This looks to be a very interesting game. From what I have read you have quite a few freelancer elements in it plus others that could make it a huge hit within the Freelancer community.

Shoot first, shoot straight, win always.

Screenies look very promising. I'm assuming this is the next choice to be covered here at TLR?

This game would be the logical choice for us to cover here at Lancers Reactor.
It's closely related to Freelancer in certain ways and it looks like it will be a lot of fun to play.

We have permission to cover Darkstar One and from what Mirko Worsley aka Eerazor tells us we will be getting exclusive screenshots and more.

You can ask questions here and the members of the Darkstar One Development Team will be around to answer.
Keep in mind that this is a global community and not everyone can speak or read and write in English.

Hopefully some kind character will translate the text for us.

So this is going to be like FL, single player story and then an online component?

Also, is there going to be mod support?

(This site is best viewed with your eyes open)

I would br more interested in the game if you could own more then just the one ship. And I really do hope the game producers let it be open to modding. The mods are what keep a game going more then anything else.

Blessed Be to all those that still dream of the flight to the stars.

quote " You wouldn't like my Happy Place it is full of blood, carnage, and destruction" :ME

It looks Awesome. And there are so many questions to be asked. 1. How big is each system is gonna be if there are 400 of them. 2. How Automated are the landing and docking sequences? 3. Is there gravity? 4. Are there black holes? 5. Can you hire wing-men? 6. Whats the soundtrack gonna be like?

To answer the questions of the last post in some form or another:


1. In terms of exact size, hard to say. However not as big as the X-Universe systems. Each system will have at least one planetary body, several stations and a lot of traffic. We wanted to keep things a little smaller. A lot of senseless back and forth flying is something we certainly want to avoid in the game as it is boring and rather uneventful.

2. Landing is handled pretty much the same way as you would in Wing Commander. You approach a station and target it. Through your communication system you ask permittion to land. Based on several factors (reputation, traffic etc.) you are either granted pemission or denied it. Once you have a positive reply you approach the landing dock. Upon entering the landing dock you will find yourself aboard the station.

3. A tough one and one still being considered. Currently though the answer is no, there is no gravity. The idea is to create an action/arcade type space game, rather than a true newtonian flight simulation a la "Jumpgate" and co. However the idea is appealing to us in several situations and well... we are looking into those.

4. No. What would be the point? It is on our minds though....

5. YeNO. We are still looking into that. Although the overall idea of hiring wingmen has been done time and time again it would not really fit the profile of either the ship or its captain (you). However, there will be plenty of situations were you tackle various... shall we say adventures... with the help of some... well... interesting "friends" for the lack of a better term ^^

6. In my opinion an absolute hit. I personally love the music that Dynamedion has done so far for the game. It has a little bit of everything but what it does have a lot of is great bass churning sounds. I am talking music that fits the situation. A taste of it will soon make an appearence in some form or another of which I know about and you will soon find out about ^^.

will you be using the whole jumpgate deal or will you have the warp drive of destiny

Welcome to TLR Eerazor. In regards to the "blackhole" question, I would like to share a few thoughts if I may. Firstly, I feel that the inclusion of such astronomical phenomena helps to create a more "realistic" and immersive experience for the player, and this could be especially true if battles could take place in such environments. In such scenarios, the player's sensors and other components could be less effective due to radiation, etc and thus, combat in such environments could hold a tactial advantage for savvy players especially if outnumbered. Indeed, this feature may already be present in the "Darkstar", but I felt that it should be mentioned.

Furthermore, the inclusion of pulsars, quasars, nebulae, and black holes, etc contributes greatly to the aesthetics of a game and also helps to promote the much lauded "wow" factor that is often present in modern gaming. Indeed, systems featuring such phenomena can be used as "show pieces" for demo versions of the software (if any), screenshots, box art, wallpaper, and other media for the consumer. In addition, the inclusion of the aforementioned phenomena would be a feature that could be quite effective in attracting consumers to purchase the game. I could probably go on, however I do not have the resources to conduct an in-depth study of the target demographic and I think that I have said enough already .

@Eerazor

Will game play require a joystick or may we, as in FL, fly just as well using mouse and keyboard?

<Edit>

In looking over the game's site, I see that joysticks are supported but not as the primary method?





Edited by - Indy11 on 12/31/2005 8:29:41 PM

Wow, this really does seem interesting.

-make 'em bleed-
Rabbit wants to rule

@Eerazor: Welcome to TLR.

DS1 as I am sure it may become known by lazy sods like myself (unless that Dungeon Seige crowd find out ), looks tres interesting, exactly what the natives here have been waiting for. A question, or perhaps more of an opinion, mentioned already were the subjects of realistic physics and control type,. This week I gave X3 a chance and I will not be giving it another due to the difficulty I had in controlling the craft and the added frustration of a seemingly overcomplecated operations menu. One of the great things about FL is the playability if not the total realism. Regardless of joystick or mouse/keyboard will I need a degree in astro physics and ten extra digits to control the ship?

Oh a lot of new questions ^^

Well first, thank you for welcoming me to TRL. I am glad to finally be an active member of the forum community, having been a ghost here for sooo many years.

Anyway, I am a fan of Freelancer as much as the next guy here so you can rest assured some of the worries and wishes you have expressed for FL2 have already been considered for DSO (for us lazy Ascaronies) and implemented as well.

So, to the questions:

@Esquilax
I personally like the idea of adding a few astronomical phenomena to the game as well. It could serve a multitude of purposes both on the sides of gameplay and on the side of action. I cannot guarantee anything though, basically because we are currently concentrating very hard on the implementation of enough missions to fill 400 star systems. Suffice to say we will have a few surprises here and there, thats for sure. As for "show pieces", well we have a couple of things we want to show, but we will do it over a period of time. Don't want to give too much away too quickly Things like gameplay videos which we will bring to TRL have already been offered and we will follow up on that. Screenshots, race info, weapons and Trailers will also come in the next month... hang on, we got Jan already... damnit, HAPPY NEW YEAR! *cough* anyway, some stuff will come THIS month so keep an eye out for it. Screenshots and desktop backgrounds, box art etc will also be made available as soon as the respective designs have been finalized. I will make a note of keeping the draft ideas though... we can always through them towards TRL ^^

@Indy11

As the version stands right now, we are all playing *cough* testing with the mouse controls. We basically want to put as much attention to mouse players as we do to Joystick players, so both are evenly matched.

@druid

Ascaron has always tried to make complex games. We excell at complex games actually. However, what we also excell at is making complex games EASY to play. That means if you know the basics of any space game, you will feel right at home in DSO. "Don't make it too easy!" I hear you scream. Trust me, with 6 races comes 6 ways of trying to figure out how to make life continuesly harder on the player and we have some very very good ideas from the guys here and we look forward to putting as many of those ideas as we can to good use. So no, you will not need a degree in astro physics, nor ten extra digits to fly the ship.

I also read here that you are concerned about the usage of Jumpgates. Well, we have them in every system but the DSO also has a hyperdrive, which enables the player to move from system to system without entering a gate first.

Sounds good Eerazor, be sure to keep us apprised of any developments .