Space pioneers
| Space pioneers | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Looki |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
2004 |
| platform | Web browser |
| genre | MMOG , browser game |
| control | Keyboard & mouse |
| language | German |
Space Pioneers (short SP ) was a free MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Game) in the form of a browser game . It was developed by Denys Bogatz in 2004 as an alternative to OGame , as it was no longer developed at that time. In the summer of 2008, the previously privately operated "Space Pioneers" was finally handed over to next idea GmbH (operator of looki.de) for cost reasons . The operator stopped maintaining the game in 2010 and is currently concentrating on the further development of the commercial successor spacepioneers2 . As a result, some playable galaxies have been closed to cut costs. Game operations were stopped at the beginning of 2017.
action
There is no official story about Space Pioneers . In the initial phase of 2004-2005 there was an approach on the official site, which was later removed. Nevertheless, there is rough information about the universe of the game, which is described by short information texts available in the game as well as the course of the game itself:
Space Pioneers is set in a distant future. The known galaxies are largely settled and inhabited by highly technical and very well developed cultures. Futuristic spaceships make it possible to cover huge distances and travel across the entire galaxy. However, these achievements are repeatedly overshadowed by clashes between power-hungry emperors and wars between warring alliances . The immense demand for raw materials can often only be met by attacking and robbing other planets .
General gameplay
After registering for free, the player has the opportunity to choose one of the available galaxies and is assigned a starting planet there on which he can establish his empire. He can expand this planet by building buildings. All actions take place in real time and continue even after leaving the game. The raw materials (metal, crystal, tritium) required for building buildings can be obtained by building mines , which in turn have to be supplied with energy via power plants or solar satellites . All planets have an infinite supply of raw materials, the extraction of which can be increased by expanding the mines. After a certain amount of progress in the game, there is also the opportunity to acquire new technologies in the research laboratory, reduce the construction time and costs and form the basis for building spaceships. However, research also costs more and more time and resources as the game progresses, which is why the cost-benefit ratio should be carefully weighed. As soon as the player is able to build spaceships, he is given the opportunity to attack other players. An attack offers the possibility to loot resources from other players or to destroy their fleets and to recycle the resulting debris field. The battles are turn-based and run automatically. Settlement ships can also be used to colonize other planets.
Furthermore, the specializations in the trader or warrior branch offer some further possibilities to unlock technical features.
For all things built or researched, the player receives points that allow him to rise in the ranking and thus fight for his place in the ranking. Furthermore, he can ally himself with other players by founding an alliance or joining an existing alliance. Alliances are able to conclude defense and trade alliances with one another through diplomatic treaties or to declare war on one another . The game has no stated aim, other than the best possible placement of the players in the leaderboard. Galaxies do not end after a certain time or according to some other kind of criterion, they keep running.
In addition to the actual game, there is also a text RPG in the official forum in which stories from the world of "Space Pioneers" are written. In this way, news from the game is exchanged or wars or alliances are concluded.
More about the game
While at the beginning you only have to invest a few minutes a day in the game, after a few months the playing time can extend to several hours a day.
Space Pioneers is spread internationally. Currently there are separate game galaxies for the German, English, French, Italian and Polish-speaking regions. At the same time, it is possible to set the language you want in the individual galaxies, so that multilingualism and nationality arise within the individual galaxies.
In mid-October 2006 "Space Pioneers" was in second place in the browser MMOG at Games Dynamite and in fourth place in the MMOG charts at Galaxy News (from November at number 1).
Technical specifications
| PageViews: (Status: 2006) | 12.3 million / day | 320 million / month |
| Active accounts: (Status: 2009) | approx. 38,000 (thereof 33,000 in the German area) | |
| Existing galaxies:
(Status: 2009) |
16 in total, including 12 Germans (G1-11 and test server) | |
| Existing galaxies:
(As of January 2010) |
a total of 13, including 9 Germans (G1-4, 7, 9-11 and test server) | |
| Source: (Status: 2006) | 2110 KB | approx. 11,000 lines |
| Texts: (as of 2006) | 300 KB | DE / UK |
| Languages: (as of 2009) | German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish. |
Tools
There are some unofficial application programs for Space Pioneers that do not intervene directly in the game, but simplify the game for the user, for example by making it easier to search for hostile planets. There are flight time calculators to calculate how long a flight from A to B takes, coordinate databases to save your own and hostile planets and to be able to comfortably search the galaxy and various others. However, the possible assistance is limited in order not to put individual players at a disadvantage. For example, the tools may not automatically read or call up the websites.
Current development
The further development for SP has been discontinued since 2010. Its successor, Space Pioneers 2, was launched during the same period . This game was developed solely by Looki and is no longer based on the basic idea of Space Pioneers 1. This game stated that no player should be able to gain massive advantages with real money.
In SP2, the "nanoprobes" have now been introduced, which can bring the duration to "0" for all construction and research assignments.
This development has sometimes led to strong protests in the SP1 gaming community, numerous players have deleted themselves and in most galaxies an above-average number of players are in vacation mode.
Others
The average age of the players is 19 years. However, there are players in almost all age groups.
Similar to other MMOGs, this game is also addictive . This grows with the playing time, because whoever produces more and more has to protect more and more, and he can only do that by bringing his ever faster growing production to safety at ever shorter intervals. Some players achieve an activity of over 80%, which means that they are logged into the game for almost 20 hours a day. And the consequence is that success and failure are largely determined not only by strategy , but also by a simple expenditure of time.
Since an account is only logged out after an hour without an action, it is theoretically sufficient to carry out an action once an hour to achieve an activity of 100%. Hence, this figure should not be overstated. It must also be said that the activity is an average value that relates to a whole week.
There is also an extensive manual or an extensive wiki , Spacepedia, in which many players make their knowledge available, with which even beginners can find a quick introduction to the game. In addition, there is a Space Pioneers forum in which many current developments are discussed or other players, game administrators or game makers can be contacted.
There is also an IRC channel and a TeamSpeak server for players to use to exchange ideas .
A curiosity is that a novel set in the world of OGame appeared as text on the Space Pioneers website at the time.
criticism
In 2008, support started trying to get users to turn off their ad blocker . Users who did not comply with the request were publicly denounced as "ad blockers" and warned by support. Despite protests from the community, the guideline is still in effect and uses a threshold for classification as an ad blocker, which looks like this: "Ads delivered and displayed" for each individual user. If more advertising is delivered to a user than is ultimately displayed, the user is classified as an ad blocker. The statistics are compiled in collaboration with the advertising marketer. The developer decided to do this because the advertising blockers reduce Space Pioneers' advertising revenues and the game is thus deprived of its financial basis.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Earth Child and Dragon Death . Owiki.de. Retrieved July 20, 2011.