As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

Spaceship games, but mostly X

124678

Posts

  • Drew-BDrew-B Registered User regular
    edited September 2012
    You know, on top of these mostly-dead or highly niche genres that we're talking about, it's sort of crazy how the RTS genre shriveled up. It sort of snuck up on me.

    What gives? It seems like these days there's only really room for one or two big RTS games, and it feels that way for a lot of other PC genres as well. 10-15 years ago, there was a major RTS release every month, and people stayed on them and played them for years on end. What happened?

    I sort of feel the same way about PC modding in general. 10 years ago, you'd have a single game that had a dozen popular mods that all have tons of active players and servers for years and years on end (Half-life comes to mind, especially). Anymore, it's rare to see a single big mod come out for most big shooters, and even the vanilla shooters seem to have fickle player bases that jump ship a few months into release.



    Drew-B on
  • LTMLTM Bikes and BeardsRegistered User regular
    There was an interesting space-based MMORTS at Prime this year. I stopped listening when he said they were 30-36 months out from having a product though.

  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    Drew-B wrote: »
    You know, on top of these mostly-dead or highly niche genres that we're talking about, it's sort of crazy how the RTS genre shriveled up. It sort of snuck up on me.

    What gives? It seems like these days there's only really room for one or two big RTS games, and it feels that way for a lot of other PC genres as well. 10-15 years ago, there was a major RTS release every month, and people stayed on them and played them for years on end. What happened?

    I sort of feel the same way about PC modding in general. 10 years ago, you'd have a single game that had a dozen popular mods that all have tons of active players and servers for years and years on end (Half-life comes to mind, especially). Anymore, it's rare to see a single big mod come out for most big shooters, and even the vanilla shooters seem to have fickle player bases that jump ship a few months into release.

    I think it's because virtually all mainstream gaming is headed towards multiplayer, and it's pretty hard to make an RTS that isn't an abusive shitty mess when played against other people

    In terms of mods I think it's just that there are so many options for gaming out there and it's so easy to just build and release a damn game (relative to, say, 1999), all the would-be modders are now indy shops

  • WeaverWeaver Who are you? What do you want?Registered User regular
    Kinda did that in Guns of Icarus. I'd captain/man the helm of our airship while calling targets and barking orders to my gunners/engineers over teamspeak.

  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    Weaver wrote: »
    Kinda did that in Guns of Icarus. I'd captain/man the helm of our airship while calling targets and barking orders to my gunners/engineers over teamspeak.

    That game is a lot of fun too, and so is the sequel

    JtgVX0H.png
  • RabidDeathMooseRabidDeathMoose Registered User regular
    Indie shops also seem to be the producers of the majority of our single player games too. Short of the few triple A single player titles left like Skyrim and... Fallout X I guess and, would Civ count? Those are all primarily single player games but Civ has a multiplayer component now that it never used to have.

    Wow, I never thought I'd have that much trouble listing off a bunch of modern single player only games.

  • TallahasseerielTallahasseeriel Registered User regular
    Drew-B wrote: »
    You know, on top of these mostly-dead or highly niche genres that we're talking about, it's sort of crazy how the RTS genre shriveled up. It sort of snuck up on me.

    What gives? It seems like these days there's only really room for one or two big RTS games, and it feels that way for a lot of other PC genres as well. 10-15 years ago, there was a major RTS release every month, and people stayed on them and played them for years on end. What happened?

    I sort of feel the same way about PC modding in general. 10 years ago, you'd have a single game that had a dozen popular mods that all have tons of active players and servers for years and years on end (Half-life comes to mind, especially). Anymore, it's rare to see a single big mod come out for most big shooters, and even the vanilla shooters seem to have fickle player bases that jump ship a few months into release.


    I think it's just that the market for games is changing.

    You've got new generations of people entering the market. Women aren't being ignored by the games industry as much anymore. Hardware and distribution is changing. The industry is changing it's legal practices and stuff.

    Stuff like mods I'm surprised to see at all anymore in big name titles.

