cairn
08-05-2011, 07:59 PM
The problem, and why I believe that Space Rangers isn't going to come out with a third is because Space Rangers 2 was more an expansion of Space Rangers than it was a sequel. Sure the storyline was sequel enough, but that was just about all that was actually sequel about it.
I just started playing Space Rangers 1 and I'm finding that Space Rangers 2 was an exact copy of Space Rangers, but with a few minor differences, the storyline, we have only one enemy in the first Space Rangers instead of three competing ones, and a few minor conveniences were added to make it easier to survive such as being able to actually search for the sales and purchase prices of commodities.
I'm sorry, but Space Rangers 2 is more an expansion than an entirely different game, and a lot of gamers, I'm sure, were dismayed by that and decided not to buy Space Rangers 2. Not to mention the DRM, Starforce, that I've read can give some people a lot of difficulty in one form or another.
I will say this, however, the price of Space Rangers 2 made it worth it. Maybe I just didn't discover Space Rangers 2 until later on, and that's why it was cheaper for me, but I remember the price being well worth it. I even ended up buying Space Rangers 2 Reboot even though it gave me the entire game again because the price wasn't absurd. It was a fair price and the game was fun enough to do again with the expansion.
Really, the pattern of the game, the way it works, is rather fun, and the replay-ability of Space Rangers 2 and 1 doesn't even depend upon different accomplishments like many games do these days. It's replayable in of itself simply because it just has that addictive draw that really keeps you wanting to play the game. And starting the game over doesn't have that same feeling of loss that other games have because the fun of the game is not heavily dependent upon progressing the storyline, but on the actual playing of the game itself.
If anyone ever does decide to make the effort of making a Space Rangers 3, then they need to make it a different game. Keep the primary way of playing it intact, but don't copy-paste stuff from Space Rangers 1 and 2. Don't just add a few minor conveniences, change the storyline, and then expect that it's another game, because it's not.
In fact, I have few ideas, not the least of which is adding another dimension to planetary battles and even travel. Instead of taking over a system merely by destroying all of the ships, why don't you make the ship production in a system dependent upon planetary supply of building resources, and the actual hangers themselves that produce the ships. In other words, in order to take a system, one has to lead a squad or army of allied units onto each inhabitable planet and destroy their ship-making facilities or take over their resources so that their ship building slows down enough for allied ships to take control of the space above the planets. In other words, they'd surround planets and every time a ship was produced, they'd immediately proceed to destroy it. And complete control of the system would never happen until after the ship producing facilities were destroyed, i.e. the enemy planetary bases were taken over.
NOTE: This would also add a strategic element because it would mean that the player could lead a squad of ships to enemy-dominated space, land on a planet before they are all destroyed, and then proceed to take their base, and then attempt to hold it long enough to produce enough ships to challenge the current occupants of the system and perhaps create an opening to reach another inhabitable planet with their squad to do the same thing. Of course, there needs to be long range communication on a planet because the player must be able to communicate to the other Rangers and military in the universe that they're proceeding with a mission to take a specific planet so that the AI can then send other Rangers and military reinforcements to help them. I mean right now, it's rather difficult to really get a military operation underway, thus the long-term strategic element in the game is almost nothing. Well, my ideas would add that strategic element, especially if the player could have a direct impact getting reinforcements from multiple systems when he/she takes over a planetary base. Then the player could potentially even take over surrounding sectors so as to isolate and cut off enemy sectors from receiving outside reinforcements. Now, if a player does that, he/she is more or less committing suicide because a lone ranger with 2 or 3 companions is not enough to liberate an entire system, well not on difficult anyway.
This would also make it so that if the player is on that last planet and cannot hold back the tide of enemy ships pouring into the last remaining system, when they finally invaded the planet the player was hiding on, the player would have the distinct opportunity of repelling the invaders and holding that position until the player could muster up enough resources/defenses to liberate the other planets, and finally drive out the invaders.
There should also be made the ability for the player to invest his/her own money into planning/increasing the defense capabilities of each planetary ship-making base.
