Spaceway

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About Spaceway FAQ and controls Add-on making Vessels Screenshots 05.07.2017 - Eulogy



Spaceway is a project out of time.



Instead of moving it ahead, i end up dragging it across time, trying to catch up.

I.e. i thought i had Oculus Rift support, but the SDK moved ahead over the years to the point of being completely incompatible.

The graphics, made to 2008 standards, are becoming very dated.

Devices change, expectations change.

Even fixed pipeline OpenGL is disappearing, giving way to shaders and new APIs.



Like falling into a software black hole, complete with time dilation. You cover X amount of time, only for 2*X to appear ahead of you.

At some point you find that you are below the event horizon, and the time is up.

Even worse, you were there for years already.



My earliest inspiration was Noctis. It was a little game that lets you browse the galaxy, see the planets, land on them.

To scratch that explorer itch, in a cozy virtual spaceship.

That was before i could program, so the thought of making my own haven't occured to me back then.



Some years later came Orbiter, the space flight simulator with real physics. From it i learned what spaceflight was really like.

For it i made many add-ons.

But Orbiter was insufficient. Every planet in it was flat, every star was painted on a skybox.



Somewhere around that time i already knew coding, and i started making various simple simulators.

A gravity sim that could propagate particles in orbit of planets, a procedurally generated night sky, a simple accretion model that predicts planets in a solar system.

Simple, diagramatic drawings of planets as circles and a trail path of a spaceship, in pseudo-2D, was perhaps the earliest version of what one day became Spaceway.

That was around 2005.







The site's background is a screenshot from the night sky generator.

I tried my hand at 3D back then, to various rather lame effects, creating the earliest 3D version of Spaceway.

Someone who saw the site in 2005 might even remember this. :)







A year later, for a final assignment at the university's computer graphics course i made a 3D planet renderer, with terrain.

That became a terrain engine for Orbiter, and then the one of Spaceway.







Around the same time, Orbiter made an interface for third-party graphics engines, and i got busy making one.

The OGLA engine, then, became the basis of post-2007 Spaceway.







Around that time i spoke to the author of Space Engine, back when he just had an idea for it.

He was better at shaders than me, i was better at to-scale planet rendering than him, we exchanged some code and ideas, then parted ways.



In all honesty, Space Engine is what Spaceway should have became, but i completely ignored the point-and-click mode of browsing the planets and concentrated on the real phisycs.

That was the point, eight years ago, when it all went wrong.

But like in some graphic adventure game of the 90s, it wasn't until much later that you realise that you have already been screwed for a long time.



The rest of the story is in this blog/newsreel hybrid.

I made my universe, it still fits on a floppy.

I had fun exploring it and scratching that exploration itch.



I felt, perhaps, the same way the author of Noctis felt when he made his night sky for himself to wander around.

In the end, that's what it was all about.

I learned a lot about a variety of things.

I wrote papers on some pieces of the project and got my PhD thanks to it.

I wandered across infinity brought to existence by pure math, and came back from the trip quite a bit wiser than i was when i left.

This is what Spaceway was for me. A piece of my soul expressed in code and mathematics.



And looking back, i'm only a little sad that it was a failure as far as "being a popular game" metric is used.

At least the lack of popularity allowed it to stay true to what i dreamed of.





Anyway, i'm still making various stuff, and if you liked Spaceway you might find something else i made interesting.

The https://orbides.org is where all the links and posts are.



This is Artem, also known as Artlav, signing off.





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Comments:

I really love this Spaceway, I keep coming back to play it every now and then. Good to read you're still working on this awesome project. I like all the technical mumbo jumbo on the MFDs and I just love the procedural terrain. I also liked the Orbiter mod you made. Can't wait to try it in Oculus mode if I ever get one. Keep up the good work!

19.04.2016 00:09 - Haggis

Never is harsh of a word, I'm certain that you'll think of something Spaceway doesn't have to just do one thing ;), as they say just throw it on the wall and see if it'll stick :3 we'll tell ya if its good or not. If I could make a suggestion perhaps you could develop a way for us to contribute to the game to test/show ideas without cracking open anything private, it is also very nice seeing you pop up around :) this has potential

03.08.2015 07:39 - TheDude



Yep, it's still being worked on. "What kind of gameplay to add" is the same old "what's the purpose of life" question of Spaceway that i never could make an answer to, unfortunately.

