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"Starflight" The 1986 Precursor to Eve Online

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Brinkz Shields
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#1 - 2011-10-26 04:53:55 UTC  |  Edited by: Brinkz Shields
Was looking back at old games I played during my childhood and finally found the first spaceship game that really intrigued me. This was before Masters of Orion came out of course. "Starflight" for it's time had so much depth to it, I know previously the developers gave credit to "Elite" for inspiration of Eve Online but cannot help but wonder if they spent any time playing "Starflight".

Starflight Wiki Page

Quote:
Set in the year 4620, the game puts players in the role of a starship captain sent to explore the galaxy. There is no set path, allowing players to switch freely between mining, ship-to-ship combat, and alien diplomacy


Quote:
Early in the game, the crew encounters an Old Empire starship adrift in space; An endlessly repeating distress call has been transmitting from the ship for over a thousand years. Before the fall of the Old Empire, a scientific expedition known as the Noah 9 left Earth in search of Heaven, a paradise world to which humans could immigrate. Ultimately, the expedition never arrived, leaving a fleet of Mechan ships forever waiting for their arrival. Once their coded questions are answered correctly, the Mechans assume that the crew is, in fact, the long-awaited Noah 9.


Quote:
The ship is initially equipped only to haul minerals. It can be modified into a warship through the purchase of weapons, armor, and shields. The player hires a crew from five species to man the ship's six posts: Navigator, Science Officer, Engineer, Communications Officer, Doctor, and Captain (who has no actual role - the manual states that his abilities boost the crew's). A crewman's proficiency is determined by the relevant skill: a good science officer can determine more of a planet's properties and detect aliens at range, etc. Skill increases are bought. One crewman can man multiple posts, but different species have different maximum skill levels. More crew will also spread out the damage from spiky space tiger attacks and other hazards.


Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3

Anyone else have a chance to play this jewel ?
Doctor Caldari
Ghosts in Shells
#2 - 2011-10-26 05:04:56 UTC  |  Edited by: Doctor Caldari
Yes, did play Starflight and in fact wrote some of the code, as well as for Infocom with Zork up until III.
EVE does not copy anything.

Doctor Caldari



Brinkz Shields wrote:
Was looking back at old games I played during my childhood and finally found the first spaceship game that really intrigued me. This was before Masters of Orion came out of course. "Starflight" for it's time had so much depth to it, I know previously the developers gave credit to "Elite" for inspiration of Eve Online but cannot help but wonder if they spent any time playing "Starflight".

Starflight Wiki Page

Quote:
Set in the year 4620, the game puts players in the role of a starship captain sent to explore the galaxy. There is no set path, allowing players to switch freely between mining, ship-to-ship combat, and alien diplomacy


Quote:
Early in the game, the crew encounters an Old Empire starship adrift in space; An endlessly repeating distress call has been transmitting from the ship for over a thousand years. Before the fall of the Old Empire, a scientific expedition known as the Noah 9 left Earth in search of Heaven, a paradise world to which humans could immigrate. Ultimately, the expedition never arrived, leaving a fleet of Mechan ships forever waiting for their arrival. Once their coded questions are answered correctly, the Mechans assume that the crew is, in fact, the long-awaited Noah 9.


Quote:
The ship is initially equipped only to haul minerals. It can be modified into a warship through the purchase of weapons, armor, and shields. The player hires a crew from five species to man the ship's six posts: Navigator, Science Officer, Engineer, Communications Officer, Doctor, and Captain (who has no actual role - the manual states that his abilities boost the crew's). A crewman's proficiency is determined by the relevant skill: a good science officer can determine more of a planet's properties and detect aliens at range, etc. Skill increases are bought. One crewman can man multiple posts, but different species have different maximum skill levels. More crew will also spread out the damage from spiky space tiger attacks and other hazards.


Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3

Anyone else have a chance to play this jewel ?
Alara IonStorm
#3 - 2011-10-26 05:08:08 UTC
Darkspace, the first 3D Control a Spaceship MMO.

http://darkspace.net/
Herping yourDerp
Tribal Liberation Force
Minmatar Republic
#4 - 2011-10-26 05:12:35 UTC
homeworld 1

one of the best RTS's ever made...
Handsome Hussein
#5 - 2011-10-26 05:15:46 UTC
Herping yourDerp wrote:
homeworld 1

one of the best RTS's ever made...

QFT

Also, played Starflight on my Uncle's ?HP? with one of those amber screens during the release year, IIRC. Details a bit fuzzy, I've slept since then.

Leaves only the fresh scent of pine.
Jade Cargo
Jade Company
#6 - 2011-10-26 05:31:02 UTC
Starflight.......I'm dredging the depths of my memory here (and showing some age), but didn't they have a race called the 'Spemin', who had some great bluster, then folded like damp rags when you got aggro back? The insults were amusing...
Brinkz Shields
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#7 - 2011-10-26 05:36:19 UTC  |  Edited by: Brinkz Shields
Jade I remembered something like that as well and had to go search for the screenshot, haha good memory...


the one and only evil Spemin
Tashanaka
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#8 - 2011-10-26 05:39:20 UTC
Brinkz Shields wrote:
Was looking back at old games I played during my childhood and finally found the first spaceship game that really intrigued me. This was before Masters of Orion came out of course. "Starflight" for it's time had so much depth to it, I know previously the developers gave credit to "Elite" for inspiration of Eve Online but cannot help but wonder if they spent any time playing "Starflight".,,


OMG, I loved Starflight.
Jada Maroo
Native Freshfood
Minmatar Republic
#9 - 2011-10-26 06:01:53 UTC
Doctor Caldari wrote:
Yes, did play Starflight and in fact wrote some of the code, as well as for Infocom with Zork up until III.
EVE does not copy anything.

Doctor Caldari


You worked for Infocom? Shocked

Those old C64 games are like... my entire youth neatly packed onto a 5.25 floppy diskette.
Hirana Yoshida
Behavioral Affront
#10 - 2011-10-26 06:29:44 UTC
The first ten years of computer gaming were a jumble of great ideas with a few that managed to collate a handful and become awesome (ex. Elite).

If you look at games today there is very little actual innovation going on, sure there are bit and pieces but it is mostly just the industry polishing those early ideas and combining them in previously unheard of ways (as hardware allows for it in some cases).

Kind of makes me sad to be a gamer .. that I am spending money on a business that is founded and subsists on plagiarism Sad
CCP Spitfire
C C P
C C P Alliance
#11 - 2011-10-26 08:29:04 UTC
Moved from "EVE General Discussion".

P.S. This thread brings back a lot of good memories... (although I have to admit I was too young at that time to play Starflight).

CCP Spitfire | Marketing & Sales Team @ccp_spitfire
JC Anderson
RED ROSE THORN
#12 - 2011-10-26 11:15:20 UTC  |  Edited by: JC Anderson
CCP Spitfire wrote:
Moved from "EVE General Discussion".

P.S. This thread brings back a lot of good memories... (although I have to admit I was too young at that time to play Starflight).



Ooooh I played Starflight.

It reminds me of another (non spaceship related) game I used to be addicted to around the same time. Was called Wings Of Fury and I think it was on my Apple 2. Could have been on the commodore 64 though, but I cant remember.

Hirana Yoshida wrote:
The first ten years of computer gaming were a jumble of great ideas with a few that managed to collate a handful and become awesome (ex. Elite).

If you look at games today there is very little actual innovation going on, sure there are bit and pieces but it is mostly just the industry polishing those early ideas and combining them in previously unheard of ways (as hardware allows for it in some cases).

Kind of makes me sad to be a gamer .. that I am spending money on a business that is founded and subsists on plagiarism Sad


Well thats how genre's are defined. ;)

It's kind of how so many people point at games like saints row and such as a blatant rip off of GTA. When in actuality thats just like pointing at any fantasy crpg and saying its a blatant rip off of the old D&D gold series computer games, or even the other text based ones before that.

