Where None Have Gone!
by Chris "Spectre-7" Randolph · 01/07/2006 (4:47 am) · 9 comments
Aloha!
I'm gonna let some pictures do the talking for a second here.
What you're looking at is (sadly) not a screenshot of the game I've been working on. Instead, it's a mock-up representing what I wanted to accomplish with the project. As you've probably pieced together by now, the game is a parody of a certain 60's science-fiction television show that shall remain unnamed, and is largely inspired by the grand tradition of freeware text-based games that have sprung up over the past 30-some-odd-years.
The images are pretty self-explanatory, but here's the low-down: Where None Have Gone (WNHG) is a light-hearted space exploration and adventure game built on top of the powerful Torque2D Game Engine. In WNHG, the player becomes the captain of his own starship, capable of interstellar travel and ship-to-ship combat. His mission is to map out known space, make contact with new civilizations, and destroy any Krang invaders he comes across.
The game obviously draws comparisons to Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, which I admit is a fantastic product. WNHG approaches the same concept from a different perspective, though, and I fully believe both products can coexist peacefully (and profitably). WNHG is designed as a larger, more open-ended game, which caters specifically to the desires of fans of that 60's science-fiction show that shall remain unnamed. In addition, the various abilities of the player's ship offer a more fine-grained, role-playing like environment, which is certain to attract a different crowd than the Infinite Worlds players.
The bulk of the gameplay in WNHG relies on a mission generator that assembles "random" encounters using a set of pre-designed, modular story pieces. Each mission follows a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" style which offers the player multiple choices when solving problems, as well as multiple outcomes. Of course, a player can choose to ignore the generated missions altogether and explore to their heart's content. That sort of freedom is at the core of the game.
And that's "Where None Have Gone" in a nutshell. Unfortunately, the project has been stagnating on my hard-drive for a couple of months now, amounting to little more than a couple handfuls of source graphics, a half-completed design document, and ~100 lines of code. Familiar story, right?
I happen to think there's a 100% kick-ass game in here, but I have to admit that I don't have the skills to finish it alone. If you're a programmer interested in working on this game, drop me a line and we'll chat. I'm completely flat broke, so this would only be a hobby, at least until such time as we finish it and conceivably start selling it. Not a very appetizing offer, I know.
Anyway, thanks for taking a look folks. I hope y'all enjoyed sharing in a little dream of mine for a couple paragraphs.
~Chris "Spectre-7" Randolph
I'm gonna let some pictures do the talking for a second here.
What you're looking at is (sadly) not a screenshot of the game I've been working on. Instead, it's a mock-up representing what I wanted to accomplish with the project. As you've probably pieced together by now, the game is a parody of a certain 60's science-fiction television show that shall remain unnamed, and is largely inspired by the grand tradition of freeware text-based games that have sprung up over the past 30-some-odd-years.
The images are pretty self-explanatory, but here's the low-down: Where None Have Gone (WNHG) is a light-hearted space exploration and adventure game built on top of the powerful Torque2D Game Engine. In WNHG, the player becomes the captain of his own starship, capable of interstellar travel and ship-to-ship combat. His mission is to map out known space, make contact with new civilizations, and destroy any Krang invaders he comes across.
The game obviously draws comparisons to Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, which I admit is a fantastic product. WNHG approaches the same concept from a different perspective, though, and I fully believe both products can coexist peacefully (and profitably). WNHG is designed as a larger, more open-ended game, which caters specifically to the desires of fans of that 60's science-fiction show that shall remain unnamed. In addition, the various abilities of the player's ship offer a more fine-grained, role-playing like environment, which is certain to attract a different crowd than the Infinite Worlds players.
The bulk of the gameplay in WNHG relies on a mission generator that assembles "random" encounters using a set of pre-designed, modular story pieces. Each mission follows a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" style which offers the player multiple choices when solving problems, as well as multiple outcomes. Of course, a player can choose to ignore the generated missions altogether and explore to their heart's content. That sort of freedom is at the core of the game.
And that's "Where None Have Gone" in a nutshell. Unfortunately, the project has been stagnating on my hard-drive for a couple of months now, amounting to little more than a couple handfuls of source graphics, a half-completed design document, and ~100 lines of code. Familiar story, right?
I happen to think there's a 100% kick-ass game in here, but I have to admit that I don't have the skills to finish it alone. If you're a programmer interested in working on this game, drop me a line and we'll chat. I'm completely flat broke, so this would only be a hobby, at least until such time as we finish it and conceivably start selling it. Not a very appetizing offer, I know.
Anyway, thanks for taking a look folks. I hope y'all enjoyed sharing in a little dream of mine for a couple paragraphs.
~Chris "Spectre-7" Randolph
About the author
#2
"From the bowels of Arth there shall once again be movement!"
01/07/2006 (9:37 am)
Reminds me of Starflight, one of the best open-exploration space games ever made."From the bowels of Arth there shall once again be movement!"
#3
I'm always looking for good space games. I'm not much of a programmer either but I'll certainly be willing to buy this if you ever get it going =)
01/07/2006 (2:53 pm)
Starflight is the king, baby!I'm always looking for good space games. I'm not much of a programmer either but I'll certainly be willing to buy this if you ever get it going =)
#4
Hey, if the worst comes to the worst then we had "Realm Wars" for a TGE community project, why not have "Space Wars (WNHG)" as one? ;)
The best of luck,
- Melv.
01/08/2006 (4:52 am)
I'd love to see something like this get to some kind of release. I hope you're able to get the right small group of people to help get it up and running.Hey, if the worst comes to the worst then we had "Realm Wars" for a TGE community project, why not have "Space Wars (WNHG)" as one? ;)
The best of luck,
- Melv.
