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ahoodedfigure

I guess it's sunk cost. No need to torture myself over what are effectively phantasms.

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Star Raiders After

By ahoodedfigure 6 Comments

Yeah, not much similarity there. It had energy depletion, I guess. Starbases.

I mean, it might be a decent shooter, but it looked a bit flat to me. Liked the big ship designs, liked the references for what they were (Solaris was the intended sequel to Star Raiders, so that's where that name comes from, and even the original game had the Atarian federation or whatever).

I want to just write up my idea for what I think would be a step up from the old (Atari 400/800, released in '79) game, sacrificing none of its lean efficiency or challenge but making the sim part of it make a bit more sense and keeping it accessible while not actually changing the frigging formula. Maybe later.

Usually I don't care too much if someone makes a game based on some old property, or at least I try to tell myself that. There have been some great retro remakes, especially of the older arcade games ( Pac Man and Space Invaders spring to mind), but they managed to take some kernel of those old games and translate them into something that still works, rather than try to coast on the name.

And they're right, it's weird to go after a niche title and not appeal to that niche crowd that still remembers it.

6 Comments

6 Comments

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ahoodedfigure

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Edited By ahoodedfigure

Yeah, not much similarity there. It had energy depletion, I guess. Starbases.

I mean, it might be a decent shooter, but it looked a bit flat to me. Liked the big ship designs, liked the references for what they were (Solaris was the intended sequel to Star Raiders, so that's where that name comes from, and even the original game had the Atarian federation or whatever).

I want to just write up my idea for what I think would be a step up from the old (Atari 400/800, released in '79) game, sacrificing none of its lean efficiency or challenge but making the sim part of it make a bit more sense and keeping it accessible while not actually changing the frigging formula. Maybe later.

Usually I don't care too much if someone makes a game based on some old property, or at least I try to tell myself that. There have been some great retro remakes, especially of the older arcade games ( Pac Man and Space Invaders spring to mind), but they managed to take some kernel of those old games and translate them into something that still works, rather than try to coast on the name.

And they're right, it's weird to go after a niche title and not appeal to that niche crowd that still remembers it.

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mracoon

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Edited By mracoon

Dude, your work on the Star Raiders page got a mention from Jeff and I have to say it's pretty awesome.

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Mento

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Edited By Mento  Moderator

I was always more of an Elite guy back in the day. Bit more recent than Star Raiders I suppose, but I sank so much time into the Atari ST version it's not even funny. Thargoids out the wazoo.

It does seem a bit off that they'd take all the sim elements out. Like the slightly more in-depth space sim shooter isn't still a genre of some repute, if those X and DarkStar 1 type games are any indication.

On a final note, 'grats on getting a shoutout in the QL for your work on that page. Coming so soon after your Community Starlet feature. Everything's coming up Milhouse?

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Claude

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Edited By Claude
@mracoon said:

" Dude, your work on the Star Raiders page got a mention from Jeff and I have to say it's pretty awesome. "

Yeah, I checked out the Star Raiders page after ahoodedfigure posted his pre quick look blog. It's pretty damn impressive. I loved the beginning of his pre quick look blog too.

Here's the beginning.


 I'll watch the Star Raiders reboot quicklook, but I get the feeling already that I won't be happy with what our intrepid explorers find. I've already received warning, and if the change in starbase status here is indication, chances are there might be some disappointment:

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Karl_Boss

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Edited By Karl_Boss

That's really unfortunate that they didn't make it more like the old Star Raiders.

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ahoodedfigure

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Edited By ahoodedfigure
@mracoon: Thanks. I'm pretty proud of it. What's funny is that it sort of all came out of me fully formed like some sort of space baby. I'd already explored that game pretty thoroughly while other kids were probably getting more sunlight, and it was just complicated enough to teach me what a game could accomplish even back then, with an arc of sorts, and an ending, back when most games were arcade-oriented, endless score fests.

@Mento: See, I didn't even learn Elite existed until I was out of high school. I'm pretty sure I would have been all over that had I known, and I played quite a bit of a PC version I found later. In a parallel world, my significant other even managed to break the game; we seem to share the talent for finding a loose thread on a game and unraveling it.

Even games like Dark Star, though, tend encapsulate their experience, if I understand it right. There's over-arching plot, side missions, but the universe waits for you.  Star Raiders is by no means as complicated as those sorts of games --you only get one weapon, I think the odds for damage are pretty consistent for all of your ship components, it all gets fixed pretty quickly no matter how badly damaged-- but the world was going on, time was ticking down, no matter what you were doing. For some games that's needless stress, but for this one it was essential to the experience and damned fun to fly in just in time to save the day (or not, as the case sometimes was-- but it wasn't a huge hassle since the game wasn't a chore to restart and play through again. That's the trick I think a lot of people are starting to forget is possible).

As fond as I am to say "everything's coming up Milhouse" and "wow, a Bob Mackey!" to the usual blank stares, I dunno. I'm too cautious a person to see this as any sort of trend, but it makes me happy all the same.

@Claude: Thanks. It may seem like I'm namedropping or whatever, but the reason I put that pic on there was that it was a pretty funny Star Raiders in-joke, at least to me.  Didn't know he was going to message me so that perfected it.

@Unknown_Pleasures: It's not surprising, but even as cynical as I can get sometimes, I still like those kinds of surprises. It doesn't need to be Star Raiders in name to capture that feel, though, so there's always a chance someone will go for it some day. I'm not gnashing my teeth. :)