29.07.2015 12:01 - Artlav

The game is Still being worked on? Dang When I first tryed it out I was amazed how complex it was but I still getting used it, but it is actual a worth while game I really just waiting for some kind of gameplay to be added. Maybe a realistic elite with a twist None the less I'm still coming back! :)

28.06.2015 07:09 - TheDude

So about the new layout. The colors definitely match. I guess you could try getting some color themes from the game, making everything look a bit more like it was inside of the Rapier cockpit or something.

13.12.2014 03:25 - llehsadam



Most parts of the story where easy to follow, but some things need more explanation, like docking to the orbiting spaceship.

17.11.2014 23:07 - D-Vader



I'm so glad your still working on your game.



We need more good sandbox space sims out there.

04.10.2014 07:01 - Motherbrain





I have a suggestion for the Rapier. Why not make the front circular portion out of glass instead of metal? When landing, it is difficult to see what is exactly in front because of the frontal metal portion. From an aesthetic standpoint, perhaps the Rapier would even look better with a glass cone there.



And I noticed you can go through rocks. It was a little annoying. I parked the Rapier next to a rock and wanted to jump on it to get a better view and I just sank through!



Awesome game, it has a lot of potential. :)

22.09.2014 01:39 - llehsadam



@mostmodest:

I hope today's update helps with controls somewhat.

No, there are no mailing lists to subscribe to. You are the first to ask for one. :)



@indaba42:

I'll see what i can do. I don't have a linux machine powerful enough these days, and a blind build is unlikely to work, since i haven't checked the related code for years.

21.09.2014 04:09 - Artlav



I just downloaded the game and I found it a little hard to get used to the controls, but it was really fun, a lot like Google Earth's flight simulator but with space. I would love to see the direction this game is heading, and I can't wait for this weekend's update. That being said, is there a mailing list I can subscribe to so I can find out about upcoming updates?

20.09.2014 17:32 - mostmodest





As a lover of them space-games (oolite, pioneer) i would enjoy to have a recent Linux(Ubuntu)-build. Is that somehow possible?? -- Finding a suitable gameline/backgroundstory for a vast galaxy shouldn't be too hard a job, considering the amount of SF-stories since the 60'... -- your project has to continue growing!!!!! thos.

19.08.2014 03:45 - indaba42



fantastic project

i'm watching every day for news

try to add a random life

14.07.2014 16:15 - ariano





I've run into this for my own projects. I agree with everyone above! Keep working on it. You'll feel better to release a final product.

29.06.2014 16:51 - Derek



Hey man, don't lose faith and hope. Please finish your game. It's not an accident that people are downloading and playing it. I just found it today and I LOVE it! If you had lost hope and taken it down before I NEVER would have found it and that would have been sad. So hang in there and finish it- after NINE YEARS, you need too! And I REALLY want to see the finished game!!

29.06.2014 12:39 - William Roeben



This game actually looks really nice. What you should do is focus on mechanics and bring someone else in to add textures/bells & whistles, then down the road do a kickstarter to get it finished.



I *loved* Frontier/Elite and have been wanting to play a game like this again for a long time. You don't even realize how nice what all you've done actually is.



You need to stop working in isolation, that's all.

29.06.2014 08:49 - Josh



Your game is awesome!



Its being discussed on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/IndieGaming/comments/29bplf/this_guy_has_been_developing_a/



and I imagine it will end up on hackernews soon.



P.S., you should emphasize your catcha being about adding a number to it... I was typing in the captch over and over again not realizing what you are suppose to do.

29.06.2014 06:24 - ultimape



This is a fantastic, smooth engine. Exploring is great, but some gameplay goals would go a long way for this game. Keep it up.

29.06.2014 03:47 - Anon



Wow... I'm high and this game is incredible. I'm putting this on my desktop to play all the time! I love it!

29.06.2014 03:43 - Anonymous



Keep up the good work!