    As for RTS games I think it has to do with the merging of the PC and console markets and the increasing popularity of more casual games filling a similar niche while not being a hyper skillful progamer kind of thing.

  • Drew-BDrew-B Registered User regular
    Jasconius wrote: »
    Drew-B wrote: »
    You know, on top of these mostly-dead or highly niche genres that we're talking about, it's sort of crazy how the RTS genre shriveled up. It sort of snuck up on me.

    What gives? It seems like these days there's only really room for one or two big RTS games, and it feels that way for a lot of other PC genres as well. 10-15 years ago, there was a major RTS release every month, and people stayed on them and played them for years on end. What happened?

    I sort of feel the same way about PC modding in general. 10 years ago, you'd have a single game that had a dozen popular mods that all have tons of active players and servers for years and years on end (Half-life comes to mind, especially). Anymore, it's rare to see a single big mod come out for most big shooters, and even the vanilla shooters seem to have fickle player bases that jump ship a few months into release.

    I think it's because virtually all mainstream gaming is headed towards multiplayer, and it's pretty hard to make an RTS that isn't an abusive shitty mess when played against other people

    In terms of mods I think it's just that there are so many options for gaming out there and it's so easy to just build and release a damn game (relative to, say, 1999), all the would-be modders are now indy shops

    That's sort of what I was thinking re: mods. It seems the indie scene has supplemented mods, anymore.

    I'm also very aware of the sheer breadth of different kinds of games we have access to these days. It doesn't take a lot of browsing on Steam to realize that.

    Still, there was a certain magic to following a mods development. People used to be interested in renders, alpha builds and getting in on the betas. The Halloween release of Natural Selection for Half-Life is a particularly fond memory. Mods brought about a different kind of zeitgeist than we typically see these days. I love indie games, but I also sort of miss that whole scene. It was a bit more rugged, a bit more rough around the edges.

    Now that I think about it, the growing complexity of game engines/modding tools probably doesn't help either.

  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    Drew-B wrote: »
    Jasconius wrote: »
    Drew-B wrote: »
    You know, on top of these mostly-dead or highly niche genres that we're talking about, it's sort of crazy how the RTS genre shriveled up. It sort of snuck up on me.

    What gives? It seems like these days there's only really room for one or two big RTS games, and it feels that way for a lot of other PC genres as well. 10-15 years ago, there was a major RTS release every month, and people stayed on them and played them for years on end. What happened?

    I sort of feel the same way about PC modding in general. 10 years ago, you'd have a single game that had a dozen popular mods that all have tons of active players and servers for years and years on end (Half-life comes to mind, especially). Anymore, it's rare to see a single big mod come out for most big shooters, and even the vanilla shooters seem to have fickle player bases that jump ship a few months into release.

    I think it's because virtually all mainstream gaming is headed towards multiplayer, and it's pretty hard to make an RTS that isn't an abusive shitty mess when played against other people

    In terms of mods I think it's just that there are so many options for gaming out there and it's so easy to just build and release a damn game (relative to, say, 1999), all the would-be modders are now indy shops

    That's sort of what I was thinking re: mods. It seems the indie scene has supplemented mods, anymore.

    I'm also very aware of the sheer breadth of different kinds of games we have access to these days. It doesn't take a lot of browsing on Steam to realize that.

    Still, there was a certain magic to following a mods development. People used to be interested in renders, alpha builds and getting in on the betas. The Halloween release of Natural Selection for Half-Life is a particularly fond memory. Mods brought about a different kind of zeitgeist than we typically see these days. I love indie games, but I also sort of miss that whole scene. It was a bit more rugged, a bit more rough around the edges.

    Now that I think about it, the growing complexity of game engines/modding tools probably doesn't help either.

    I think the complexity of the game engines is a big reason why people don't make mods like they used to. It's a lot more complicated to make a mod that is of the quality of the base game now than it was years ago, and people are finicky about the quality of the games they play and a mod that looks like it came from the 90's would be a hard sell.

