
Endless Sky: GPL Licensed Escape Velocity Successor - CDSlice
https://endless-sky.github.io/
======
Waterluvian
I have a really fond memory of Escape Velocity. My brother and I played it all
summer one year. We daisy chained two apple keyboards so that he could fly and
I could control escorts.

Then something incredible happened. I must have pressed a wrong key because we
got a beep and a note, "you are too far away to board this ship." We looked at
each other like we just discovered the map to the holy Grail. "WHAT DO YOU
MEAN BOARD? YOU CAN BOARD SHIPS?"

Then later came discovering ResEdit (and creating my patented "Javelin Spray")

I still remember so much about that game. Like capturing Lightnings and
selling them for a profit. Or how it takes exactly one torpedo to kill a
Defender. Or how a bumper crop lowered the price of food on Levo. The
forbidden planets were so mysterious. The Lethe/Cydonia war. The Mass Driver.
Modifying an Argosy into a terrifying gunboat of proton turrets. Captain
Hector. Aliens. Feuding couriers that eventually start killing each other.
Having 6 Rebel Destroyers as escorts, the F key turning into "press for
missile rain."

That game opened us up to a whole universe of what video games could be. We
were maybe 8 and 10 years old.

~~~
mnky9800n
Were you ever able to take over planets

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Waterluvian
Oh yeah! The game ended for us once when we managed to capture almost every
planet you could. So much cash!

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spike021
I _love_ Escape Velocity Nova. I used to play it for maybe 2-4 weeks once per
year but then my license key expired and their renewal system went down
because the company died.

I've wanted a successor of some kind for so long but nothing quite hits the
mark. Maybe this will come close.

~~~
Rebelgecko
For me at least, this didn't quite hit the mark. The world just didn't feel
like it had the same richness.

The good news about EV:N is that IIRC you can just disconnect your computer
from the internet and roll back the clock to the day after your license was
issued. Then it will work without complaining about expiration.

~~~
kd0amg
You won't be able to play through the full storyline though.

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Rebelgecko
I was able to. Once you reset your clock and use your license key, you can get
past Cpt. Hector

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kd0amg
Captain Hector isn't the issue. You never got the 4th wall break?

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inetknght
I've played all three of the Escape Velocities distributed by Ambrosia
Software. They're among my favorite games of all time. I first played Endless
Sky on steam a few years ago. Its gameplay is very close to Escape Velocity.
Its plot isn't bad either.

~~~
drunkpotato
I’ve been playing Endless Sky for a few years now. It’s not quite as polished
in UI and ship balance as EV but it’s really good and quite close. And yeah,
the plot is fun. I would love a multiplayer version.

~~~
stcredzero
Should I just make one? My game server is tailor made for top-down asteroids
style mechanics. When I last benchmarked, it could handle 73 player melees,
but it should be capable of something like twice that now.

[https://www.emergencevector.com](https://www.emergencevector.com)

~~~
EamonnMR
Please do, I would enjoy the heck out of it.

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sjackso
It was because of Escape Velocity that I discovered web forums and IRC; it was
because I wanted to make mods for EV that I learned to use POV-Ray and
ResEdit; it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that I eventually became a
professional programmer because of EV's plugin system.

~~~
toufka
And I'd be right there with you. The plugin system allowed me to dream of
making interactive the stories, ships and characters I was reading in 2001,
Rama, and all the rest. And the reasonable technical knowledge required to
interface with the plugins made getting there a fun, and attainable goal.

~~~
unixhero
Rendezvous with rama is an amazing book.

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currymj
Readers of this post may also enjoy Oolite, a GPL-licensed space exploration
game heavily inspired by the original Elite. But this one is in 3D.

[http://www.oolite.org/](http://www.oolite.org/)

~~~
rozab
Man, I've always dreamed of a spiritual successor of Elite fit for the 21st
century, I can't believe my prayers have finally been answered! I can't wait
to fly around in my Cobra III and blast some Thargorns!

~~~
currymj
If you really want a spiritual successor to Elite fit for the 21st century you
should buy Elite: Dangerous, created by the original creator of Elite, David
Braben. I don’t want to knock Oolite which is a great free software project.

But Elite: Dangerous is astoundingly good. You can, in theory, visit every
star in our Milky Way galaxy (in addition to the old Elite star systems,
tucked away in a corner). All in incredible 3D graphics, and even VR if you
have a headset. Worth every penny.

(It’s got everything, too: the letterbox space station docking (except now you
get to see the inside), Thargoids, refueling from stars, playing the Blue
Danube waltz when you use the docking computer...)

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ben_w
Nice to see. EV plug-ins — and a plug-in editor — were my first attempt to
make shareware. Totally failed to sell a single copy, but my plugin got onto
MacFormat magazine that month.

I’m glad this game also has plug-ins and a map editor.

~~~
EamonnMR
Plug-ins where a pretty great config format, in retrospect.

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bmer
I absolutely cannot let
[https://transcendence.kronosaur.com/](https://transcendence.kronosaur.com/)
go unmentioned in this thread.

Source code on GitHub:
[https://github.com/kronosaur/TranscendenceDev](https://github.com/kronosaur/TranscendenceDev)

Also, George Moromisato is an awesome person.

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analognoise
The problem I had with Endless Sky was that it didn't have the kind of stories
that really drove Escape Velocity. EV (especially Nova) was fantastic, had
multiple storylines, etc. The writing seemed genuinely good to me; Endless Sky
was nowhere near as enthralling (and the technical glitches made me give up).

It's got "good bones" but lacks content; it really made me realize the value
of writers and those who can hammer out storylines.

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jefftk
I remember getting Basilisk II working so I could play the original Escape
Velocity without a Mac.

Later I remember playing EV:Nova and trying out a really excellent fan created
scenario, but looking now I can't figure out which one it was.

~~~
EamonnMR
Perhaps Polycon?

[http://download.escape-
velocity.games/EV%20Polycon%20%28stan...](http://download.escape-
velocity.games/EV%20Polycon%20%28standalone%29.zip)

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EamonnMR
I assume this just got posted because the latest MacOS update cut support for
32 bit apps and thus EV Nova. I would say: don't give up. Emulation is a
viable option. It runs in WINE and there's always virtual box. EV is probably
my favorite series and while I will play the heck out of any clones (including
my own) the original games still have value.

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rurounijones
Used to play the EV series an awful lot. Right now my jam is "StarSector"
[http://fractalsoftworks.com/](http://fractalsoftworks.com/) which is an
amazing game and obvious labour of love by the dev who also keeps intresting
blog posts going.

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Fzzr
Timely, the first new beta in years just came out. There's a lot more content
to go before it's a complete game, but there's lot of fun to be had.
Contributions welcome!

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walrus01
I wonder what could be done in a game style with this, but with the graphics
and solar system "engine" of Kerbal Space Program.

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SiempreViernes
It would be a completely different game, something more like elite and other
flight simulators in space.

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65a
Is there any hope of EV: Nova or EV classic being open sourced?

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qwerty456127
This reminds me of Space Rangers.

