Star Fleet game

[Chris]

I havn't come across any talk on the subject yet, but I was just thinking what it would be like to have a PC or PS2 game of the show. The more I think about it, the more i'd love someone to design one! The only problem I can see is the obvious one....who would buy it? How many would remember the show enough to warrent a game, so it will probably never happen. It's a terrible shame, when I think about the possibilities! The gamer could be in control of not only X-Bomber, but commanding the Dai-X junction and smashing away at Makara's forces on a planet surface as the Dai-X robot.Surely someone could make this a reality...one day maybe?Any developers reading this, you know what you have to do!(Edited by Chris at 7:34 pm on Sep. 30, 2002)

[AndyThomas]

There is a space-invadery game produced by the SFProject gang, and a few Flash ones have also been around in the past. These are fan-produced efforts and needless to say not on the scale that a commercial release would be. But certainly, there's a lot of potential there. It's also been suggested that a mod of an existing game might work, but it's finding people with skills and interest in the show that's the trick of course. I can do a bit of 3D design, but have zero experience of modding. Other than once trying to make my own Quake II skin. Sort of...!

[Chris]

That's great! Yet another thing to check out deeply. I must admit, If the BBC someday start showing Star Fleet again, and the DVD releases do well, I'm hoping a small craze sweeps through the country that will see Star Fleet make an appearance on PS2/X-Box/GCube. The use of their 3D engines would make for a spectacular space battle/roleplay/FPS type thing. But for now, Mike, my praise on these projects. This is all great stuff! Andy, maybe your lovely original 3D models for SFGenesis could be adapted for the game if ever someone shows up with the know-how to pull it off. That's the scope i'm seeing here: Mountains, Dai-x pummeling through them and other creatures/robots. Oh! For sure one day it will be...(Edited by Chris at 8:56 pm on Sep. 30, 2002)

[AndyThomas]

I'm not quite sure what game genre Star Fleet would actually fit into. If you were going to do any sort of space combat sim, you'd have to invest in a big creative team, because there isn't enough variety in the ship types in the original series when you consider how many you get in modern games. It would make modding it easier in a sense of course...I could imagine a console game where it actually played best using three players. In X-Bomber, you'd have one flying and two manning turret guns, perhaps someone else managing power to bring it up to four. With fewer people, AI would do the vacant roles and you could bounce between them as in, say, I-War.Similarly for Dai-X, if you wanted to keep it close to the series, you'd have Shiro on weapons, Barry on the arms and Lee on mobility. Maybe player number 4 could even provide fire support from X-Bomber. Lots of possibilities, and certainly the likes of Mechwarrior show it can be done very easily these days in terms of graphics. "Easily" being relative of course!I imagine a RPG style game with space combat elements might work too, like the old 25th Anniversary Star Trek game. You could then incorporate more of the Quest idea into it. Lots of options...BTW, I neglected to mention Shane's asteroids game before - I can't remember if it's on his site though. Shane?Oh, and I've seen a short video preview of that Robotech game - it looks as if they're using cel-rendered 3D so that it looks more like 2D cartoons rather than the Mechwarrior approach. Could be interesting if done well - you'd end up with something that was part Mech combat and part flight sim, although I suspect it'll be quite arcadey rather than sim-y. Have to wait and see!

[Chris]

Freedom of movement would be essential if a console game was being developed. You could start by doing a simple space-shooter (something like Rogue Squadron on Gamecube) that could take place above a planet and depending on your actions at the time, leave it entirely up to the gamers whether or not you need to Dai-X junction to defeat whatever enemy is at hand. You could start with X-bomber, and subsequently use the three parts of Dai-X to do battle when the heat is on. And about the Dai-X three player aspect: This would undoubtedly a lot of fun as a multiplayer, with the kind of precision everyone playing would need to operate the big robot in unison. At first, this could be a hilarious bit of the game, yet would ultimately be immensely satisfying when done right. Something else that occurred to me: There seem to be an equal amount of new ideas for games as well as those based on an existing franchise, yet they sell if the game is good enough (Zone Of The Enders on PS2 spring to mind, which is not based on anything apart from battling robots) so i suppose in many cases it could be as simple as a game developer suddenly realising that something like Star Fleet has potential. Who cares if nobody's ever heard of it, the idea is sound. It would simply be a bonus for that person that the idea does have a back- history, and the game could revive the series in itself (If it were good enough, that is).Still, just a far of fantasy at the mo. In an 'Ideal World' and all that!Chris

[Crash]

Hmm. Has anyone got any other designs for possible Imperial Astrofighters? Since the original version coming at you over and over again might get a bit boring.

[AndyThomas]

Yes and no. The only variation on the normal ship that's seen in the series is Carter's astrofighter. There isn't a lot of footage with it in (or at least with it in one piece) but it seems to have more of an arrowhead sort of nose cone. I suppose it's a bit like the way Darth has the prototype Tie Advanced (?) in A New Hope. I think there should probably be some sort of Imperial Heavy Fighter, and perhaps an Imperial ship the size of X-Bomber. As cool as the Imperial carriers are, although they pack their own firepower they're obviously a compromise between an out and out offensive ship and a carrier. The Alliance could do with something in-between the carrier and the fighter, and something else again to support the battlecruiser class ships. I suppose the thing is that in the series, the Imperials haven't faced any opposition which their existing craft couldn't handle...