    JtgVX0H.png
  • WeaverWeaver Who are you? What do you want?Registered User regular
    Darmak wrote: »
    Weaver wrote: »
    Kinda did that in Guns of Icarus. I'd captain/man the helm of our airship while calling targets and barking orders to my gunners/engineers over teamspeak.

    That game is a lot of fun too, and so is the sequel

    I'm talking about the beta on steam.

  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    edited September 2012
    Drew-B wrote: »
    Jasconius wrote: »
    Drew-B wrote: »
    You know, on top of these mostly-dead or highly niche genres that we're talking about, it's sort of crazy how the RTS genre shriveled up. It sort of snuck up on me.

    What gives? It seems like these days there's only really room for one or two big RTS games, and it feels that way for a lot of other PC genres as well. 10-15 years ago, there was a major RTS release every month, and people stayed on them and played them for years on end. What happened?

    I sort of feel the same way about PC modding in general. 10 years ago, you'd have a single game that had a dozen popular mods that all have tons of active players and servers for years and years on end (Half-life comes to mind, especially). Anymore, it's rare to see a single big mod come out for most big shooters, and even the vanilla shooters seem to have fickle player bases that jump ship a few months into release.

    I think it's because virtually all mainstream gaming is headed towards multiplayer, and it's pretty hard to make an RTS that isn't an abusive shitty mess when played against other people

    In terms of mods I think it's just that there are so many options for gaming out there and it's so easy to just build and release a damn game (relative to, say, 1999), all the would-be modders are now indy shops

    That's sort of what I was thinking re: mods. It seems the indie scene has supplemented mods, anymore.

    I'm also very aware of the sheer breadth of different kinds of games we have access to these days. It doesn't take a lot of browsing on Steam to realize that.

    Still, there was a certain magic to following a mods development. People used to be interested in renders, alpha builds and getting in on the betas. The Halloween release of Natural Selection for Half-Life is a particularly fond memory. Mods brought about a different kind of zeitgeist than we typically see these days. I love indie games, but I also sort of miss that whole scene. It was a bit more rugged, a bit more rough around the edges.

    Now that I think about it, the growing complexity of game engines/modding tools probably doesn't help either.

    well its the game engines and tools that are ENABLING the indy game scene

    I mean

    Back in 2000, if you wanted to make a game, you needed people who really knew their shit. There were no Unity or Source engines to be licensed. You needed dudes to dig into the muck and build 3D game engines from scratch.

    so if you were a good programmer but you didn't have 1,500 hours to build a 3D engine, modding was your best bet to break into the scene

    But now, AAA titles can be conceived, built and shipped in less than a year... without really any significant low level programming effort (as long as you're willing to work within the constraints of the engine as shipped)

    Jasconius on
  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    Weaver wrote: »
    Weaver wrote: »
    Darmak wrote: »
    Weaver wrote: »
    Kinda did that in Guns of Icarus. I'd captain/man the helm of our airship while calling targets and barking orders to my gunners/engineers over teamspeak.

    That game is a lot of fun too, and so is the sequel

    I'm talking about the beta on steam.

    Well I was talking about the first game and the beta for the sequel, Guns of Icarus Online. So we're talking about the same thing, mostly.

    JtgVX0H.png
  • TallahasseerielTallahasseeriel Registered User regular
    Weaver wrote: »
    Darmak wrote: »
    Weaver wrote: »
    Kinda did that in Guns of Icarus. I'd captain/man the helm of our airship while calling targets and barking orders to my gunners/engineers over teamspeak.

    That game is a lot of fun too, and so is the sequel

    I'm talking about the beta on steam.

    oh hey that looks kind of neat.

  • MetalbourneMetalbourne Inside a cluster b personalityRegistered User regular
    I want a game like EVE online, but with stuff to do and enemies to fight.

    Not just a flight simulator in space, but a game where you command and control all the systems of a ship.

  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    I want a game like EVE online, but with stuff to do and enemies to fight.

