StarForge

Last updated
StarForge
StarForge Logo.jpg
Developer(s) codeHatch
Publisher(s) codeHatch
Engine Unity
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release
  • WW: September 18, 2014
Genre(s)
Mode(s)

StarForge is a video game developed by CodeHatch (stylised as Code}{atch) for Microsoft Windows. It is a Voxel-based Sandbox game that allows for customization of guns and building of bases. It is a game about gathering resources, building bases, crafting and surviving on an alien planet. The game was released 18 September 2014. [1] On January 27, 2017, after numerous allegations of the game being abandoned and being an outright scam, StarForge was made free to download and removed from sale on Steam. [2]

Contents

Plot

The Sun is dying due to a sudden black hole formation in its decaying orbit and humans have transferred as much technology and resources as possible and left on a one way mission to populate another planet. It borrows elements from RTS, FPS, RPG, Voxel builder, Tower defense and Physics sandbox genres. The game is about life on the planet of Atlas where the gameplay character is living.

Lore

During the years 2073–2253, there was relative peace on Earth and most funds were diverted to exploration. Eventually small bases were set up on the Moon and Mars. However, a new problem arose when earthquakes started to occur, not just on Earth, but on the Moon and Mars as well. It was later discovered that a rogue black hole had entered into a decaying orbit with the Sun. The estimates in the game show that in less than a thousand years, the gravitational tidal forces would become too great for any planet in the solar system to be habitable.

To deal with this oncoming catastrophe, the citizens of Earth created the New Space Initiative. Observatories scanned the galaxy for new habitable planets while archives of ones currently known were rechecked.

Finally, one planet was found and deemed habitable. It was named Atlas. At that time, scientists discovered how to make objects travel at almost the speed of light. However, even with the relativistic effects of near light-speed travel and medical advances in longevity, the planet was still too far away for any human to reach in one lifetime.

So, for the next 1000 years that were left, Earth sent resources to this new planet in hopes of one day sending humans there. Every corporation on Earth was required to send large quantities of equipment and weaponry. They were sent in freighters along with the sum total of human knowledge so that nothing would be forgotten. To help prepare the planet for habitation, robots were sent to seed the land with common trees, grasses, food, and shrubs.

After some time it was determined via the superluminal communicators carried by the freighters, that many of the supplies which had been sent were disappearing. Details were sparse on what was occurring, but it appeared that they were being taken by creatures that were acting in an intelligent way and these were the ones that arrived to begin with, many were lost on the way there due to unknown reasons. Despite this fact, supplies continued to be sent as too much had already been invested to turn back. Finally, warp drive was invented, allowing man to travel into the depths of space within an instant.

In the year 3085, the gameplay character will have already left Earth, chosen through a lottery system to be part of Humanity's new home. With him aboard the Lifeships, countless others travel in their cryopods, sleeping with the dream that they will be able to wake up and have a second chance. He has been chosen as one of the advance scouts that will prepare the way for the others.

After being sent ahead of the massive Lifeships, contact with them was soon lost and to make matters worse, most of the advance scouts were hit by unexpected atmospheric turbulence on the way in, scattering everyone and everything and wrecking most of what you carried. The game starts right after the lore. [3]

Modes

Single-player

Survival

A sandbox game mode where the only objective is to survive on Atlas. The player may craft weapons, tilesets, and vehicles. The player can kill aliens and other players, find loot and explore the terrain. Players get spawn in the Vat.

Multiplayer

Fort Wars

In this mode, two teams create and defend their vat from the opposing team. The vat is the location that respawns players when they die. The game is over when one team wins by destroying the opposing team's vat.

Co-op

Fort Defense

In the fort defense mode, players must construct a base around a single vat and defend it from attacks by aliens. The attacks are in the form of waves and purely strategic. Waves, in strategy games, refer to batches of enemies. The aliens in the waves will increase in number and strength as the waves progress. If the vat is destroyed, then the game is lost. This gamemode has been removed in the final release.

Reception

Player reception of the playable Alpha stage, which began on May 30, 2012, and ended on September 22, 2014, has been overwhelmingly negative, with the reasons cited by users ranging from dissatisfaction over update times, performance issues, a lack of progress, and frequent changes in prices, planned features, unconnected terrain and what some users feel are misleading product descriptions.

