Sci-Fi themed Simulator

[schkorpio]

Hi all,

 

I'm wondering how people would feel about a Sci-Fi themed simulator, one where you perhaps fly a futuristc aircraft. Not 50 years into the future, but perhaps 100 or 200+. Perhaps not even on earth (but i think it would be best to stay on an earth like world, for the beauty of a background to play in and for orientation).

 

The reason I ask this is because I feel there is no such game. Sure there are sci-fi games, and there are simulators, but nothing that marries the best of both worlds. I think a very fun game could be made out of the two

 

I love the complexity of all DCS simulators, but I feel that there isn't much game involved(of course), and I love sci-fi games, but I also feel that most games aren't complicated enough to make interesting like a simulator.

 

What I can envision is a game/simulator that takes advantages of the best parts of each genre, which could potentially open simulations to a new audience as well.

 

The things that I love about simulators is the sear complexity of each machine (especially the blackshark). I'm not even talking about the flying yet, I mean the huge amount of buttons and fucntions in a modern aircraft - its so much fun, it feels like you are really in the real machine it is based on. This is the thing that DCS games do so well - especially with a trackIR you are in the cockpit of the real thing! And the amazing capabilities of each aircraft which can control with such finese.

 

So now imagine if could capture that feeling of reality, of being in that expensive piece of solid machinery, and combing that with the weapons of a sci-fi world.

For example your aircraft might have a laser weapon, and instead of various types of ammunition, you would set a specific wave-length of the laser which would have different effects on differently armored (and energy shielded!)targets.And you would have the usual weapons panel stuff, bursts type, burst length, width of the laser, how many of your lasers fire etc etc

 

Now one thing that a sci-fi setting would allow for is much more cinematic graphics and effects, since we are no longer bound by realism here. Taking advantage of the futuristic setting means, that a battle could be interesting visually.

Using the laser weapon as an example again - perhaps setting the wave-length on the laser to change its power/punch would also (realistically) change its colour - so you can now imagine that battle would look something like out of terminator or star wars (hey they do nice lasers...)

 

Another area that would benefit from a sci-fi setting is the actual combat itself, in most simulators you are visually shooting a small dots way, way in the distance - and of course this makes perfect sense from a weapons and military point of view. But it doesn't feel as engaging or interactive as some sci-fi action shooters where you are able to get close to your target.

 

Other potential sci-fi things that could be fun:

Proper cloaking ability - so that you can turn invisible

 

Different vision modes and Fancier HUDs - Making use of your trackIR you can switch into various vision modes for detecting cloacked enemies. Perhaps a heat vision mode where you turn your head left and right to scan the ground around you to reveal hidden dangers.

Or maybe an X-Ray vision mode allowing you to see weak points on giant flying aircraft carries - or seeing your enemies through walls and allowing you to target them for the orbital bombardment satellites.

 

Energy Shield technology - flares are great for avoiding a hit - but some weapons can't be avoided, so why not surround part of your aircraft with an energy shield of varying strengh for protection against various weapons.

 

Huge numbers of enemies - perhaps not even human (perhaps zombies, or invaders from another planet, technological or bug like etc) 100s strong groups of ground based enemies all crawling toward a city.

 

Multiple targeting - so how would you kill these 100s of enemies? certainly not by targeting them 1 at a time - perhaps you sweep your shkval like targer across a group of enemies while holding down the target acquisition button. The targeting computer acquires maybe 20-30 targets at once - you select your mini-missile pod and fire a beautiful flare like burst of mini missiles each hitting a seperate target accurately.

 

Or perhaps you feel like a laser is the tool for the job, so you sweep your independance day / war of the worlds style down throught the enemy units.

 

 

Scenery - you've all seen some very cool sci-fi mega cities with their unrealistically cool looking sloped buildings and protective outer walls.

 

And there are probably many more interesting and imaginative things to think of - especially for multiplayer / coop missions and aircraft. Co-op games are very fun, especially if you can share a vehicle and each person can have a useful role.

 

 

Hopefully I haven't upset any simulator purists - I know some people will tell me that sims are about realism and that I should go play a starwars game etc etc But thats exactly why i am posting this message - I can't think of any sci-fi themed games that have a simulator level of complexity in their operation, and certainly none that capture the thrill of flying a craft with to a high level of skill. And definitly none that support a trackIR, rudders and HOTAS. :joystick:

 

I hope to someday play a game such as this!

Thanks for reading :)

Edited October 24, 2012 by schkorpio

[Yurgon]

Now that's a funny timing: Rogue System -- Space Sim :)

 

Your posts are like 7 minutes apart, and it really looks as if Rogue System will contain quite a few of the features you just mentioned. :)

 

Some points that come to my mind: On the one hand, you're looking for more realistic and more complex SciFi, space fighter games. I agree with that, there's a lot of potential there to get away from the arcade-ish type of SciFi games that we've had in the past.

 

On the other hand, you mention how SciFi offers so many possibilities for futuristic stuff, most of which is not realistic however. A challenge that space sim producers face is the playability of realistic, newtonian physics vs. game-like physics.

In a realistic model, if it takes a spaceship 5 minutes to accelerate, it'll take the same spaceship 5 minutes to decelerate. So it's quite possible that dogfights will be no more than head-to-head engagements that last little longer than a few seconds, depending on sensor range, detection range, weapons range etc.