    Not just a flight simulator in space, but a game where you command and control all the systems of a ship.

    Earth and Beyond had enemies to fight

    but not stuff to do


    I would do anything for a modern Earth and Beyond sequel

  • MugginsMuggins Registered User regular
    edited September 2012
    Muggins on
    BdVvFJu.jpg
    hey satan...: thinkgeek amazon My post |
  • WeaverWeaver Who are you? What do you want?Registered User regular
    edited September 2012
    Whatever happened to Jumpgate?

    edit: out of business without ever launching Evolution. Well, crap.

    Weaver on
  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    yeah

    they were sued by Codemasters for being incompetent and then shuttered


    so sad

    I really wanted that game

  • HellaJeffHellaJeff FAB FRESH RAIIINBOOWWWWWRegistered User regular
    I really want to try Artemis. It would be very fun. I look at it as more of a board game atmosphere than a video game though

  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    I loaded up Albion Prelude and started as a trader, and while I started with two ships, neither one had any weapons! I understand the hauler ship not coming with them but the other ship ought to have a small laser or something right? Or are my expectations just off from having played Terran Conflict?

    JtgVX0H.png
  • RabidDeathMooseRabidDeathMoose Registered User regular
    Well Privateer started you out with one single laser. Which is like being told you're heavy infantry and then being provided with a Beretta 418.

    In conclusion: Maybe?

    To be fair to Privateer though, they did lie to you during the intro video where they had the wherewithal to pretend that 3 shots from a laser could blow up a Talon. Talk about being set up for failure, jesus.

  • freakish lightfreakish light butterdick jones and his heavenly asshole machineRegistered User regular
    edited September 2012
    Drew-B wrote: »
    People have been talking about THQs financial situation for something like a year. What the hell is going on over there? I'm not going to pretend I understand the business of game development, but it boggles my mind that they're struggling so hard when they have/had a ton of massive franchises.

    They sunk all their money into a huge gamble on the U-Draw tablet, which spectacularly crashed and burned and left them in financial dire straits.

    http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/02/boom-to-bust-thqs-revolutionary-udraw-now-filling-warehouse-shelves/
    How big was the debacle? While THQ said it had shipped "one million or so" uDraw tablets to stores in 2011, it admitted many of those had to be sold at a reduced price (most retailers are now selling the device for $50, rather than its $70 to $80 launch price).

    What's more, THQ says it has over 1.4 million uDraw tablets sitting unwanted and unloved in its warehouses, damaging its bottom line for the quarter to the tune of $100 million and contributing to a dismal $55.9 million loss for the company as a whole.

    freakish light on
  • SilmarilSilmaril Mr Ha Ha Hapless. Registered User regular
    Well Privateer started you out with one single laser. Which is like being told you're heavy infantry and then being provided with a Beretta 418.

    In conclusion: Maybe?

    To be fair to Privateer though, they did lie to you during the intro video where they had the wherewithal to pretend that 3 shots from a laser could blow up a Talon. Talk about being set up for failure, jesus.

    "Who are you who flies so good?"


    Well, its not fucking me in this shitty box ship.

    t9migZb.jpg
  • BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    what on earth made them manufacture that many shitty tablets

  • freakish lightfreakish light butterdick jones and his heavenly asshole machineRegistered User regular
    They were encouraged by the success of the Wii one, I think, and leveraged everything into it being "the next big thing."

    Obviously it wasn't.

  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    edited September 2012
    for the X games, I cannot recommend the Taxi mod enough

    http://www.xai-corp.net/en/node/1882

    it actually makes the TPs in the game useful to the player

    I know it works well enough with X3: Reunion, don't know about Terran Conflict or the other one

    Indie Winter on
    wY6K6Jb.gif
  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    I didn't even know that thing existed


    THQ strikes me as a company run by people who do not play games

  • Drew-BDrew-B Registered User regular
    edited September 2012
    I'm about to give X3:R another go.

    Probably going to get my ass kicked some more. I get my ass kicked a lot in this game. Like all the time.

