Starflight series

[Blake00]

Showing my age but are there any 80s/90s Starflight Amiga fans here? Growing up with Star Trek I dreamed of a game where I could command a starship exploring a huge galaxy encountering aliens and landing on strange worlds. Starflight was the first ever game that granted that wish (before all the good Trek games finally came along) as it had hundreds of different planets to explore and lots of strange aliens to either battle or trade with in space. Naturally I’d call my ship the ISS Enterprise and give all my customized crew members Trek names Eg the Captain would be Kirk, Science Spock, Engineer Scotty, Communication Uhura, Navigator Sulu and Doctor McCoy. Unfortunately I’d run out of positions after that, sorry Chekov haha! Although in the early game when it was too expensive to train up your crew you could use reasonably skilled androids in the roles so naturally they got called Data lol. I grew up playing the 90s SF1 remake on Sega MegaDrive/Genesis (pic below) and eventually got my hands on SF2 for Amiga... most people probably know the 80s PC & Amiga versions more.



After SF2 the series had been dead for like 30yrs yet amazingly in 2018 Greg Johnson tried to crowdfund a new Starflight 3 sequel. Greg was the creator and lead developer of the original Starflight games, and he also created the popular ToeJam & Earl console games too. But sadly the SF3 crowdfund attempt failed miserably as the fan community was in a bad near dead state and almost none of the mainstream gaming media sites covered it so one knew about it!

Well 3 years on there unfortunately hasn't been another attempt at a Starflight 3 game crowdfund or a new demo. However recently the first ever Starflight Anthology book was released and to celebrate that occasion something really cool happened! I run the Starflight fan communities so as a 'thanks' I got invited to take part in a group video podcast interviewing non other than Starflight lead dev and creator Greg Johnson himself!

I was a nervous wreck as I don't normally do live stuff, and I think I was the only non-American on there so people were probably wondering what I was saying half the time lol, plus on top of that my giant 46" screen was glaring on my face making me look like a bloody ghost haha.. but in the end I had a blast as it was so cool to talk to one of the creators of a game I played so much as a kid, not to mention getting thanked by him for my Starflight community work! Greg was a super nice and humble guy and he told so many great stories about creating Starflight, and his very popular ToeJam & Earl console games, along with his consultation work on the Star Control games and Spore which many of us didn't know about! He even discussed the possibility of a Starflight and Star Control crossover game which would be pretty crazy! And sure enough he confirmed that the original Starflight games were heavily influenced by Star Trek heh.

He also confirmed that the dream of Starflight 3 is not dead and that just a week ago he was on the phone with someone trying to secure funding for it. He talked about his dreams of what the sequel could be and he showed openness to trying another crowdfund campaign. We did our best to assure him that the Starflight fan community is in a WAY better state then it was back in 2018 when they last tried the crowdfund as back then all the big old Starflight forums were gone and there was only around 100 people in my 'new' Starflight Fans Facebook group so there was just no one to friggin tell about it! That's up around 400ish members now, plus I've since created a Starflight Fans Reddit group which is closing on 100 now, and best of all there's the Official Starflight 3 Discord I help out on as a moderator which is now up to a massive 800ish members, so that's over a 1000 starflight fans that weren't around in 2018 so we're getting there! The games sold millions of copies back in the day so there's certainly still plenty of long lost Starflight fans out there though! If there's any Starflight old timers lurking around here I hope you come join the gang!

Anyway, here's the video podcast if anyone is interested if anyone is interested. I posted a comment on youtube with timestamps of interesting topics should people wish to skip to stuff that interests them...



There was more I wanted to say on there but yeah.. obviously the podcast wasn't about me haha.. but I got to say most of what I wanted. Really the only big thing I didn't get to say on the podcast was that I'm excited to read the new Starflight - Tales From The Starport Lounge anthology book (I've ordered it from Amazon but it hasn't arrived yet as it's probably on a slow ship heading for Australia lol!). I'm not a huge book person but I just had to get this as like I said earlier in the stream video it's amazing how playing a game and reading a book about an adventure set in that same game universe really enhances the experience. The game makes you love the book more and helps your imagination visualize the aliens and places they'll go to in the book. While vice versa the book makes you love the game more as it adds so much depth to the game universe and makes you crave going on your own adventures similar to the ones these new characters your reading about are going on. They both really buff and lift up each other to a whole new level forming this equilibrium of awesomeness haha! I had that experience with the Starflight manual short stories as a kid, and I had it in the years since with other games like Elder Scrolls Oblivion, Witcher, and the X Universe series space games that all have novels or short stories set in the same universe. So hopefully I'll like the new book and get to have that experience again with Starflight! Once thing's for sure, I already know I like the cover haha!

[dreadnought]

Nice to see that the Starflight spirit still lives on For me it's probably the most important game of the Eighties/ever, right after Pirates!

I do occasionally (but rarely) check if there are any new developments regarding SF3, so thanks for the heads up. It's a pity that the latest attempt to revive folded, but on the flipside...sometimes it's maybe for the better. Most of the retro-revivals I've seen were either disappointing (eg Ultima Underworld) or even ended up in bitter feuds, like the Star Control quagmire.

And anyway, these games are still immensely replayable.

[cloverskull]

Toejam & Earl was also such an underrated game…very slyly introducing kids across the globe to the wonder of Roguelike games haha.

I never played any of the SF games but it was my dad’s favorite when I was a little kid. I remember him being very proud of himself after finishing it. Maybe I should check it out sometime.