This would mean making another engine for the FPS, squad commanding, and base-building elements. I'm sure you could do it due to the success of your planetary battles engine in Space Rangers 2, which was rather decent, by the way. I would have preferred a little better FPS control when I took over a mech, but you made it work nonetheless. And the building elements you put within the planetary battles, I'm sure, could be easily expanded into something like what I'm describing above.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
I just started playing Space Rangers 1 and I'm finding that Space Rangers 2 was an exact copy of Space Rangers, but with a few minor differences, the storyline, we have only one enemy in the first Space Rangers instead of three competing ones, and a few minor conveniences were added to make it easier to survive such as being able to actually search for the sales and purchase prices of commodities.
I'm sorry, but Space Rangers 2 is more an expansion than an entirely different game, and a lot of gamers, I'm sure, were dismayed by that and decided not to buy Space Rangers 2. Not to mention the DRM, Starforce, that I've read can give some people a lot of difficulty in one form or another.
I will say this, however, the price of Space Rangers 2 made it worth it. Maybe I just didn't discover Space Rangers 2 until later on, and that's why it was cheaper for me, but I remember the price being well worth it. I even ended up buying Space Rangers 2 Reboot even though it gave me the entire game again because the price wasn't absurd. It was a fair price and the game was fun enough to do again with the expansion.
Really, the pattern of the game, the way it works, is rather fun, and the replay-ability of Space Rangers 2 and 1 doesn't even depend upon different accomplishments like many games do these days. It's replayable in of itself simply because it just has that addictive draw that really keeps you wanting to play the game. And starting the game over doesn't have that same feeling of loss that other games have because the fun of the game is not heavily dependent upon progressing the storyline, but on the actual playing of the game itself.
If anyone ever does decide to make the effort of making a Space Rangers 3, then they need to make it a different game. Keep the primary way of playing it intact, but don't copy-paste stuff from Space Rangers 1 and 2. Don't just add a few minor conveniences, change the storyline, and then expect that it's another game, because it's not.
In fact, I have few ideas, not the least of which is adding another dimension to planetary battles and even travel. Instead of taking over a system merely by destroying all of the ships, why don't you make the ship production in a system dependent upon planetary supply of building resources, and the actual hangers themselves that produce the ships. In other words, in order to take a system, one has to lead a squad or army of allied units onto each inhabitable planet and destroy their ship-making facilities or take over their resources so that their ship building slows down enough for allied ships to take control of the space above the planets. In other words, they'd surround planets and every time a ship was produced, they'd immediately proceed to destroy it. And complete control of the system would never happen until after the ship producing facilities were destroyed, i.e. the enemy planetary bases were taken over.
NOTE: This would also add a strategic element because it would mean that the player could lead a squad of ships to enemy-dominated space, land on a planet before they are all destroyed, and then proceed to take their base, and then attempt to hold it long enough to produce enough ships to challenge the current occupants of the system and perhaps create an opening to reach another inhabitable planet with their squad to do the same thing. Of course, there needs to be long range communication on a planet because the player must be able to communicate to the other Rangers and military in the universe that they're proceeding with a mission to take a specific planet so that the AI can then send other Rangers and military reinforcements to help them. I mean right now, it's rather difficult to really get a military operation underway, thus the long-term strategic element in the game is almost nothing. Well, my ideas would add that strategic element, especially if the player could have a direct impact getting reinforcements from multiple systems when he/she takes over a planetary base. Then the player could potentially even take over surrounding sectors so as to isolate and cut off enemy sectors from receiving outside reinforcements. Now, if a player does that, he/she is more or less committing suicide because a lone ranger with 2 or 3 companions is not enough to liberate an entire system, well not on difficult anyway.
This would also make it so that if the player is on that last planet and cannot hold back the tide of enemy ships pouring into the last remaining system, when they finally invaded the planet the player was hiding on, the player would have the distinct opportunity of repelling the invaders and holding that position until the player could muster up enough resources/defenses to liberate the other planets, and finally drive out the invaders.
There should also be made the ability for the player to invest his/her own money into planning/increasing the defense capabilities of each planetary ship-making base.
This would mean making another engine for the FPS, squad commanding, and base-building elements. I'm sure you could do it due to the success of your planetary battles engine in Space Rangers 2, which was rather decent, by the way. I would have preferred a little better FPS control when I took over a mech, but you made it work nonetheless. And the building elements you put within the planetary battles, I'm sure, could be easily expanded into something like what I'm describing above.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.