29.06.2014 00:35 - Allie





Just wanted to let you know that this game is a fantastic example of what hard work and genuine creativity can do for gaming. Please don't give up hope. As many above have said, you've created a brilliant game that can only improve from here on out, and with a little promotion across reddit and other sites I can see this really gaining a following. Developers like you are what keeps this industry fresh - don't lose hope.

28.06.2014 10:26 - EmbersToAshes



No don't give up now! You have put to much work into this and it looks amazing! Try posting on Reddit! This looks outstanding! Great work don't give up friend!

28.06.2014 06:50 - TheSnowyeskimo



Don't give up, damn it! You need to get your game out there where people can see it. I agree with posting to reddit, that would be your best bet by far.



If it's well received then you may consider setting up a kickstarter or an indiegogo campaign. Be careful with crowd funding though.

28.06.2014 06:26 - Trentosaurus



Don't give up! Post your game to reddit.com/r/indiegaming and maybe it'll get its momentum back. You need more users.



Procedural space games are just getting popular, a lot of players want a free version like the one you offer.



You've put nine years into this game, finish it!

28.06.2014 03:24 - lleh



Nooo! Don't give up. This is very impressive for a single developer.

28.06.2014 02:19 - Anonymous





This is great! I've been following the releases, but I've only just now had time to check it out. So much in such a small file, it's amazing. I hope development continues!

27.11.2013 08:22 - Mordriel



Спасибо, очень интересный проект.

03.10.2013 20:00 - Boris



Lots of things can be done.



- civilizations/ruins

- natural phenomena

- analysis of these phenomena/of planets/whatever

- research technologies: you have an infinite universe, but can you reach and understand it all?

- have a home planet which develops on its own and can be helped by the player



Possibilities are infinite :)

03.08.2013 23:16 - WhiteRaven



Indeed i think that would be enough to gain some momentum. ;) Also presenting the new version for testing on orbiter forums would get it some attention as well and help to iron out more bugs with more eyes to spot them. It had worked well last time.

02.08.2013 08:10 - Anonymous



Online/MMO is not going to happen for years, if ever - that would require me to learn a whole new branch of programming.



Currently i'm working on optimizing the terrain engine, to get the system requirements down. So far it's only 10 times faster that the 120420, and still crashes occasionally. So, planet variety is a little bit lower than the top of the list. :)



Anyway, you think that if i can get it to run smoothly, have a clear interface and no crashes, then it would already be fun enough for a new release?

01.08.2013 21:41 - Artlav



Woops forgot to put this but planet variety should probably be top of the list as that is probably why people haven't played this as much. (This is an alpha can escape without gameplay for now.) They like eye candy. ;)

01.08.2013 19:32 - Anonymous



True then maybe have some planets already colonized or be homeworlds by either human or alien just to give something to interact with when landing on certain planets.(they can give you missions if your bored) Then you cold have resource rich planets or asteroids that you could set up camp for a few game days and gather materials to sell. Also I do still love just aimlessly wandering the galaxy so these things can wait.



P.S. With the warp drive in this game this could probably be online without major consequences.

01.08.2013 19:28 - Anonymous



Colonizing and building structures is nice, but it feels either insufficient or diverting - might as well limit the game to a bunch of Spore-sized planets, and remove all the physics and flight simulation parts respectively.

01.08.2013 11:21 - Artlav



I like the idea of colonizing and building structures on the planets even if they are lost in the vastness of the universe. Afterall Earth is a mere speck orbiting another speck orbiting an insignificant galaxy.



Also if/when alien life is added the ability to categorize and discover new species would be neat.



There are endless possibility's with what you can create with this and it doesn't need to be limited to one thing.

31.07.2013 19:42 - Anonymous



Artlav, keep working on this project, its not popular now, but there are fans. You said this project was doing very badly on the KSP forums, but you shouldn't be discouraged. There is an experimental that must be stabilized.

21.04.2013 07:17 - Bob



This is great! But, will there ever be the ability to create colonies linked by star gates etc?



I love how there are all these planets, I'd love it more if you could do stuff with them!

20.02.2012 20:15 - Mazera



Glad to see progress still being made! Looks terrific!

05.02.2012 19:19 - DarkEnergy



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