[Arne]

SF is a tough game to modernize, because of the pace and planet exploration. I didn't know about the plans to mix SF and UQM... I had the same idea for my recent UQM fan project... well, just for game mechanics. The crew system in SF is pretty great, whereas in UQM it's very impersonal. I wonder if it can be transplanted over. I'd love to set up crew using a mixture of UQM aliens.

[Blake00]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

Nice to see that the Starflight spirit still lives on For me it's probably the most important game of the Eighties/ever

Agreed!

Originally Posted by cloverskull

I never played any of the SF games but it was my dad’s favorite when I was a little kid. I remember him being very proud of himself after finishing it. Maybe I should check it out sometime.

Recommend you go with the Megadrive/Genesis Starflight remake in an emulator. But if that's too messy then I'd recommend the Amiga versions for sure as they're way better than the PC ones with better graphics and mouse support.

Originally Posted by Arne

I didn't know about the plans to mix SF and UQM... I had the same idea for my recent UQM fan project... well, just for game mechanics. The crew system in SF is pretty great, whereas in UQM it's very impersonal. I wonder if it can be transplanted over. I'd love to set up crew using a mixture of UQM aliens.

Oooh we often share Star Control fan projects in the Starflight groups since both series are so similar. What's your UQM project? Have a website or any pics or videos to share?

[Captain_ Kal]

What a great game. I created my own version of ISS Enterprise, complete with an Elowan medical officer and roamed the galaxy!!! Naturally I didn't have a clue of what was I doing, since I had a pirated copy. But I corrected my mistake, by buying the GoG versions!!!

I have its sequel "Starflight II: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula", in its original box. The included map is still annotated with hints and tips!!!!

I really love, this space exploration genre, established by Starflight. I recently finished the main campaign of Stardock's "Star Control: Origins" witch I liked. And "Ghost of the Precursors" will be a day one purchase, something I rarely do, nowadays!!



And since after, all those years I still haven't properly won the game, so I think its a good time to replay it!!

Some links for your pleasure:

A Starflight Fan Game:

https://www.indiedb.com/games/starfl...he-lost-colony

I am sure you are aware of it, but I put the link here, for reference.

CRPG Addict's playthrough, of the original Dos versions:

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/...ight-1986.html

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2013/...routes-of.html

And his final assesement of the first game (Spoiler: He really liked it)

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/...ssessment.html

Now let's find the time to read this fine book!! Instant buy for my kindle!!!

[Blake00]

Originally Posted by Captain_ Kal

What a great game. I created my own version of ISS Enterprise, complete with an Elowan medical officer and roamed the galaxy!!! Naturally I didn't have a clue of what was I doing, since I had a pirated copy. But I corrected my mistake, by buying the GoG versions!!!

I have its sequel "Starflight II: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula", in its original box. The included map is still annotated with hints and tips!!!!

I really love, this space exploration genre, established by Starflight. I recently finished the main campaign of Stardock's "Star Control: Origins" witch I liked. And "Ghost of the Precursors" will be a day one purchase, something I rarely do, nowadays!!



And since after, all those years I still haven't properly won the game, so I think its a good time to replay it!!

Some links for your pleasure:

A Starflight Fan Game:

https://www.indiedb.com/games/starfl...he-lost-colony

I am sure you are aware of it, but I put the link here, for reference.

CRPG Addict's playthrough, of the original Dos versions:

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/...ight-1986.html

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2013/...routes-of.html

And his final assesement of the first game (Spoiler: He really liked it)

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/...ssessment.html

Now let's find the time to read this fine book!! Instant buy for my kindle!!!

Yup my paperback copy of the new Starflight book just arrived from Amazon. Looks good!

Oh indeed I know about Starflight the Lost Colony! In fact I've also done a video on that. To this day it's still the only finished Starflight fan project out there sadly... they dev came back 2 years ago and released an enhanced beta that fixes some of the issues in the original but sadly it didn't get much interest so it's not been touched since.
[ Show youtube player ]

I made that tour video as part of series where I track down old Starflight fan games (many lost and unfinished) and do tour videos of them to show off the cool work done on them. Here's the full list:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis..._LgqiY2BD_zoic

I've haven't done proper tour videos of these 2 projects in the above playlist yet as they're still semi active and I've been busy with other stuff.. but you and others might be interested to know that there's a guy called John Weaver modding Lost Colony to have sega mega drive/genesis style graphics. I helped him out a bit at the start and then left him to it. Here's a very quick test video I made (doesn't even look like lost colony anymore hey haha):
[ Show youtube player ]



And there's also a cool 3D remake of Starflight being made by an ex Bethesda employee called Marvin. His planet landing videos are insane!
His comparison video:
[ Show youtube player ]
His planet landing video:
[ Show youtube player ]

[Arne]

Originally Posted by Blake00

What's your UQM project? Have a website or any pics or videos to share?

I've put my UQM 2021 stuff on a page, but stopped working on it for now to do actual work. Code-wise I got as far as deterministic (custom RNG) star map and solar system generation with consistent time-based orbital positions.

http://androidarts.com/starcontrol/UQM21.htm


Also recently updated a few images on my SF page.

http://www.androidarts.com/starflight/starflight.htm

[Blake00]

Originally Posted by Arne

I've put my UQM 2021 stuff on a page, but stopped working on it for now to do actual work. Code-wise I got as far as deterministic (custom RNG) star map and solar system generation with consistent time-based orbital positions.

http://androidarts.com/starcontrol/UQM21.htm


Also recently updated a few images on my SF page.

http://www.androidarts.com/starflight/starflight.htm

WOAH! We've been looking for you haha! That blog with your awesome Starflight art work has been shared a number of times in the Starflight facebook group. People have wondered who you were and were you working on some sort of awesome fan game project etc. And now I bump into you here years later haha!