbase’s reserves never decease. The game lacks documentation. A save file can be created, but it isn’t loadable. And completing a planet triggers no event or in game award, which causes me to suspect that some screenshots of the game used elsewhere are either of a different version than the “final” one or rendered instead of being in game.
According to Alan Gordon’s blog entry on the contest, “simply designing and building your planet is rewarding enough, thanks to the wonderful visuals” of Space. And I agree with the his compliment on the visuals, since I have a nostalgic admiration for 3D games made with large polygons. But now that I’ve been playing the game for over a week and working on this post for a couple of days, my crush has waned. I still like the way it looks, and it was fun while it lasted, but, in it’s current state, it isn’t rewarding enough for a long term relationship.
(Source: Cutting with Scissors)
If your RSS feed looks wonky, I’m sorry. Typo’s preview of the post was lying to me about the paragraph breaks. Maybe that’s why it’s named Typo.
long entry is LOOOOOOONG
um also, how the hell do i play this?
When I don’t know how to play a game, I test out every possibility, but that’s just me.
‘A’ is forward and ‘Z’ is backward. Your perspective can be controlled with either the arrow keys or the mouse. If you get close enough to objects your options will be displayed in the HUD. There is a problem that when some of the asteroids are too close to each other the game’s detection for which one you should be able to interact with doesn’t work so well. Also, the game’s sensitivity for keyboard commands seems to be lacking. I had to hold down letter keys or press them more than once to get them to register, but it could be that the game wasn’t completely compatible with my keyboard settings.
Whoa! You found my blog again!
I need to bug my person to set up a website again
overlords is super fun!!!!
ith, other than links and images, you don’t need to include any other html tags in the post. (in fact, doing so could break things) :)
I am glad you think so, Devin! It took me a month to make.
Also, just FYI, you spelled my name wrong.
Fixt.
Not at the top.
Well, excuuuuuse me, princess!
Hmm… A Sim category! I know a thing you might be interested in ;) http://www.dogsquad.co.uk/dif/plane.htm Most info is lying around at the forum http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showforum=105