Oolite

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OOlite
Oolite-logo2.png
OOlite Logo (from Webpage)
Studio Giles Williams
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 2004
platform Mac OS X , Linux , Windows , SGI Irix , FreeBSD
genre Space flight simulation
Game mode Single player
control Keyboard , mouse , joystick
system advantages
preconditions		 Mac OS X 10.4, Windows XP SP3 or Linux, 3D accelerated graphics card
medium Download
language English , German via OXP
Current version 1.88 (October 27, 2018)
OOlite screenshot of the MacOS version

Oolite is a 3D space flight simulation in the spirit of Elite . It is in Objective-C is written and the name derives from O bject- o riented E lite off. In addition to the computer game Elite , the background story of Oolite was also influenced by thenovella The Dark Wheel ,which was included with Elite at the time.

The source code of Oolite has been available since February 27, 2007 under the GNU GPL version 2 , while the other parts (images, music, textures, models) are available under the CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 license . This makes Oolite to semi-free software .

development

It was developed by Giles Williams for Mac OS X and released under the BSD license in July 2004 . In September 2005 the Mac version reached version number 1.52 and a Linux port was released at the same time. The Windows version was released in March 2006. Ports to SGI IRIX and FreeBSD are also available.

In October 2006, after the stable version 1.65, Williams announced that he would stop development as soon as he finished shader support. The project was placed under the GNU GPL Version 2 on February 27, 2007 and was further developed after a while. On December 15, 2011, the stable version 1.76 was released.

Game mechanics

Basics

Similar to Vegastrike and the classic Elite , Oolite is a non-linear space simulation without a predetermined ending, for which there is only single player mode . You slip into the role of a pilot of a spaceship that is capable of interstellar travel. Every solar system has an inhabited planet with a space station where you can trade, upgrade your ship or take on missions. Although it is in principle possible to travel to any solar system (provided you have enough fuel and the range of the engines is large enough), you land at a reasonable distance from the target planet and have to travel from there “normally”. On the way there you can meet space pirates and other merchant ships, with the possibility of getting involved in space battles. The principal attack weapons are lasers and rockets , of which there are different types to buy in the space stations. Most fights are fought in close combat, whereby it should be noted that the drive, as in the original Elite, does not know inertia and gravity . This means that every ship has a maximum speed at which it can fly, in contrast to reality, which only knows a maximum acceleration (and of course the speed of light as the maximum speed).

Game objectives

There is no set goal in Oolite . Only money and rank are the only “measurable” ways to get a “high score”.

Money can be won in many ways. Traders and bounty hunters are just two of the many different ways to make a profit. It is even possible to ambush other traders and collect their cargo to sell at the nearest spaceport. Provided the ship is properly equipped, valuable minerals can be extracted from asteroids by mining ore. It is also possible as a courier to transport objects or people from “A to B” for a fee.

With the money you earn you have to cover the fuel costs and the missiles used, but you can also buy other ships and other equipment.

Every ship that is destroyed by the player is added to his “ elite rating ”. Depending on the number of destroyed ships, the player receives a rank:

  • Harmless - 0 to 7 ships destroyed
  • Mostly Harmless - 8 to 15 ships destroyed
  • Poor - 16 to 31 ships destroyed
  • Average - 32 to 63 destroyed ships
  • Above Average - 64 to 127 ships destroyed
  • Competent - 128 to 511 destroyed ships
  • Dangerous - 512 to 2559 ships destroyed
  • Deadly - 2560 to 6399 ships destroyed
  • Elite - 6400 ships destroyed and more

Missions and Mods

There are a small number of missions in the game that have been taken over almost one-on-one by Elite. The player is given a certain task that he has to complete in a certain time. Once he has completed this task, the player can travel back to the solar system to collect the reward. It should be noted, however, that it is not mandatory to complete the missions, let alone begin.

With the keen involvement of the fan base, there are a number of mods that add a variety of missions to the Oolite universe.

Mods

Since the game was designed from the beginning to encourage people to create extensions , this is relatively simple and requires little programming knowledge ( XML , JavaScript ). The tools required for this are documented in the Oolite Wiki. Extensions are sold in the form of OXPs ( O olite e X pansion P ack), the format of which is also explained in detail. The downloaded OXPs are simply stored in the addons folder and are automatically integrated the next time the game is started.

Thanks to the lively participation of the fan community, several hundred extensions have been created over time. These range from other spaceships and space stations to scripted, interactive missions and varied mini-games to a German translation of the user interface. There are also mods that add new weapons and sounds or music.

Press and awards

  • Linux Format wrote a one-page report on Oolite .
  • Hooked Gamers wrote a two-page report on Oolite .
  • On January 8, 2007 Oolite of Macworld with the Editors' Choice Award awarded.

fiction

A solid fan base has formed around the development of Oolite , who have spawned their own science fiction novels that are set in the Oolite universe.

  • The Virtuous Misfortune by Dylan Smith
  • Status Quo , Schism and Mutabilis by Drew Wagar.

credentials

  1. ↑ http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Oolite_FAQ#System_Requirements
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.happypenguin.org
  3. ↑ a b http://aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3072
  4. ↑ http://oolite.livejournal.com/
  5. ^ Oolite Main Page , at wiki.alioth.net, accessed September 25, 2018
  6. ↑ http://capnhack.com/hosting/oolite/Oolite/OoSat.html
  7. ↑ http://oosat.alioth.net/ ( Memento from February 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Oolite. Linux Format, January 2006, archived from the original on June 3, 2008 ; Retrieved on July 6, 2014 ( copy of the article as a picture ).
  9. ↑ Deep in space ... , at www.hookedgamers.com, accessed September 26, 2018
  10. ^ Editor's Choice. In: Macworld. January 8, 2007, accessed August 6, 2008 .

Web links