I remember back in the day when online access was a 300 baud modem connected to Quantum Link, when 3D graphics were hours and hours of work on supercomputers, when we were just as likely to type in a game from the latest issue of RUN Magazine as to go and purchase the latest game from the computer store. It was during these early, formative days of gaming that I discovered one of my all-time favorite games, the classic Star Trek. Now this was not massive space simulation, nor was it an advanced RPG. It was a simple game of space exploration, where the goal was to find and destroy a number of Klingon vessels. Although there wasn’t much to the game (a grid of asterisks and shapes that vaguely approximated your vessel and the Klingon ships) it was the first taste of controlling a starship in the vast reaches of space.
Later, games such as Star Control and Starflight took aspects of games such as Space War and Star Trek and turned them into massive (at the time) games of space exploration, combat, and diplomacy. In an attempt to recapture some of the joy of those games of years past, indie developer Metal Beetle has begun work on their own version of this classic game. Called Space Exploration: Serpens Sector, what we are presented with in this development phase, is a very promising space exploration and combat RPG.
Written in Java, Serpens Sector is completely portable. and currently exists on three platforms; Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. While this is great that it doesn’t matter what your desktop of choice is, at the same time it’s unfortunate as there are no platform-specific design aesthetics. A 2D game could have benefited from graphic technologies such as OpenGL, Quartz and Core Image. As it is, the current graphic level is fairly simplistic, but gets the job done. As this build is more about working out bugs in the game engines, one could assume that more attention will be paid to the graphics in future builds.
Sound is a mixed bag right now. Combat and movement sounds are raspy and small, where as other sounds, such as the background noise when you board an enemy vessel are quite well-done. Perhaps sound will be another aspect that is further addressed in future builds of the game.
In the far-flung future, long after man has stretched his arms to the stars and met the neighbors, a cataclysmic event occurs, known as the Great Disconnect. The net result of this event is that Earth is cut-off from the rest of space, aliens and humans alike. After many years of rebuilding, exploration vessels are finally being sent out to re-connect with space. It is your job, as captain of the space exploration vessel Muon, to explore a long-abandoned region of space known as Serpens Sector. You are given a thousand units of fuel and 200 days to complete your mission.
Each time you enter the sector, you are presented with a randomly generated scenario, with star systems in different locations, and events and encounters randomly scattered among the planets. The goal: explore as much of Serpens Sector as possible and return to the wormhole to jump home. But watch your fuel and days. If you explore too far beyond your means without finding anything to help along the way, you’ll be stuck there forever.
Most star systems will house some randomly generated event. These vary, from pirate attacks to first-contact situations with alien races to a variety of characters who will make requests of you and your crew. These events will result in different actions that must be taken. When faced with pirates, you can either fight or flee. If you choose to fight, the display changes from the star system view to a battle grid in which you face-off with the enemy ship. All battle is turn-based, so you have time to plan out the proper strategy to decimate your foe. Unfortunately, especially early in the game and against well-armed pirates, this is not always an option. If you decide soon enough, you should be able to flee with minimal damage to your ship. Each encounter is persistent during the course of each game, so should you find yourself in possession of bigger guns later on, you can always come back and trounce the pirate scum.
When faced with characters or alien races, you will often be presented with dialog, and a number of possible choices for your response. How you respond will affect how the encounter goes. Not going to present the alien king with a gift upon arrival? Then don’t expect them to cooperate with you. Decide to let the starbase captain talk you into protecting them from alien bullies? Then be ready for a fight. Currently, there are not a large number of encounters, and most are fairly linear. But, again, this is a project in development, and the groundwork has been laid for more complex interactions in the future.
The intention of the developer is to release Space Exploration: Serpen Sector as a free game, and then to sell expansions, which would provide different areas of space to explore, different encounters, new characters, etc. As it is, Serpens Sector has a lot of promise and potential. While it would be nice if a game like this were open-source, you can’t blame a developer for wanting to collect a couple buckets of space gold. If you are a fan of such games, give Serpens Sector a try, and keep an eye out for the finished product.
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