 

It's my impression that there are quite a few SciFi games in the pipeline right now that prefer a playable and fun type of physics over a fully realistic but boring type, while also including more complex system modeling than previous generations of SciFi games.

 

Another aspect would be how players perceive the complex systems. We keep getting threads like "XY doesn't make sense in the A-10" and "If the BS featured AAMs it would be so much cooler" to which the answer always is: DCS simulates real aircraft. If these aircraft don't make sense to the player, that's the player's problem.

 

In a futuristic game, players could complain that some features don't make sense and there would be endless discussions about that (okay, granted, we get these discussions right here as well... :music_whistling:). The thing is, if a game creator comes up with a bad feature, some players (like me) would think "It's a bad feature, it's really not my problem that it's too hard to overcome the enemy, the game just sucks in this regard."

 

In DCS titles OTOH I like to think "It's really that hard, and if I'm not up to the challenge, I need more practice." And I'm usually right about the "more practice" part. :)

 

So there'll always be a compromise between playability and realism. If a SciFi game manages to get both up to a high level while still being fun, that'll be great, but generally I prefer flight simulators to be realistic and space fighter games to be fun.

[Yurgon]

I can't think of any sci-fi themed games that have a simulator level of complexity in their operation, and certainly none that capture the thrill of flying a craft with to a high level of skill. And definitly none that support a trackIR, rudders and HOTAS. :joystick:

 

I completely missed this when I first read your post. You'll really want to check out Wing Commander Saga then: http://www.wcsaga.com

 

I'm not sure about TrackIR, but a lot of space-fighter games were fully capable of using the full HOTAS setup including rudder pedals. The axes are all there, you just needed to assign the axes to the right controller. I think either WC: Prophecy or X-Wing Alliance was my first space combat game that made use of rudders, but older titles may have supported them before that (I just didn't have any rudder pedals back then).

[bfeld]

I completely missed this when I first read your post. You'll really want to check out Wing Commander Saga then: http://www.wcsaga.com

 

I'm not sure about TrackIR, but a lot of space-fighter games were fully capable of using the full HOTAS setup including rudder pedals. The axes are all there, you just needed to assign the axes to the right controller. I think either WC: Prophecy or X-Wing Alliance was my first space combat game that made use of rudders, but older titles may have supported them before that (I just didn't have any rudder pedals back then).

 

I think you understood him right with your first post. I guess "I can't think of" is meant in the sense of "I don't know any..." so Rogue System might fit quite well! :)

Edited October 25, 2012 by bfeld

[Zakatak]

Diaspora: Shattered Armistice is a pretty realistic simulation of Battlestar Galactica, and it's free! Freespace 2 mod, although you don't actually need Freespace to play it. Works with TrackIR and my X52 HOTAS. When you put your ship on Glide Mode, you can do some crazy things you can't do in atmosphere.

 

There is some liberties taken against canon, such as shields and FTL Vipers, but it still feels very BSG and lowtech.

[EtherealN]

Well, to be honest, I think there's major problems with calling such a game a "simulator". I mean, it's not like we know much about what things will look like in the far future, but one thing I think we can be reasonably certain of is that there will probably not be human pilots. :P

 

But I'd love something similar to Independence War with greater focus on a "bridge" feel and detail applied to this, but I suspect that attempts at realistic treatments of the far future are much better handled through strategy games.

[Frakin Toasters]

Oh wow, cool, someone went ahead and made something like this. I suggested it a couple of years ago here http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=40911

but didn't receive much enthusiasm. Glad to see this!

 

Sry for resurrecting the thread but couldn't resist.

[Speed]

It's almost certainly not realistic, even by the limited definition of "realistic" as applied to science fiction, to have human-piloted combat aircraft 100+ years in the future. Maybe there would be a manual override mode that would allow you override the AI and fly it remotely, but the AI will probably be much better overall than a human pilot. Assuming continued breakthroughs in microelectronics, it's a good bet to assume that in much less than 100 years our machines will be smarter than us. To those that are skeptical, it is important to understand that our brains are still many times faster than the fastest computer, so it is should be no surprise that true AI has not been developed yet.

 

I also kinda dislike the term AI; once AIs are finally developed, they will probably make us look like the ones that are artificial. "Machine intelligence" is a much better term.

 

Edit: oh, looks like the fastest supercomputers are beginning to approach human brain computing power since I last checked up on the subject. The end is near! :D

Edited January 24, 2013 by Speed

[NineLine]

It's almost certainly not realistic, even by the limited definition of "realistic" as applied to science fiction, to have human-piloted combat aircraft 100+ years in the future. Maybe there would be a manual override mode that would allow you override the AI and fly it remotely, but the AI will probably be much better overall than a human pilot. Assuming continued breakthroughs in microelectronics, it's a good bet to assume that in much less than 100 years our machines will be smarter than us. To those that are skeptical, it is important to understand that our brains are still many times faster than the fastest computer, so it is should be no surprise that true AI has not been developed yet.

 

I also kinda dislike the term AI; once AIs are finally developed, they will probably make us look like the ones that are artificial. "Machine intelligence" is a much better term.

 

Edit: oh, looks like the fastest supercomputers are beginning to approach human brain computing power since I last checked up on the subject. The end is near! :D

 

 

So in the future flight sims will play us :)

[Jona33]

So in the future flight sims will play us :)

 

Already happens in Soviet Russia. :D