Once upon a time (1998) there was a marvellous game called
Decent: Freespace. In fact it was so well developed and groundbreaking that the following year (1999)
Freespace 2 came out. And to the satisfaction of all space combat sim fans, it was very good. With an epic storyline worthy of a blockbuster hollywood movie for both
Freespace 1 and
Freespace 2. And a space combat system that looked splendid and revolutionary as far as 3d gfx went for the time. It also completely immersed gamers everywhere with
titanic capital ship battles that players would engage as
fighters and bombers in. I remember targetting subsystems from engines to weapons and sheilds and feeling completely immersed.
Many years later when Volition revealed it was unlikely to make the long awaited Freespace 3, it revealed the source code and invited with this move many modders and programmers into the
open source Freespace community. Mods like
Battlestar Galactica called
Beyond the Red Line as well as the original game with
updated textures is a pretty sight to behold.
What I would like to know from the makers of Star Legacy is: if a game like Freespace was possible back in 1998-99 when PC specs were fairly modest and 3d technology barely running into 2nd generation hardware, can't this game (Star Legacy) have a combat system that is as extensive and as aesthetically pleasing as Freespace? Surely a 10yr old engine can be reproduced and made for a larger scale space strategy game yes? If anything programmers can freely check the open source code for any pointers or hints on how to make space combat epic again like in the 90s. Freespace employed realistic collision detection, unlike sphere based collision detection that would merely push the fighter in the opposing direction. This little attention to detail is what set it apart. And the amazing thing that it was acheived on a tight release schedule and with budget constraints.
Even the Direct X8 game
"Hegemonia:Legions of Iron" that hit in 2002 held quite a few promising
features. There have been very few games that push the envelope of realism and ingenuity for space combat games. One recent addition being
Nexus Jupiter Incident and its never released sequel
Nexus Jupiter Incident II were to boast the most spectacular realistic models of planets and ships effects known to the genre.
I guess all in all what I am posing is the question of how difficult is it to make a beautiful looking game? Logistically speaking, if a combat space sim game more than 10yrs old! (Freespace)could do it then. Is it realistic to ask that Star Legacy look at least as good? I just hope we don't fall into it looking more like
Armada 2526 where combat is concerned. This game came out in 2009 and promised to be a Total War in space. In reality it was a humble effort more suited to a 1990s release date. Don't get me wrong the gameplay is more important than gfx, but c'mon we are in 2010 now and asking for the atmospheric gamestyle and presentation ala Freespace 1998-99 offered is not so outrageous now is it? Otherwise it seems games these days have lost its soul in some strange twist where recent games of this genre look worse than games of over a decade old!!!
Peace and looking forward to a top rate combat system for Star Legacy.
PS: I ask that the programmers doing Star Legacy's combat system and gfx, take a short look at Freespace 2 open source code. You will probably find a few pleasant surprises on how to better your own amazing game. If there is a game out there that had blood sweat and tears go into it, its definitely this one.