#5
Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for the support, folks. It's good to know this game sounds fun to someone other than me. ;)
Melv - I'd love to see it get to release as well... I started working on WNHG because every couple of months, I'd go hunting through game releases to see if anyone had made anything like it. It finally occured to me that if I really wanted to play it, I was going to have to make it myself. That's when I bought a T2D license.
Thanks for the encouragement, and all the hard work you've put into T2D. I'm off to go investigate what's involved in building a team around these parts.
01/08/2006 (1:31 pm)
Starflight was a great game, but the decade or more since I've played it might be skewing my memory a little. After reading some of your comments, I started taking a look around to see if there was any way to play Starflight I or II, but it looks like the (many) remake projects are all dead in the water. Instead, I'm playing through the GPL re-release of Star Control II at the moment (http://sc2.sourceforge.net/), and I'm really enjoying the hell out of it. It's something of a puzzled to me why this style of game died. Does anyone have a clue why?Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for the support, folks. It's good to know this game sounds fun to someone other than me. ;)
Melv - I'd love to see it get to release as well... I started working on WNHG because every couple of months, I'd go hunting through game releases to see if anyone had made anything like it. It finally occured to me that if I really wanted to play it, I was going to have to make it myself. That's when I bought a T2D license.
Thanks for the encouragement, and all the hard work you've put into T2D. I'm off to go investigate what's involved in building a team around these parts.
#6
John
01/09/2006 (11:13 am)
Like the idea, dont think I like how close in look and style the games/licenses of what your trying to clone is. Be creative and at least come up with new ship designs and federation logos. Good luck.John
#7
And please, cloning is such a dirty word... I'm knowingly and ruthlessly knocking-off their style, without any hint of remorse. The level of parody I'm trying to achieve just doesn't work with anything less. Where None Have Gone is a light-hearted game for fans of that 60's science fiction show which shall forever remain unnamed.
BTW, what "federation" are you talking about? That's the Space League emblem... :p
01/09/2006 (5:06 pm)
Thanks for looking John. I appreciate your interest in originality (really, more than you would ever guess), but the entire intent of the project is parody. The goal is to aim dangerously close to the original property without directly replicating it... What's not readily apparent when looking at the mock-up is the sense of humor and mocking that permeates the entire game universe and plot. If you start thinking along the lines of Galaxy Quest, Spaceballs and Futurama, you're in the right ball-park. This is the sort of game where a primary resource is "Red Shirts" if that means anything to you.And please, cloning is such a dirty word... I'm knowingly and ruthlessly knocking-off their style, without any hint of remorse. The level of parody I'm trying to achieve just doesn't work with anything less. Where None Have Gone is a light-hearted game for fans of that 60's science fiction show which shall forever remain unnamed.
BTW, what "federation" are you talking about? That's the Space League emblem... :p
#8
I like a great parody like GalaxyQuest (my gamedev.net screen name btw) and the series your going for (I am not a hard-core-convention-type though, I SWEAR...REALLY.). In GalaxyQuest though, even the main ship was pretty different for a parody. Since you may consider selling this, I really have no idea what the laws may say when it comes to 'dangerously close' likeness in a parody, which is my concern for you. Just thinking a little...hmm...how could your ships be a parody of that era? Not sure, maybe the saucer section could be a different shape, like square, or really small compared to the engines, because really, there was only the engine, transporters, and bridge. ;)
Oh, Space League, nice...heh.
- john
01/10/2006 (12:50 pm)
Gotcha, parody...not clone. I like a great parody like GalaxyQuest (my gamedev.net screen name btw) and the series your going for (I am not a hard-core-convention-type though, I SWEAR...REALLY.). In GalaxyQuest though, even the main ship was pretty different for a parody. Since you may consider selling this, I really have no idea what the laws may say when it comes to 'dangerously close' likeness in a parody, which is my concern for you. Just thinking a little...hmm...how could your ships be a parody of that era? Not sure, maybe the saucer section could be a different shape, like square, or really small compared to the engines, because really, there was only the engine, transporters, and bridge. ;)
Oh, Space League, nice...heh.
- john
#9
Thankfully, with the state of trademark and copyright law, it's simply impossible for anyone to own design "concepts" like a forward saucer and side-mounted nacelles. If you look closely at the ship in my mock-up, it actually differs fairly significantly, except for those two features. It's not clear whether the hull is above or below the saucer, and is attached by dual-top mounted struts. It sure looks like another ship, though, doesn't it? That's just how recognizable those features are.
For a little comparison, here's the default ship from Strange Adventures in Infinite Space:
That being said, I've also been messing around with a couple other designs, as I want the player to have some choice in the beginning as to what sort of ship they own. Here's another shot that I was mucking around with:
01/10/2006 (8:00 pm)
I totally get where you're coming from, and it's something I thought about for quite a while. The fundamental problem is that the game looses much of the feel without the Saucer/Nacelle design. As far as looking at the science fiction from the era, "that show" is the only one that's really recognizable, and the Saucer/Nacelle style is really what it boils down to. If you look at production art from the movies and sequel series, they repeatedly tried to get away from the Saucer/Nacelle thing, but couldn't.Thankfully, with the state of trademark and copyright law, it's simply impossible for anyone to own design "concepts" like a forward saucer and side-mounted nacelles. If you look closely at the ship in my mock-up, it actually differs fairly significantly, except for those two features. It's not clear whether the hull is above or below the saucer, and is attached by dual-top mounted struts. It sure looks like another ship, though, doesn't it? That's just how recognizable those features are.
For a little comparison, here's the default ship from Strange Adventures in Infinite Space:
That being said, I've also been messing around with a couple other designs, as I want the player to have some choice in the beginning as to what sort of ship they own. Here's another shot that I was mucking around with:
Torque 3D Owner Phil Carlisle