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Battlestar Galactica Community Game Diaspora Has Arrived

Posted by Soulskill on from the so-say-we-all dept.

New submitter funtapaz writes "Diaspora: Shattered Armistice, the Battlestar Galactica game based on the FreeSpace 2 Open engine, has launched! This cross-platform (Windows, Linux, Mac) release includes the ability to fly the MK VII Viper, the Raptor (or the new MK VIIe strike variant), multiplayer, a mission editor, an original soundtrack, and full voice acting."

10 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. flight model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    But does it have a realistic air combat physics model for space battles?

    1. Re:flight model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I hope not. Otherwise it wouldn't really be like "Battlestar Galactica".

    2. Re:flight model by jtownatpunk.net · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Trick question! You can't have an air battle in space.

    3. Re:flight model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Trick question! You can't have an air battle in space.

      Of course you can, just watch how TIE fighters and X-Wings fly in space.
      Now if you want full newtonian flight dynamics Babylon 5 all the way.

    4. Re:flight model by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Interesting
      BSG (the show, no idea about this game) seemed to have fairly realistic space flight. The ships could spin and reverse; they didn't bank and dive. The Vipers were aerodynamic, but they also were used in atmosphere.

      The landings on Galactica were a bit weird though. They came in fast and had to decelerate quickly, like fighters on an aircraft carrier deck, instead of just slowing down and drifting in slowly and safely. But arguably you don't want to waste time in combat.

      They did the usual movie./TV sci-fi thing of having all the ships, including the big capital ships, engage at ranges of a few hundred metres, instead of a few million miles. And no real explanation of why they didn't just nuke each other with guided missiles instead of shooting more or less conventional guns at each other. It was basically WWII naval battles IN SPACE.

      It'll be interesting to see how they do Ender's Game since that is supposedly to be filmed soon.

  2. Homeworld anyone? by aneroid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Homeworld was, for me, the first truly 'epic space battle' type game. Full 360 deg space-mapping, camera views, fighter-POVs.
    It would have been a perfect fit to mod Homeworld into a BSG game for RTS.

    I have played TIE Figther which would have also been great for the FPS perspective.

    Looking forward to playing this.

  3. Re:Is that the game... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm the team lead for Diaspora and you're pretty much correct. We ended up with many of the assets that used to be part of BtRL. We agreed not to use the name or anything that wasn't 100% made by our team members in return.

    The codebases are exactly the same at the time of the split. I have no idea what they've done with theirs but we kept using the same engine.

  4. Looks Like We're Being Slashdotted and Kotaku'd... by Swifti · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hey guys. Programmer from the project here. Looks like our server is being hammered so here are some links to keep you company until our sites get back up.

    Our Launch Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWt2m1xtJbw
    1st Mission Preview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7yGXHQQlps

    Windows Torrent - http://diaspora.fs2downloads.com/Diaspora_R1_Windows.exe.torrent
    Mac Torrent - http://diaspora.fs2downloads.com/Diaspora_R1_Mac.dmg.torrent
    Linux Torrent - http://diaspora.fs2downloads.com/Diaspora_R1_Linux.tar.lzma.torrent

  5. Re:Not to be confused with the social network? by LordNightwalker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And the rabbit hole goes deeper: you may now officially criticize a computer game for using the same name as a social network, that uses the same name as a *previous* computer game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_(computer_game) You know, you could probably have found that, had you used a search engine yourself before criticizing others for not using a search engine. ;)

    --
    Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?
  6. Awesome! by Xelios · · Score: 5, Informative

    Anyone who hasn't seen the wonderful things the Freespace 2 Open Source team has done over the years should really check it out. The game itself is $6 on GoG, and since Volition released the source code it's seen a complete overhaul for everything from AI to graphics. The classic campaigns are still there (and are well worth playing through), and there's been some really great fan campaigns released over the years too.

    I'd highly recommend the Blue Planet campaign. Part 2 (War in Heaven) is especially noteworthy for really giving you the feeling of being on the losing side of a war, something you don't see very often in games. Part 1 has full voice acting, with voice acting for part 2 still in progress.

    --
    Murphey's fighting Occam, and we're in the stands.