Star Trek Trader
Work In Progress
Goals
Procedurally generated universe.
Almost to scale space.
Smooth transition between warp and impulse speeds.
The Star Trek Universe explored by the play from a civilian angle.
Real time and accelerated time modes.
Stock Markets.
Ships you can upgrade.
Illegal hardware upgrades.
Subsystem combat.
Real Time Combat.
Trade routes.
Empire borders.
Criminal records with different empires.
Dock at bases.
Choose your own path, bounty hunter, mercenary, assassin, trader, miner, pirate, smuggler, explorer, stellar cartographer, rading undeveloped worlds, or combinations of several.
Membership with empires and criminal organizations (Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and Orion Syndicate, Ferengi etc)
Introducing a completely new concept to larger companies. Restoring real imagination to Star Trek Gaming.
A fully interactive 3D engine.
The dream:
Imagine exploring the Star Trek universe from a completely different perspective. A civilian, with true freedom to go anywhere and do anything. Then live with the consequences. Start off with a simple shuttle making small time passenger and cargo runs. Earning enough credit to purchase a larger ship, to make bigger runs. It works for Elite Frontier, why not Star Trek as well? We have impulse, and warp drive, a massive universe to explore. Perhaps you'd like to make big credit's by smuggling Romulan Ale from Romulus to Earth? Or take an assassination contract with Section 31, The Tal'shiar or the Obsidan order? Finding worlds and characters willing to sell illegal technology. Purchase a decommissioned Excelsior or Constitution hull, clear it it out to carry as much cargo as you can, or loading it with illegal technologies such as Military grade phasers, Klingon military Torpedoes and an out of date Romulan Cloak. Or just purchasing reflective armour that allows you to escape long range sensors. Or buying an aged D7 or Brel cruiser from the Klingons and tripping it out with with the Sona's subspace weapons. Taking contracts with the Orion Syndicate? Even bribing people to clear your criminal record. With such a dynamic, populated fictional universe, why do game developers always do the same thing over and over again, from the same tired point of view? This isn't the the ideal federation, the universe isn't always fair. Does that mean you have to be? And can you live with the consequences afterwards? Smuggle, get paid by empires by selling them updated star charts from unexplored regions. Discover dangerous Phonomina and ultra rare minerals. Or just duke it out with a Klingon boarder patrol. There's such much that could be done!
The reality
Yeah, most of that's not likely to happen really. But it's like aiming for a boxing bag, you don't aim for the target, you aim beyond it. There's absolutely no reason that a procedural universe filled with stock markets, bases, planets and worlds. There's no reason we can't buy new ships and upgrade their technologies. And most of all, there is absolutely no reason at all, we can't demonstrate to the larger companies that they don't have to make endless space combat and FPS games. They can do something unique to the star trek universe. Star Trek MMO may help do this, but perhaps we can teach companies. This game may never be finished, it may be taken down by the property owners, but perhaps we can also send out the message that Star Trek is imagination. And it's time companies actually used their creative potential, and give us the interactive universe Star Trek deserves, or we'll make it ourselves!
The progress.
Star Trek Trader isn't a new idea, I presented it to the community almost two years ago. My own art, programming and organisation skills where not up to the task at the time, so I'm rebooting this project from the start. It will still be written in DarkBASIC Professional. This tool is ideal for prototyping and independent development within small teams, without millions of dollars in resources. It's powerful and flexible enough to produce what I want. Plus I already have permission from a large number of model makers to use their ships and designs within the game. This game is NON-PROFIT only, and will remain that way, unless of course CBS or whoever own the star trek prosperity wants to take the idea and develop it commercially. Above all else, I'd like to capture fans imaginations, and present them with a real universe, the universe that's been in the making for 40 years. We have the technologies and the means, now lets help companies take it to the next step.
Old Screenies:
Design Document
Introduction:
Behind every decent game, the must be a plan. So here's what I've got so far.
Combat Physics Design Princibles
Normal mode:
While under the influence if normal engine and star trek technology, will be the classic, roll, turn and pitch style. Much more akin to Bridge Commander, Klingon Academy and even Star Fleet Command, though we will add another axis of control.
Thruster mode or Slide mode:
This additional mode, while never seen in a trek episode or game, will help validate Klingon B'rel and other small ships such as shuttles and runabouts habit of forward mounted weaponry beyond simply having everything to bare after de cloaking. This method will allow this ships, that have a low mass, and thus a much faster rate of turn, to spin around, while still travelling along a certain vector. As we know in space, there is nothing to slow you down, short of hitting something or using your own power, so in thruster mode, impulse engines can be shut down, and the ship can turn around and bring it's forward weapons back onto any ship that's chasing it. This mode is commonly seen in Space Combat games such as
Warp Combat
Slide mode will not be available here, manoeuvrability will be massively reduced, so if you want to change direction quickly, you'll drop out of warp, turn at impulse, and launch into warp again. Torpedo's will be most effective at warp speeds, though you will have to be fast enough to get into range.
Downloads
Click here to download
24.5Mb in size
Showcase version 1.0.1
