Most active scifi games right now?

[RnMissionRun]

Thanks to this conversation, I was up until 3am working on space code

[golgoth]

@Jennkryst @Auspice
I didn't know it was Christmas! I go to bed and wake up to presents!

Space system written in Python/For Evennia? Mmm. Too much excitement for me this early in the day.

Would there be an underlying game system idea with associated theme? Game system idea with an original theme?

Mostly, can I be the fat drunk engineer making whiskey in the closet while repairing shuttles/fighters? Because that would be awesome.

[EMDA]

There's a MOO called Star Conquest: Catalyst that might be worth checking out for anyone interested in coding space-like stuff. It's both extremely code-heavy and has a somewhat stringent application process so I wasn't going to offer it as a suggestion earlier in the thread, but it's well worth a look who does like that sort of stuff or who wants to code something set in space.

They broke space down into three dimensional sectors with coordinates from something like -100, -100, -100 to 100, 100, 100. While on autopilot you could travel to specific coordinates, and while on manual you can move directly left/right/up/down/diagonal in steps. Passing beyond one edge of a sector on manual would translate you to the next zone, with only some areas of space actually being charted out and large heaps of it left empty/unexplored/possibly-crawling-with-AI-monsters-or-artifacts.

One of the best things about the game IMO is the way they handled ship design. For most concerns there were three aspects of a ship to care about at any given time - piloting, engineering, and combat. For small and starting ships, everything is routed to the pilot's terminal so one person can handle it. As ships get larger, the tasks are distributed across different rooms. So your pilot's at the helm trying to maneuver to avoid taking damage and keep an enemy in range, your engineer's in their room repairing damage and providing boots to engines/weapons/whatever they feel like, and your gunner is in a weapons room (or several are in several, if you're on a large craft) trying to get locks and pound out the damage. There's an shipboard comm system to keep everyone connected across the rooms. It gave a very united feel with whoever you happened to be crewing the ship with.

Exploration allows for specially (well, any ship can do it but if you don't want to die) outfitted ships to head beyond charted space and use a kind of phase-warp-whatever to sail across the other side of the fabric of reality or something, using landmarks to hopefully not get lost or stuck in a current. These ships tend to have added observation decks for the navigator, living quarters, upgraded life support, etc. When I joined the game there was a group of 7-8 players out on a navigation trip that lasted upward of an RL week.

I also got carpal tunnel in both wrists before dropping the game so maybe if anyone does code something make it a little less frantic-typing-dependent.

[Tinuviel]

@EMDA said in Most active scifi games right now?:

There's a MOO called Star Conquest: Catalyst

Christ, that thing is still going?

[Jennkryst]

Sidenote, you're making me want to try to dig up my old source code for HSpace 5, which was a whole scale re-design of previous HSpace systems. It included drift (cutting your engines off and continuing along the vector at X velocity until you set speed to 0... also, if you didn't stop, turn, start, now you're flying in a giant parabolic arc. Fun times) and resource harvesting, among other things.

[RnMissionRun]

@Jennkryst said in Most active scifi games right now?:

Sidenote, you're making me want to try to dig up my old source code for HSpace 5, which was a whole scale re-design of previous HSpace systems. It included drift (cutting your engines off and continuing along the vector at X velocity until you set speed to 0... also, if you didn't stop, turn, start, now you're flying in a giant parabolic arc. Fun times) and resource harvesting, among other things.

HS5 had some really nice features but they never finished it. It's not exactly in a usable state, but someone could probably fix it if they were motivated to do so.

[Ominous]

@EMDA So Bridge Crew Simulator: MOO Edition. Sounds awesome as I am a fan of bridge crew simulators.

[Auspice]

@Ominous said in Most active scifi games right now?:

@EMDA So Bridge Crew Simulator: MOO Edition. Sounds awesome as I am a fan of bridge crew simulators.

Reading that reminded me of my more intensive days of playing WNOHGB...