Space Station 13 - A case study in emergent gameplay and system-heavy design
79 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Mr_Razzums;49122246]I remember spending a whole summer playing ss13 back in the day when it was pretty new. I went back about a month ago and it's gone to absolute shit. The servers are run by man children who will admin pm you the second you look at someone wrong. It's actually impossible to RP because if you do anything wrong you'll just get banned. There's almost no point of having security because of the admins.
It used to be a great game where most conflicts were handled in game, but now it's infested by circle jerking furries.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, it's pretty much impossible to find a really enjoyable server. The RP ones are too spergy and the relaxed ones are too chaotic, to the point where you can't actually do your job if you want to because of the graytide welderbombing their way into your anus 3 minutes into the shift.
[QUOTE=Rowtree;49122072]oh no please not more pubbies we already had enough when dean hall got all the dayz retards on it :([/QUOTE]
sick textbook elitism bruv
This will be worse than when Lifeweb started getting invaded by Yogstation and Paradise station.
[QUOTE=mastermaul;49122706]Yeah, it's pretty much impossible to find a really enjoyable server. The RP ones are too spergy and the relaxed ones are too chaotic, to the point where you can't actually do your job if you want to because of the graytide welderbombing their way into your anus 3 minutes into the shift.[/QUOTE]
I really liked old paradise, it seemed like it had struck a pretty good mix of the two. Relatively free, but you weren't able to just be an absolute asshole.
If this was recreated in 3D, successfully; would that help boost it's popularity at all?
[QUOTE=TheNerdPest14;49123274]If this was recreated in 3D, successfully; would that help boost it's popularity at all?[/QUOTE]
People have tried, but those kind of projects die too fast.
Fuck clowns, janitors and mines, but especially clowns.
[Media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2xkpz-26jM[/media]
[QUOTE=Limed00d;49123287]People have tried, but those kind of projects die too fast.[/QUOTE]
But if one were to succeed; would it work? Could it be commercially successful even? Assuming again one was completed successfully.
[QUOTE=TheNerdPest14;49123274]If this was recreated in 3D, successfully; would that help boost it's popularity at all?[/QUOTE]
Dean Hall is also trying to make a 3d isometric remake of it called Ion. There's one guy trying to make a remake in Unity but it's taking him a while.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ekif_jz25Y[/media]
[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;49122018]ttt or morbus(parasite) in space. Will be popular with YouTubers I guess.[/QUOTE]
If this happens I'm considering putting my server into bunker mode and re-directing the connections to Vore Station.
[video=youtube;ebnC_U83TjI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebnC_U83TjI[/video]
[QUOTE=TheNerdPest14;49123274]If this was recreated in 3D, successfully; would that help boost it's popularity at all?[/QUOTE]
the graphics are kind of a charm of it though
[t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/596956857957983519/B092E98BBF29526C35661F1A620239B2B01AFD1D/[/t]
Those were the days
Would be neat with a 3D version to have some of the physics simulated, wouldn't it? Like no more just throwing a pen to send yourself flying back to the station based on how much force pushed you off gravity or whatever, right?
[QUOTE=TheNerdPest14;49123827]Would be neat with a 3D version to have some of the physics simulated, wouldn't it? Like no more just throwing a pen to send yourself flying back to the station based on how much force pushed you off gravity or whatever, right?[/QUOTE]
Do you have any idea how many people tried to do this and gave up?
There were like, 3 attempted remakes and a butt-load of, 'inspired by,' titles. Not one seen the light of the sun. At one case someone actually thought they owned the game, (when really, [I]no one does[/I]) and had caused a huge shit-fit that ultimately, nobody cared about, but it's still fun to mention.
I have been playing SS13 off and on for a few years now, its a very clunky, very fun, and very complicated game. I started out as a shitter who would mess around as an assistant all the time and worked my way to where I am now, where I mostly play as the head of either the science or medical divisions, because I actually know how to do the jobs there.
Played it quite a bit back in 04-05. The version out there now is nearly completely unrecognizable. Some mechanics still remain, but bomb making, engineering, and Genetics have changed drastically(And over half the jobs now are completely new). It actually almost died out because the creator didn't feel like doing anything with it anymore. Someone ended up reverse engineering the source and Exadv1 basically said go ahead and go wild with it.