    The mouse issue doesn't seem to be resolvable through all my googling so I have to use a combination of the arrow keys to steer paired with the mouse for fine aiming. It's a bit tricky.

    Drew-B on
  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    well Reunion is the one with Kha'ak invasions right?

    I've lost more freighters to invading forces in Reunion than any of the others

    Sectors up the spine of Split/Teladi space with multiple Kha'ak M1's trolling gates

    on the flip side, Albion Prelude by far has the hardest Bankrupt Assassin mode

  • ButtersButters A glass of some milks Registered User regular
    Jasconius wrote: »
    I think it's because virtually all mainstream gaming is headed towards multiplayer, and it's pretty hard to make an RTS that isn't an abusive shitty mess when played against other people

    And being good at a multiplayer RTS takes a lot of practice which likely makes it appeal to a smaller player base.

    PSN: idontworkhere582 | CFN: idontworkhere | Steam: lordbutters | Amazon Wishlist
  • FandyienFandyien But Otto, what about us? Registered User regular
    i feel like recent RTS titles sorta lack the depth earlier ones had. they're flashy and pretty and have some neat innovations, but the classic "easy to learn, impossible to master" sort of incremental system of skill improvements seems to be way less prevalent

    the last legit good RTS that fit into the old-school niche and still had modern features was DOW2:Retribution, to my mind. it's a shame everyone quit playing that when Space Marine came out and now there's only a bunch of weird, angry russians playing multiplayer

    reposig.jpg
  • RabidDeathMooseRabidDeathMoose Registered User regular
    Silmaril wrote: »
    Well Privateer started you out with one single laser. Which is like being told you're heavy infantry and then being provided with a Beretta 418.

    In conclusion: Maybe?

    To be fair to Privateer though, they did lie to you during the intro video where they had the wherewithal to pretend that 3 shots from a laser could blow up a Talon. Talk about being set up for failure, jesus.

    "Who are you who flies so good?"


    Well, its not fucking me in this shitty box ship.

    "Are you insane?!"

    Well obviously because I'm having a fever dream where I beat up on 3 pirates while flying this glorified station wagon like it's some sort of Orion/Xwing hybrid.

    Holy shit, that fucking Tarsus...



  • FandyienFandyien But Otto, what about us? Registered User regular
    what are u-draw tablets even for

    reposig.jpg
  • SilmarilSilmaril Mr Ha Ha Hapless. Registered User regular
    Fandyien wrote: »
    what are u-draw tablets even for

    reducing share price.

    t9migZb.jpg
  • MetalbourneMetalbourne Inside a cluster b personalityRegistered User regular
    Fandyien wrote: »
    what are u-draw tablets even for

    putting on railroad tracks and watching a train flatten out apparently

  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    Warhammer 40k was the best RTS I ever played from a "this is fun by myself and also playable online" perspective.

    Sins is good but the games take too long to develop

  • FandyienFandyien But Otto, what about us? Registered User regular
    DOW2 is the only RTS i've ever really enjoyed the multiplayer in. i got super good at it for awhile last year, and usually i'm that guy who, like, succumbs to an early SCV rush in starcraft or some stupid shit like that

    my buddy played zerg and i played IG, which work really well together in 2v2 with zerg providing a dangerous buffer to stop melee-oriented units from tearing up guardsmen, who do great when they swarm with lasrifles / heavy weapons

    it was also a great approximation of how tabletop warhammer strategy works too which i like

    reposig.jpg
  • freakish lightfreakish light butterdick jones and his heavenly asshole machineRegistered User regular
    Fandyien wrote: »
    what are u-draw tablets even for

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdOuKyvqKL0

  • Indie WinterIndie Winter die Krähe Rudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
    U-Draw is the saddest thing in videogames

    wY6K6Jb.gif
  • FandyienFandyien But Otto, what about us? Registered User regular
    wow that looks unnecessary and stupid

    reposig.jpg
Sign In or Register to comment.