A different idea for a space sim
by Daniel Buckmaster · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 08/14/2008 (10:37 am) · 25 replies
Warning. If you're not in the mood to read a rant, hit your browser's back button. I'm a bit disparaging towards some very respectable games. And I tried very hard not to snigger when I wrote 'respectable'.
I've just started playing X2 (: The Threat) and I'm loving it. Well, not everything about it - but the concept is really cool. Having this huge universe that you can play through sort of freestyle. I've also had a go at Freelancer, which is similarly cool.
However, whenever I play them, I get this feeling... it's like watching kids' cartoons on Saturday mornings. And with the setting of a space opera, this, to me, reeks of wasted potential.
Some specific examples of my space-sim pet peeves:
-Shipboard computers seem about as advanced and capable as a 1980s Amstrad.
-Some games take inertia into account when moving, but some don't - and when they don't (X2 is a notable example), ship movement sort of feels... fake...
-Laser beams. I know, I know. But I hate laser beams. Lasers are fine. But not laser beams.
-Even more than that: laser projectiles. Oh, the agony...
-Speed limits. Seriously, this has to be one of the worst examples of gameplay kicking simulation in the <3 ever. And no, that wasn't a heart being depicted.
-'Jump gates'. I know, they're a necessary contrivance. But a contrivance is still a contrivance. And since I want to say contrivance once more, um... yeah.
-The tiny little dots you can see floating in your vision that sort of look like stars, except they seem to be spaced about ten metres apart. Again, I know - they tell you how fast you're going. Great.
-Sensors. I can see with my eyes farther than my ship's sensors in X2. Makes you wonder why the sensors aren't based on visual recognition.
-Asteroids. Another Hollywood problem, like lasers. This one could be slightly more forgivable, and slightly less.
What I'm looking for is something... less focused on trying to emulate gameplay people will be familiar with. Like 2001 compared to Star Wars. I'd love someone to do in the space game genre what 2001 did in the space movie genre.
But the critical element here, in my opinion, is the control scheme. Spaceships shouldn't be controlled the same way as a soldier or car, or even a plane - and that seems to be the current paradigm in space games: a flight-sim game without gravity.
As much as I hate to say it (those who know me can attest to the fact that I hate games in the vein of WoW), I'd love to see a space sim with an MMORPG-like control scheme. As in, you're not using the arrow keys to turn your ship and other keys to accelrate or decelerate - you're, in effect, moving via point-and-click.
Of course, this would have to be some advanced pointing-and-clicking. In space, you can't just point to the spot you want to be in with any sort of accuracy. And it were simply limited to objects and preplaced locations, well, you'd be restricting players' mobility to a billionth of a percent of the available space.
I'm still pondering this, but my first idea was basially altering acceleration and velocity for your ship, and setting pan/tilt/roll in the same manner (with widgets on a 3D representation of your ship). Your shipboard AI would allow even more advanced functions - matching course with another ship, computing an orbit, docking with stations.
The ship computer would have to be an essential part of the game. Because everything is so much more complicated than your average game - but it still shouldn't alienate people. Well, not too many people. Basically, your ship computer would do the fine control of ship movement, because this fine control is made clunky with the point-and-click mechanic. Like MMORPGs - when you want to go somewhere, you don't want to have to click and drag each foot every step of the way. You click on a location, and the character runs there.
I think it's a ridiculous control scheme when dealing with human characters, or even vehicles - but with spaceships, it just seems to make more sense to me, to have controls set up that way.
I've just started playing X2 (: The Threat) and I'm loving it. Well, not everything about it - but the concept is really cool. Having this huge universe that you can play through sort of freestyle. I've also had a go at Freelancer, which is similarly cool.
However, whenever I play them, I get this feeling... it's like watching kids' cartoons on Saturday mornings. And with the setting of a space opera, this, to me, reeks of wasted potential.
Some specific examples of my space-sim pet peeves:
-Shipboard computers seem about as advanced and capable as a 1980s Amstrad.
-Some games take inertia into account when moving, but some don't - and when they don't (X2 is a notable example), ship movement sort of feels... fake...
-Laser beams. I know, I know. But I hate laser beams. Lasers are fine. But not laser beams.
-Even more than that: laser projectiles. Oh, the agony...