As of 27 June 2016, the full version of the game has received mostly negative reviews (16% positive, 84% negative) from Steam's community reviewers. Many of the positive reviews were given in the early stages of development. As of 27 June 2016 despite the negative reception, particularly after the release of version 1.0, the game was continuing to be promoted. As of March 9, 2016, it was the fourth-lowest rated game in Steam's catalog with only 18% positive ratings.

Reviews

There have been relatively few reviews of the full release of Starforge, perhaps due to its long Early Access period. Hooked Gamers wrote, "StarForge is an officially released game that feels a long, long way from completion", and scored the game 2.5/10. [4] Since release, it has received mostly negative reviews on Steam, with 83% of all given review being negative as of May, 2016.

Removal from Steam

On January 27, 2017, the game was pulled from the Steam store and a DRM free copy of the game was uploaded to the developer's website. [5]

The developers also announced that they had no plans for further development of the game.

Related Research Articles

<i>Starflight</i> 1986 video game

Starflight is a space exploration, combat, and trading role-playing video game created by Binary Systems and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. Originally developed for IBM PC compatibles, it was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh, and Commodore 64. A fully revamped version of the game was released for the Sega Genesis in 1991.

<i>Deuteros</i> 1991 video game

Deuteros: The Next Millennium is the sequel to the sci-fi strategy video game Millennium 2.2, published by Activision for the Amiga and Atari ST. Ian Bird designed and wrote the game, with graphics by Jai Redman and music by Matt Bates.

<i>Blake Stone: Planet Strike</i> 1994 video game

Blake Stone: Planet Strike is a first-person shooter video game, the sequel to Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, made by JAM Productions and released for DOS on October 28, 1994, by Apogee Software.

<i>Shadowgrounds</i> 2005 video game

Shadowgrounds is a top-down shooter for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, developed by Frozenbyte. The game takes place on a space colony on Ganymede which is being attacked by aliens. It was released for Windows on November 11, 2005, in stores in Finland and Germany, and in Spring 2006 in the rest of Europe and North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tremulous</span> Video game

Tremulous is a free and open source asymmetric team-based first-person shooter with real-time strategy elements. Being a cross-platform development project the game is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

<i>Sins of a Solar Empire</i> 2008 video game

Sins of a Solar Empire is a 2008 science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Ironclad Games and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is a real-time strategy (RTS) game that incorporates some elements from 4X games; its makers describe it as "RT4X". Players are given control of a spacefaring empire in the distant future, and are tasked with conquering star systems using military, economic and diplomatic means.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandbox game</span> Type of video game encouraging creativity

A sandbox game is a video game with a gameplay element that provides players a great degree of creativity to interact with, usually without any predetermined goal, or alternatively with a goal that the players set for themselves. Such games may lack any objective, and are sometimes referred to as non-games or software toys. More often, sandbox games result from these creative elements being incorporated into other genres and allowing for emergent gameplay. Sandbox games are often associated with an open world concept which gives the players freedom of movement and progression in the game's world. The term "sandbox" derives from the nature of a sandbox that lets people create nearly anything they want within it.

Universe Sandbox is a series of interactive space sandbox gravity simulator educational software video games. Using Universe Sandbox, users can see the effects of gravity on objects in the universe and run scale simulations of the Solar System, various galaxies or other simulations, while at the same time interacting and maintaining control over gravity, time, and other objects in the universe, such as moons, planets, asteroids, comets, and black holes. The original Universe Sandbox was only available for Windows-based PCs, but an updated version was released for Windows, macOS, and Linux in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keen Software House</span> Independent video game developer

Keen Software House is an independent video game developing company based in Prague, Czech Republic. The company was founded by Marek Rosa in 2010.

Space Engineers is a voxel-based sandbox game, developed and published by Czech independent developer Keen Software House. In 2013, the initial developmental release of the game joined the Steam early access program. During the following years of active development, Space Engineers sold over one million units. In total as of 2019 the game has sold over 3.5 million copies In May 2015, for approximately a year and a half, the game's source code was officially available and maintained by KSH to assist the modding community. On December 15, 2016, the game entered Beta and was later officially released on February 28, 2019.

