Space flight simulation game
Examples of more fantastical video games that bend the rules of physics in favor of streamlining and entertainment, include Wing Commander, Star Wars: X-Wing and Freelancer.
The modern space flight game genre emerged at the point when home computers became sufficiently powerful to draw basic wireframe graphics in real-time.
If the definition is expanded to include decision making and planning, then Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space (1992) is also notable for historical accuracy and detail.
In this game, the player takes the role of Administrator of NASA or Head of the Soviet Space Program with the ultimate goal of being the first side to conduct a successful human Moon landing.
FlightGear can accurately handle speeds from subsonic, transonic, through to high hypersonic or re-entry regimes with a flight dynamics engine that can incorporate windtunnel data or computational fluid dynamics, and uses a 3d model of gravity used for spaceflight based on spherical harmonics which can simulate the twisting force caused by gravity varying over a craft.
Being modern, FlightGear has realistic graphics and an orbital renderer that can handle calculations of light scattering and auroral emission with huge distances involved.
Such games generally place the player into the controls of a small starfighter or smaller starship in a military force of similar and larger spaceships and do not take into account the physics of space flight, often citing some technological advancement to explain the lack thereof.
Notable examples of the genre include Elite, the X series, Wing Commander: Privateer, Freelancer, and No Man's Sky.
[32] Many games of this genre place a strong emphasis on factional conflict, leading to many small mission-driven subplots that unravel the tensions of the galaxy.
[32] As an example, Freelancer has been in one reviewer's opinion critiqued as being rigid in its narrative structure,[33][34] being in one case compared negatively with Grand Theft Auto,[34] another series praised for its open-ended play.
[12] Most fans prefer to use this input method whenever possible,[34] but expense and practicality mean that many are forced to use the keyboard and mouse combination (or gamepad if such is the case).
[12] In fact, X3: Reunion, sometimes considered one of the more cumbersome and difficult series to master within the trading and combat genre,[40][41] was initially planned for the Xbox but later cancelled.
For example, it is common to use a joystick analog control to land a Space Shuttle (or any other spaceplane) or the Apollo Lunar Module (or similar landers).
In addition to forward and rear views from the ship, the game provides both a galactic map and sector scanner to show enemy and friendly starbase locations.
In interviews, senior producers of CCP Games cited Elite as one of the inspirations for their acclaimed MMORPG EVE Online.
[3] Developers of Jumpgate Evolution, Battlecruiser 3000AD, Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Hard Truck: Apocalyptic Wars and Flatspace likewise all claim Elite as a source of inspiration.
[61][62][63][64][65] Elite is one of the most popularly requested games to be remade,[41] and some argue that it is still the best example of the genre to date, with more recent titles—including its sequels—not rising up to its level.
Some tabletop and board games, such as Traveller or Merchant of Venus, also feature themes of space combat and trade.
[2][77] The Wing Commander (1990–2007) series from Origin Systems, Inc. was a marked departure from the standard formula up to that point, bringing space combat to a level approaching the Star Wars films.
Set beginning in the year 2654, and characterized by designer Chris Roberts as "World War II in space", it features a multinational cast of pilots from the "Terran Confederation" flying missions against the predatory, aggressive Kilrathi, a feline warrior race (heavily inspired by the Kzinti of Larry Niven's Known Space universe).
[citation needed] Wing Commander (1990) was a best seller and caused the development of competing space combat games, such as LucasArts' X-Wing.
[12] The very things that made these games classics, such as their open-endedness, complex control systems and attention to detail, have been cited as reasons for their decline.
[12][13] It was believed that no major new space sim series would be produced as long as the genre relied on complex control systems such as the keyboard and joystick.
Born Ready Games also closed a successful Kickstarter campaign at the end of 2012, having raised nearly $180,000 to assist with the completion of Strike Suit Zero.
[13] Unofficial remakes of Elite[citation needed] and Privateer[83] are being developed using the Vega Strike engine, and the latter has reached the stage where it is offered as a working title to the public.
In 2013 a hobbyist space flight simulator project was realized under usage of the open source Pioneer software.
