FLATSPACE

For those unfamiliar with Flatspace, how would you describe it to them?

The game is set in the distant future, about 100 trillion A.D. when the universe has expanded so far that planets and stars have disintegrated. Humanity (which for some reason has not evolved) still exists in space stations.

It's a top-down Elite like. That is the game is viewed from above with rotating spacecraft. The aim is to make money by various means. Starting with a small ship, you can trade from space station to station or mine rocks, or act as a hired killer, or play the space pirate and grab cargo from other ships, or rescue prisoners or capture criminals, or join the police and bring the felons in. The game is very open ended.

There are no planets (that wouldn't suit a top down viewpoint) but there are different types of space stations to move between. Ironically, the removal of the planets made the game more interesting because I had to add more variety to the stations.

What has influenced you to do Flatspace?

The primary game influences are Elite II: Frontier, Outliner and Starscape. I wanted to make a game like Frontier but with dogfights like Outliner. The dogfights in Frontier were notoriously rubbish. Starscape didn't influence the game play much but it's gorgeous graphics as well as having fun with that game early on in the year became the initial kick that got me going. It convinced me that a top-down game could be 'serious'.

I've tried to make it realistic and called on elements of television sci-fi to make the space pilot experience a good one to have. Press launch on your command carrier and lots of fighters shoot out from the bays like vipers in Battlestar Galactica. Police ships look like cars ala Bladerunner and have wailing sirens. Missiles can be jammed, or out maneuvered, in a way more akin to a flight sim than a shoot-em-up. The amour and damage system bares some relation to the Battletech board games. The high score table details how you died and who killed you, as in most rogue clones. Indeed Nethack is a game influence too.

What audience are you targeting Flatspace to?

Those who played Elite or Frontier and loved either, or anyone who wants to be a space captain. There is even a button for 'red alert' that you can press at any time. Cool huh?

What was the most ambitious aspect of creating Flatspace?

The other ships in the universe are all monitored. That is every one of the several thousand traders, pirates and space stations are in memory and moving through space. Each ship has a crew, modular equipment layout, stock (in the case of space stations) and fighters (in the case of carriers). The ships though are stored in a very compressed way using random seeds so that all of that data can be stored with minimal impact. Storing the ships this way allows things that Frontier didn't have. For example you can dock with a police station and see a list of the 'galaxy's most wanted'. These are actual ships that are in the universe now, have real crew and have earned their way to the top of the wanted list. If you hunt them down, you can claim the bounty on the captain, even capturing him/her alive if you want to.

There are lots of ambitions things. The crew have duties, more akin to star trek than most games. You can eject workmates into space (if you have a Darth Vader moment), give them a job in a gun turret or as a fighter pilot if you've got a ship with a hangar. Every crewman is named and has a skill and sub-skill, and there are a few elements of humor in there. Good sci-fi should always have humor. You could have someone with Grade III Laser Weaponry skills or a more highly paid Grade IV Hair Stylist. A ships counselor might be less useful to a rich bounty hunter than a cosmetic surgeon or masseur.

What is the most exciting feature in Flatspace?

The size of the game and freedom the player will have should be the best aspects of the game. There will be a lot of ships and power ups and unlike Frontier, the universe is hidden at first and must be explored. You can set it as random or seeded if you tire of the default one.

The ships and weapons are not yet designed so I've not played the game yet myself.

You seem to have spent a lot of time working on the AI in Flatspace. Why did you focus so much time on the AI?

Well it demanded some attention. Most game AI is very simple because most of the things you can do in a game are simple. Even a real time strategy game like Command and Conquer is generally a matter of making lots of unit x and path finding a way to the enemy base. I decided to control all of the enemy ships so I needed to make them work. Traders had to ferry cargo between bases, police had to chase pirates, pirates had to attack ships, miners has to hunt for rocks then scoop them up and military ships had to launch attacks on the enemy. The AI isn't very complicated but it does it's job well.

It sounds like there will be a lot aspects to Flatspace that players will need to keep track of. How are you keeping the game manageable while still being as in-depth as you wanted?

I'll try to answer those together. Making the game easy to use was always a big priority because it is sometimes a justified criticism of my other games. The game will be much more of a simulation than Outliner, or Starscape. There are less controls than the space shuttle, but there is still going to be a lot of keys... but most of the controls take care of themselves. In action parts for example, none of the keys are required apart from the standard steer and shoot.

The trading/menus part has become the most time consuming element of the programming but they should be very easy to use despite being the most complex part of the game.

How long will it take someone to get into Flatspace?

I'd like to think that people can pick it up and play instantly, and yet a year later see something that they hadn't seen before.

What do you expect those who play Flatspace to come away thinking/feeling?

Like Buzz Alrdrin, Carl Sagan and Captain Kirk all rolled into one.

How does Flatspace provide a unique experience that gamers haven't had elsewhere?

Few games are unique now... I've not seen a top down space simulation before but I'm sure there is one somewhere. I would like the game to be as engrossing, and as different each time you play as Nethack.

What does Flatspace share in common with other games you have created?

Like my recent 3D games it uses the same graphics engine, Hector, but most of the game is new ground for me. Most of my other games are re-hashes of those on Amiga:
Here is an evolution chart:
Roton -> Xenex -> Outliner -> Roton(PC) -> Outliner(PC)
Taskforce -> Hilt II -> Arcangel
Matrix -> Yinyang
Hilt 1 -> Blade -> Aorkhan
Global Thermonuclar Warfare -> Thermonclear Domination -> Radioactive
Overlander -> Martian Rover Patrol

What aspect of Flatspace should gamers appreciate most?

Depth... Freedom...

Complete this sentence: I will be perfectly happy with the release of Flatspace if...

it sells over 100 copies.

A big Thanks to Mark Sheeky for taking the time to answer questions. You can keep up on Flatspace as it nears completion on the Flatspace section of the Cornutopia website.