https://store.steampowered.com/app/4..._a_Dead_Earth/
Anyone played it?
Seems to suffer from programmer personality disorder. That is to say, it's ridiculously difficult, requires you to learn actual astrophysics and chemistry to complete the game, and is hyper detailed to the point of being OCD.
That said, what a breath of fresh air. This might be the most accurate simulator of what actual honest to goodness space combat would be like, ever. To the point that the US space force probably use it for wargames.
And, the graphics suck. It's designed by an engineer, so areas he's less good at (UI design, graphics, storyline, player experience in general) are lacking. This is a sim, not so much a game.
I find myself wishing for someone to take the concept and build a real game out of it. Simplify the ship design down to KSP levels of detail (or just offer standard chassis with limited customisation, like most space games), do major work on the UX, build a campaign where it's not *just* about the physics and the orbital dynamics but rather that becomes part of the setting for a bigger story with all sorts of interesting missions and ideas. Throw in a little more scifi to the level of, say, The Expanse. I'd suggest something close to an RTS style gameplay loop. And then of course, crank the graphics up with details and raytracing goodness and prettiness all over. So what if you'll only really see your own ship - space is simple, so you can turn the graphics up to 11 without melting anything.
Would there be a market for such a game? I think between the popularity of FTL, KSP, Space Engineers and Homeworld, plus the Expanse: yes, I think there probably would be nowadays. Not as a dogfighting game, but as an RTS or even hybrid RTS TBS (to account for travel times).
Of course I can't mention realistic space combat without mentioning Boundary. Less realistic, but definitely a form of space combat that could exist Unlike traditional space fighter dogfighting.
Anyone played it?
Seems to suffer from programmer personality disorder. That is to say, it's ridiculously difficult, requires you to learn actual astrophysics and chemistry to complete the game, and is hyper detailed to the point of being OCD.
That said, what a breath of fresh air. This might be the most accurate simulator of what actual honest to goodness space combat would be like, ever. To the point that the US space force probably use it for wargames.
And, the graphics suck. It's designed by an engineer, so areas he's less good at (UI design, graphics, storyline, player experience in general) are lacking. This is a sim, not so much a game.
I find myself wishing for someone to take the concept and build a real game out of it. Simplify the ship design down to KSP levels of detail (or just offer standard chassis with limited customisation, like most space games), do major work on the UX, build a campaign where it's not *just* about the physics and the orbital dynamics but rather that becomes part of the setting for a bigger story with all sorts of interesting missions and ideas. Throw in a little more scifi to the level of, say, The Expanse. I'd suggest something close to an RTS style gameplay loop. And then of course, crank the graphics up with details and raytracing goodness and prettiness all over. So what if you'll only really see your own ship - space is simple, so you can turn the graphics up to 11 without melting anything.
Would there be a market for such a game? I think between the popularity of FTL, KSP, Space Engineers and Homeworld, plus the Expanse: yes, I think there probably would be nowadays. Not as a dogfighting game, but as an RTS or even hybrid RTS TBS (to account for travel times).
Of course I can't mention realistic space combat without mentioning Boundary. Less realistic, but definitely a form of space combat that could exist Unlike traditional space fighter dogfighting.