On that note my favorite was Ultima.
KaarBaak
Squirrel Team
#13 - 2011-10-26 11:51:49 UTC
JC Anderson wrote:
It's kind of how so many people point at games like saints row and such as a blatant rip off of GTA. When in actuality thats just like pointing at any fantasy crpg and saying its a blatant rip off of the old D&D gold series computer games, or even the other text based ones before that.

On that note my favorite was Ultima.


Spent many hours in the computer lab playing Ultimas I-IV on the Apple ][e...those and Akalabeth.

At home on the VIC-20 and C64 it was all Infocom...Zork and another...space-based...player is in suspended animation and controls a bunch of robots with his mind....Suspended, I think it was called.

Ah, the old days.

Dum Spiro Spero
Lyrrashae
Hellstar Towing and Recovery
#14 - 2011-10-26 12:17:09 UTC
/Me sighs...

*Tears* for lost youth...

Maybe not entirely apropos, but does anyone else remember the Origin Software (X) Commander series, specifically Wing Commander: Privateer?


The hauler/trader, and NPC-mission aspects seem especially similar, I think. In any case there's a good reason why those are considered classics.

Ni.
Lyrrashae
Hellstar Towing and Recovery
#15 - 2011-10-26 12:21:04 UTC
KaarBaak wrote:

[...]At home on the VIC-20 and C64 [...]
Ah, the old days.


(Going to go cry from longing now...errrrm...I mean, reminisce over treasured memories with a cigarette...yeah, that's what I meantBlink!)

[/thread]

Ni.
Sturmwolke
#16 - 2011-10-26 12:23:07 UTC
Brinkz Shields wrote:
Anyone else have a chance to play this jewel ?


Yep, that and also Starflight II.
There's also a few others in that same genre :

Megatraveller 1 & 2 (based on the Traveller RPG)
Hard Nova

They're all gems in their own right.

Many games nowadays pales in comparison with the old gems and the trending now is to copy or remake them.
Russian or Eastern EU devs tend to produce games similar to the old style, strong in playability but weak in graphics (which isn't necessarrily a bad thing).
Western devs tend to be the other way round (with a few exception).
Oriental devs seems to be pre-occupied with consoles over PC, with their own creativity style. Pity really as some could have made great success on the PC.

It's turning cultural Big smile
Wrayeth
Inexorable Retribution
#17 - 2011-10-26 22:39:06 UTC
Damn, I feel old. I actually remember playing this game on my parents' old Tandy 1000. I was...FFS...7 years old or so when my dad picked it up. It was actually my favorite computer game for several years.

All I have to say is:

A:\starflt
Barakkus
#18 - 2011-10-27 02:02:20 UTC  |  Edited by: Barakkus
I have Starflight and Starflight 2 actually zipped up somewhere around here.

I actually have a **** ton of old games. All the original infocom games, spacequest, alone in the dark, myst, both battletech games, bunch of the ad&d games, empire, hyperspeed, lightspeed, karateka, mechwarrior 1-3, mines of titan, ultima 1-8.

http://youtu.be/yytbDZrw1jc
Ogopogo Mu
O C C U P Y
#19 - 2011-10-28 00:02:55 UTC
Starflight was amazing. Deep play, and an entire universe on 2 floppies. The only thing I remember that annoyed me was the weird save/load mechanic, through which you would screw up your original floppies if you didn't play from copies. That and all the little stickpins I put in my map to mark explored planets.

Also, once you played the game one time,. you could play it again and just market speculate on Eternium to fund your ship and crew training.

Yeah, a lot like Eve.
Gavin DeVries
JDI Industries
#20 - 2011-10-28 00:46:23 UTC
Yes, I played Starflight a lot back then. You know what I remember most about it though? When you undocked from the station, it saved to your disk a status update that you were out, you could not save the game unless you were docked, and if you got blown up you could not reload that save because you were listed as "out". I always copied my save to another disk before leaving, because I was living out in a rural area where random power outages were not really uncommon.

PVP is a question with no single right answer, but a lot of wrong ones.