[QUOTE=Cliff2;49124088]Played it quite a bit back in 04-05. The version out there now is nearly completely unrecognizable. Some mechanics still remain, but bomb making, engineering, and Genetics have changed drastically(And over half the jobs now are completely new). It actually almost died out because the creator didn't feel like doing anything with it anymore. Someone ended up reverse engineering the source and Exadv1 basically said go ahead and go wild with it.[/QUOTE]
I think the source code leaked when it was still closed source when the game was pretty much dying. ended up forming an open source version of the game which has been built on ever since, that's what I remember reading at least. I'll see if I can find the history of the game and post a link here
[editline]16th November 2015[/editline]
appears that the source code was physically stolen by someone, but the guy who stole it didn't give it out. he just hosted a server himself. by now, someone reverse engineered it to something that was close to the source, the source got passed around and someone started OpenSS13
[url]http://www.ss13.eu/wiki/index.php/The_history_of_SS13[/url]
One of the best features in the older versions was the buggy inventory system. You used to have an inventory instead of equipment slots. And the game let you put pick up and put actual people into your inventory(From which there was no escape). Fire extinguishers also didn't have cooldown at one point, so you could find stations absolutely flooded by water due to people spamming it.(I still have this version of the game somewhere. And probably the last version actually made by Ex before openss13 took off)
I actually didn't know someone stole it at one point. I have a strong suspicion on who it was though.(Since the guy was buddies with Ex, he also had a hardcoded ability to always see the nuke code.) I just recall the reverse engineering stuff. I remember mapsub too(Let you make your own map and then sub it into the game), some interesting designs came out of that.
That history page does get something wrong though. The original cellautomata was indeed private and only handed out to a few people ex knew for hosting. But he did eventually make the dmb files available for download sometime after it officially became Space Station 13. I don't recall if they were available on the byond page or if they were on the site he had linked on the byond page.
I wanted to get into this game but the lag and the insanely obtuse UI and controls kind of deterred me.
Space Station 13 is one of my most played games (primarily tg code although official tg server went down the shitter). What I love about it is that once you thought you have seen everything, something new and completely unexpected happens making the game fresh again. Also the high learning curve and few populated servers overall filters out most assholes and crappy players.
This pretty much sums up the average ss13 round:
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbhlGzQkUUY[/media]
or alternatively how i was introduced to ss13
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grl68tre2ZY[/media]
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejcanHLcpPs[/media]
[QUOTE=BenJammin';49126905]I wanted to get into this game but the lag and the insanely obtuse UI and controls kind of deterred me.[/QUOTE]
After you've played for a little bit you quickly get used to it.
[QUOTE=Geikkamir;49126918]After you've played for a little bit you quickly get used to it.[/QUOTE]
Why would he be getting lag though if he is playing on a LAG FREE™ server?
[QUOTE=Cliff2;49126647](Since the guy was buddies with Ex, he also had a hardcoded ability to always see the nuke code.)[/QUOTE]
[sp]SoraKu or whatever?[/sp]
Also holy shit those days were the most memorable to me. Updates were made like... almost yearly or like every 8 months or somesuch. They were really scarce. So we'd play a 'new' version of SS13 for months. Ugh. The engine was fake and the only fun to be had was keeping people in there and ejecting it the fuck out. Also abusing that extended row of plasma tanks.
[QUOTE=BenJammin';49126905]I wanted to get into this game but the lag and the insanely obtuse UI and controls kind of deterred me.[/QUOTE]
Play on hippie. Is best server.
[editline]16th November 2015[/editline]
Or TG
Once you start getting the hang of it the lag becomes part of the game and a skillfull player will use it to their advantage.
[QUOTE=Zero Ziat;49126978][sp]SoraKu or whatever?[/sp][/QUOTE]
Yep.
It's crazy to think this is still active but I suppose it makes sense considering there is nothing else like it.
I played it in 2007 I think when there still was a donutstation and in 2008 or 9 (when Cuban Pete was active on /tg/station, unless he returned later) when my GPU broke and I could only use integrated graphics for half a year. I've tried to get back into it since but I can't really be bothered to learn the new stations and jobs anymore. It was something I was glad to experience anyway.
Last time I played this game I ran around the station hitting people with fish while my friends filled the entire medbay with buttbots. Then some genius threw a radio in and the entire chat was filled with buttbots beeping butt.
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