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Joined 2 years ago
Cake day: October 4th, 2023
  • tal@lemmy.todaytoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world•What are your favorite games that you never see mentioned anywhere?English
    3·
    6 months ago

    Escape Velocity also had a sequel or two done by Ambrosia Software themselves. I remember playing and enjoying them.

    kagis

    Escape Velocity Override and Escape Velocity Nova.

    It looks like Ambrosia Software’s website is now down, so I assume that one can’t legally purchase it any more.

    It looks like Escape Velocity was never ported to anything outside of classic MacOS, so playing it today probably entails obtaining a classic MacOS emulator and abandonware copies of the binaries.

    While Endless Sky is neat and last I looked still getting expanded, it also didn’t have as much story content as the Escape Velocity series either (again, at least last I looked).

    The image of each planet in Escape Velocity series (not really worth keeping IMHO, as they were saved at 8-bit depth) were done with KPT Bryce, a now out-of-print terrain generation and rendering software package. Probably one of the better-suited applications for it, as it was pretty good at letting one quickly turn out alien-looking landscapes. While there are newer terrain generation software packages, I have to say that Bryce did a lot of neat stuff and I don’t feel that there’s something that quite fills its “exploration” role in modeling and rendering software today. For example, procedural generation of textures using slope and altitude (so, for example, you could get rocky faces where generated terain was steep, or snow at high altitude on mountains).

  • tal@lemmy.todaytoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world•What are your favorite games that you never see mentioned anywhere?English
    6·
    6 months ago

    I definitely enjoyed the original Syndicate. While I like the aesthetic and the music, it isn’t an incredibly deep game, but I did like the thing. I could go for playing the thing in HD, 24-bit color, maybe upscaled graphics, and at a high framerate.

    IIRC, Syndicate Wars didn’t review as well. I can’t recall whether I ever got around to trying it.

    For anyone who hasn’t tried Syndicate, the game is a cyberpunk, squad-based isometric-view pixel-art game where one has to perform various missions to gain control of territory; might be assassinating someone, capturing someone, clearing enemies from an area, etc. Doesn’t have destructable terrain, though vehicles are destructable. Late game missions tend to have so many very-durable bionically-enhanced enemy agents charging at one’s squad that one has to keep the squad pretty much bunched up and using either rocket launchers or miniguns just spewing out a ton of firepower in their direction.

    In its time, Syndicate was pretty well-known, though I dunno how many people born later would be familiar with it today.

  • tal@lemmy.todaytoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world•What are your favorite games that you never see mentioned anywhere?English
    2·
    6 months ago

    Hmm. I don’t know if they’d stand the test of time, but a few older games I enjoyed a lot back in the day that aren’t going to show up much of anywhere due to age:

    • Loony Labyrinth, a 2D video pinball game for the Mac and Windows by Little Wing Software. I’ve played huge numbers of tables on newer and more sophisticated engines, but that table kept me coming back for more hours of gameplay than any later ones. Not on GOG or Steam, though Little Wing sells copies directly.

    • Flying Nightmares, or AV-8B Harrier Assault. Untextured polygon flight sim where you’re operating off a US amphibious assault force; probably one of the few games kind of like Carrier Command 2 that I can think of in that you can also control other of your forces (though Flying Nightmares focuses on operating the Harriers, and Carrier Command 2 the amphibious assault ship). Doesn’t look like GOG or Steam have them.

    • Eufloria. Steam link for an HD re-release. One of those “real-time 4X” games, but using plants and seeds and minimalistic graphics.

    • Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. A spiritual successor to Carrier Command. One has an amphibious assault ship, can construct autonomous vehicles and move your ship around. Unlike Carrier Command 2, this is a single-player game. Wish that someone would make a more single-player-oriented Carrier Command 2. The graphics haven’t really kept up with the time, and it tends to encourage exploiting the AI’s weaknesses, but I’ve had a lot of fun with it.

    It’s not exactly unknown within its niche, but because it is niche, Rule the Waves 3, a game that simulates naval fleet command and development.

    EDIT: Oh, here’s an oddball, not quite as old game: Ghost Master. One acquires and upgrades different types of ghosts, then places them and uses their abilities to scare humans away from a location. Nothing else very similar to it out there that I’m aware of.