-Speed limits. Seriously, this has to be one of the worst examples of gameplay kicking simulation in the <3 ever. And no, that wasn't a heart being depicted.
-'Jump gates'. I know, they're a necessary contrivance. But a contrivance is still a contrivance. And since I want to say contrivance once more, um... yeah.
-The tiny little dots you can see floating in your vision that sort of look like stars, except they seem to be spaced about ten metres apart. Again, I know - they tell you how fast you're going. Great.
-Sensors. I can see with my eyes farther than my ship's sensors in X2. Makes you wonder why the sensors aren't based on visual recognition.
-Asteroids. Another Hollywood problem, like lasers. This one could be slightly more forgivable, and slightly less.
What I'm looking for is something... less focused on trying to emulate gameplay people will be familiar with. Like 2001 compared to Star Wars. I'd love someone to do in the space game genre what 2001 did in the space movie genre.
But the critical element here, in my opinion, is the control scheme. Spaceships shouldn't be controlled the same way as a soldier or car, or even a plane - and that seems to be the current paradigm in space games: a flight-sim game without gravity.
As much as I hate to say it (those who know me can attest to the fact that I hate games in the vein of WoW), I'd love to see a space sim with an MMORPG-like control scheme. As in, you're not using the arrow keys to turn your ship and other keys to accelrate or decelerate - you're, in effect, moving via point-and-click.
Of course, this would have to be some advanced pointing-and-clicking. In space, you can't just point to the spot you want to be in with any sort of accuracy. And it were simply limited to objects and preplaced locations, well, you'd be restricting players' mobility to a billionth of a percent of the available space.
I'm still pondering this, but my first idea was basially altering acceleration and velocity for your ship, and setting pan/tilt/roll in the same manner (with widgets on a 3D representation of your ship). Your shipboard AI would allow even more advanced functions - matching course with another ship, computing an orbit, docking with stations.
The ship computer would have to be an essential part of the game. Because everything is so much more complicated than your average game - but it still shouldn't alienate people. Well, not too many people. Basically, your ship computer would do the fine control of ship movement, because this fine control is made clunky with the point-and-click mechanic. Like MMORPGs - when you want to go somewhere, you don't want to have to click and drag each foot every step of the way. You click on a location, and the character runs there.
I think it's a ridiculous control scheme when dealing with human characters, or even vehicles - but with spaceships, it just seems to make more sense to me, to have controls set up that way.
About the author
Studying mechatronic engineering and computer science at the University of Sydney. Game development is probably my most time-consuming hobby!
#22
08/25/2008 (2:44 pm)
Very intersesting article, I like the idea of different levels of scale for Galactic travel. 
#23
08/29/2008 (1:22 pm)
Rather awsome, so get to work! And if space flight and combat were real, you wouldn't get in the face of every ship before you shread it with whatever, you would attempt to hit them long-range while avioding th enemys fire. As for your accleration thing, mines become all the more dangerous. It would be fun to deploy mines and let those really high speed ship crash into it. And your ship computer controls shooting....Cool! You should also look into making the coputer control evasive manuvers that you can customize beforehand. 
#24
08/29/2008 (6:47 pm)
@Daniel, have you looked at Infinity? They're doing most of this stuff (though not in terms of combat, just the general scale/physics related things). Their combat is Newtonian physics + FPS dogfight for the most part (I don't completely remember since it's been a while since playing the combat prototype).
#25
Ross: I have /looked at/ Infinity, but not in much depth. I'm impressed by what they're doing, it looks awesome.
08/29/2008 (11:10 pm)
Crash: yeah, evasive manoeuvres is a good idea. I'm also thinking of stuff like formation flying and stuff. And seeing how much freedom I can put into the system, so that if you're a beginner, it's simple to let the AI do everything - but if you're a veteran, you can step in and take control of any part of your ship at any time. As for getting to work, I have another project I'm working on right now, and will be working on for quite some time :P. Thisis just my 'pipe dream', as it were. Though one that I do plan on eventually creating.Ross: I have /looked at/ Infinity, but not in much depth. I'm impressed by what they're doing, it looks awesome.
Torque Owner Daniel Buckmaster
T3D Steering Committee
That's part three (of four, I think...). Okay, I did skip a few of the fundamentals when I made my quick diagnosis.