<i>Solar 2</i> 2011 open world sandbox video game

Solar 2 is an open world sandbox video game developed by Australian developer Jay Watts' video game studio, Murudai. It was released on 17 June 2011 on Steam for Microsoft Windows and on 19 June 2011 on Xbox Live Indie Games for the Xbox 360. The game was developed with Microsoft's XNA tools, and its development was inspired by indie games such as flOw. The game follows the player in their mission to accumulate enough mass to become several astronomical objects, eventually becoming a Big Crunch, which then produces a Big Bang.

<i>Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.</i> 2015 turn-based strategy game

Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., known in Japan with the subtitle Lincoln vs. Aliens, is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS handheld game console. The story is set in an alternate steampunk-based history and features a Silver Age comic book art style and a cast of characters from across American literature and folklore. The gameplay blends turn-based strategy with third-person shooter elements in a similar vein to the Valkyria Chronicles series.

<i>J.U.L.I.A. Among the Stars</i> 2014 video game

J.U.L.I.A. Among the Stars is a 2014 video game by CBE Software. It is a remake of J.U.L.I.A., featuring improved graphics, a different gameplay and an expanded story.

<i>Planet Explorers</i> 2016 video game

Planet Explorers is an adventure role-playing video game developed and published by Pathea Games. Development began in January 2014, existing as an early access game. The game was released on 8 November 2016 for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux on the Steam digital distribution platform.

<i>Ark: Survival Evolved</i> 2017 video game

Ark: Survival Evolved is a 2015 action-adventure survival video game developed by Studio Wildcard. In the game, players must survive being stranded on one of several maps filled with roaming dinosaurs, fictional fantasy monsters, and other prehistoric animals, natural hazards, and potentially hostile human players.

<i>Dual Universe</i> 2022 video game

Dual Universe is a first person based space simulation sandbox massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by the Paris-based game development studio, Novaquark.

<i>Medieval Engineers</i> 2020 video game

Medieval Engineers is a voxel-based sandbox computer game set on an unnamed Earth-like planetoid without water that can be explored, mined, manipulated, and deformed. It was developed and published by Czech developer Keen Software House. On February 19, 2015, Medieval Engineers was released as an early access game on the Steam platform, and the full version was released on March 17, 2020.

<i>Minetest</i> 2010 open source video game

Minetest is a free and open-source game creation system with focus on voxel graphics. It is written primarily in C++ and makes use of the Irrlicht Engine. Minetest provides an API for users to write their own games and mods written in Lua. It is cross-platform, being available for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, some BSD descendants, some GNU variants and Android.

<i>Alien Odyssey</i> 1995 video game

Alien Odyssey is an action-adventure game developed by Argonaut Software and published by Philips Media in 1995. The game features a mixture of first-person and third-person gameplay, with sequences involving shooter, adventure and puzzle mechanics. Alien Odyssey makes use of 3D rendering and full motion video cutscenes which were developed using the developer's proprietary B-Render graphics software. Upon release, the game received a mixed reception, with reviewers praising the visual presentation of the game, whilst critiquing the game's inconsistent mixture of game modes and short length.

<i>Teardown</i> (video game) 2022 video game

Teardown is a 2022 sandbox–puzzle game developed and published by Tuxedo Labs. The game revolves around the owner of a financially stricken demolition company, who is caught executing a questionable job and becomes entangled between helping police investigations and taking on further dubious assignments. Teardown features levels made of destructible voxels, and the player follows the campaign through consecutive missions. In most missions, the player must collect or destroy objects connected to a security alarm. The player has unlimited time to prepare and is given upgradable tools, vehicles, and explosives to create a path within the level that allows them to complete the objectives as quickly as possible. A timer starts as soon as the security alarm is triggered, and the player must complete all required objectives and reach a getaway vehicle within sixty seconds, though the alarm can be adjusted from the settings.

References

  1. ↑ "StarForge - Gameplay". codeHatch. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "Download StarForge Free (DRM Free)" . Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  3. ↑ "StarForge - Lore". codeHatch. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "Hooked Gamers" . Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  5. ↑ "Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: StarForge". steamcommunity.com. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.