Noctis
| Noctis
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 Panoramic screenshot from the game |
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| Basic data
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| developer | Alessandro Ghignola |
| Publishing year | 2000 |
| Current version | Noctis IV build 3.1 |
| operating system | MS-DOS |
| category | Space flight simulation |
| License | Freeware |
| German speaking | No |
| www.anywherebb.com | |
Noctis is a free space simulation by Alessandro Ghignola . Development began in 1996 and is still ongoing today.
Gameplay
The player takes on the role of an explorer in a spacecraft called the Stardrifter. There is no set goal in the game; instead, it's about exploring and cataloging a fictional galaxy with billions of stars , planets and moons . These activities include traveling between the stars and within the star systems, as well as exploring the surfaces of planets. The galaxy that is being explored contains billions of stars, most of them with many planets and moons . All heavenly bodies can be named and annotated. The player also has the option of taking screenshots of his discoveries and sharing them with other fans .
history
The game was programmed in C ++ by Alessandro Ghignola . Development started in 1996 and the first release happened around the year 2000. Noctis was written for DOS , and therefore has some limitations, mainly related to the visuals of the game. The resolution is fixed at 320 × 200 pixels . Furthermore, it is not possible to cover a greater distance on foot after landing, instead you have to switch back to the spaceship and choose a new landing site.
Four versions have already been released, so the current version is known as Noctis IV . With the current Noctis IV program version, there is a possibility to send the names and notes that a player has created back to the programmer and to have them integrated into a database called GUIDE, which in turn is made available for download on the game's homepage . That way, it's easy for players to find the discoveries of other explorers.
A new version called Noctis V is currently in development. This is to remove the restrictions that go back to DOS origins and, among other things, to introduce a new, contemporary graphics engine . In contrast to the four previous versions, this new version is no longer programmed in C ++, but in L.in.oleum , a programming language that was developed by the author of the game himself.
Some players have already dealt with the development of a modified version because the source code of Noctis IV was made available in 2003 under a non-standard license. This modification is called ( N octis I V C orers' E dition) and adds some important changes to the game, for example more realistic temperature models , a rocket backpack , more realistic vegetation , the possibility of being able to walk across the planet's surface completely at once without hitting the Having to change spaceships, and many other minor improvements and various bug fixes .
reception
The game became popular in early 2000 after a positive review was published on Home of the Underdogs in which Noctis scored 9.43 out of 10 and was also awarded the "Top Dog" award.
See also
Web links
- The official Noctis website (English)
- A timeline ( fan fiction )
- Homepage of the NICE modification (English)
- Noctis - Review at Home of the Underdogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Web Archive records of the earliest Noctis' homepage . Archived from the original on April 25, 2000. Retrieved April 30, 2009.
- ↑ General conditions for distribution of modified versions of Noctis IV's source code