Has anyone heard of a game called ScrumbleShip? I've been following it for a few months now. Since no one seems to be talking about it here, I thought I'd bring it up.
It's an online voxel space sim (a new but growing genre - also see Blockade Runner, Dyvox Pytheas, and Starmade) being developed by one guy and an artist. It's about building ships, space stations, and other stuff from resources you mine from asteroids, and then battling and trading with other players. Right now it's in alpha and is still singleplayer; eventually it will be persistent open world multiplayer with inter-solar-system travel like EVE or Freelancer.
The game is going for incredible realism, physics-wise, but in a playful retro art style. Here's an example of what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmqbtTg4e-UThe video, shot a few months ago by the dev, shows the game's voxel damage system. I think the damage modelling is really pretty impressive - it allows for actual voxels (3D pixels) to be damaged, instead of just whole blocks. The damage system will apply to all material - including players and AI crew. That will probably get messy.
What's most impressive, though, is how much attention the dev is paying to physics: for example, it has a heat simulation engine that models things heat transfer, and materials melting and boiling. This makes things like melting holes in ships with lasers possible, and makes ship cooling a major concern (like it is in real life) - all working ship parts will produce heat that needs to be dumped into space, or the ship will turn into an easy-bake oven in space! Not good for the crew. You can see the heat engine working here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6ftTTUYQcM&feature=plcpSome other things the dev says are planned:
- A force engine that simulates collisions and hull strain
- Ship flight (duh)
- Resource scarcity - players will compete for, trade, and mine and refine all building materials from asteroids
- Electricity that must be generated and stored to power systems
- Air and pressure simulation, including air temperature
- An AI crew of redshirted clones that mines, builds and fights for you
- Organic ships that need to be fed and can heal damage
- Ship weapons with variable power and ammunition
- And other stuff I'm forgetting.
I think this game is going to be really,
really cool - it's got everything I've been looking for in a space sim for just about my whole life! If you want to try it out, there's a free demo available. Also, there's a Kicksterter on, so if you like to support ambitious game projects, check that out!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/660532831/scrumbleshipI really hope this takes off in a big way. I love big, open multiplayer space sims like Freelancer and EVE - if we can have that kind of freedom, but also build and personally captain our own ships and crew, the possibilities for player economy, roleplay, and factions are endless.
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