What is Reddit's opinion of
Oolite?
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➔ Oolite website
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55 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
For anyone that wants to try a bit of the classic Elite experience but thinks this is a little too lo-fi, try Oolite, a free open-source remake of the game with textured graphics, high resolution, and nicer controls.
It's like every other Elite-like since the 80s. If you didn't play that back in the day, try out OOlite to see if you enjoy it. ED is more polished graphically, but you'll know if its the kind of game you'll enjoy.
To me, right now, Elite:Dangerous is the one to keep an eye on.
It will be releasing first, it's using an established formula (if you've never played the Elite games before, I recommend trying them out; there is a free open-source Windows port of Elite called Oolite.) and it actually has something to show of the overall complexity the game will offer.
Star Citizen looks and sounds pretty nice, but they haven't really shown a lot for it and that has me a little worried.
No Man's Sky I know next to nothing about. It looks and sounds more like Minecraft than the other two big ones. But it has even less to show for it's efforts despite being closer to release than Star Citizen. I constantly see articles and posts expressing trepidation toward this one, and I am staying away myself for now.
Another one not a lot of people know about is Rogue System. This one is supposed to be more of a simulation, though you could turn on and off certain features to make it as simmy or arcade-like as you like. Unfortunately, when they had it up on Kickstarter, they didn't reach their goal. The developer has told me (via email) that he will still be working on the game, but it will be a much longer process unless he can try to get crowd funded again at some point.
oolite is a very good (IMO) space trading and combat game, There is a in game extension manager that allows to add a lot of good addons (betters textures and models, extra missions).
There's a bunch of positive reviews already -- the thing is that I'd describe the target audience as "niche" as, unlike many modern games, it doesn't try to cater to the lowest common denominator. The devs went so far as saying they are making the game for themselves, but otoh that is simply stating that it'll likely stay faithful to its roots (Elite I-III).
As such, as with most games, there will be people who love it and others who hate it. Also, keep in mind that since 2007, user reviews seem to have become more polarized in general. Very often, you'll see significant differences in how a professional reviews a game, and the rating a random gamer slaps on it. For example, did you like ME3? Because going by it's user reviews, it should have been a flop.
My recommendation would be to be skeptical with reviews and use them only to list features and technical specifications, filtering the writer's biased perception as best as possible, and instead stick more to the Let'sPlays and ask yourself if you might have fun doing what you see in the video.
I'd say buying the game brings a certain risk, but in the end, it all depends on your own personal preferences, not some reviewer's. Perhaps you could play the free Oolite, and see how much you enjoy that? Because if you're having fun there, chances are you'll enjoy ED, too.
There are open-source video games. Some of them are clones of popular closed-source games. Some open-source video games have remarkably good art and sound (like The Battle for Wesnoth). Some of them are impressive in scope.
You might check out Object-Oriented Elite (http://www.oolite.org/) (the object-oriented part just refers to it being programmed in Objective-C). It's free and open source. I can't comment on how similar it is to Elite, but it's supposed to be a space sim inspired by Elite. The only goal is to explore and get enough money to buy a warp to the next dimension full of planets until it wraps around to the beginning, so I guess you could say it's not terribly modern, haha. Fight pirates, become a pirate, mine asteroids, carry passengers, trade, buy new ships and parts, all that stuff. There's also mods.
Thanks! As a kinda-maybe-wannabe game dev it's cool to check out genre definers, and since this clearly inspired games I enjoy, such as Eve and Vendetta, I'm pretty excited about it.
I've found oolite, which calls itself "inspired by Elite," and looks like it might mimic the original to a fair degree. Anyone know how close it comes to the original?
Hello, new pilot here. I started the game yesterday and thanks to a tutorial I could accomplish a mission. It took me 2 hours but I enjoyed it :) About 15 years ago I played with Oolite and now I'm really curious about E: D.
I play it on Xbox in Game Pass and it says this is the Core version. On the main screen, in the bottom left corner the following info is visible: "Elite: Dangerous Odyssey Compatibility Update (3.8.04), FID: b3nrt1f". What does it mean? I saw this game has several DLCs. Which version is it on Xbox? Does it have the latest DLC / patch? Is there anything missing? Thanks.
Have you and /u/Jkjklkl seen Oolite? Might be up your alley. It's been in active development for some 15 years, so while it shows it's age, it's not abandoned either.
Oh yea, and "there are over five hundred expansion packs released for Oolite."
It's a very difficult comparison to make, even more so since E:D released and SC is still developing, but E:D has stated they'll add expansions.
Currently, Star Citizen is doing a modular alpha release; that means as bits of the game are developed, they'll release them one by one for feedback and play testing, before combining everything into the finalized iterations of the game, Squadron 42 (the singleplayer campaign) and the Persistant Universe (the multiplayer open world.)
The current alpha modules are the Hangar module (which allows you to walk around ships and look that the game assets) and the Dogfighting module, called Arena Commander (which lets you fly your ship around and shoot other ships in multiplayer combat, it has a vs. AI singleplayer and co-op mode, and has an added racing circuit where players can compete in mulitplayer races or run time trials themselves.
You can learn more about the game's progression here: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/project-status
Like I said, E:D has released and is going to be adding extra content in the future in expansions, whereas Star Citizen isn't released, and is going to be adding its content in modules before the release. So the development structure is different between the two.
I'd recommend playing some older games, like Freelancer, Privateer, and Frontier: Elite II, Frontier: First Encounters and Oolite, an open-source recreation of the first Elite with some graphical enhancements.
For Multiplayer trading, Elite: Dangerous has trading, and I think you can group up with friends but I'm not totally sure about that. Eve Online also has multiplayer gameplay and a very in-depth economy. Star Citizen's trading stuff will come out in what's called the PU Alpha, which will be some time after the Social and FPS alpha modules get released.
I don't think there is anything that would give you much of an edge, when you get the game there is a bunch of combat scenarios you can practice with though. The original Elite game or Oolite will probably help you understand the scanner system. <hushed voice> The flight model is very roll based with low yaw so expect something more like a fighter plane in space and less like the shooting range in space sci-fi tropes of many recent space games</hushed voice>
I've got two:
1) Oolite reminds me of Escape Velocity in 3D, although it was apparently based on a much earlier game. Fly around, complete missions, upgrade your ship, shoot shit... it's pretty much all there. Plus it's free, and there's a huuuuge mode community around it.
2) Space Miner is like Escape Velocity for your iPhone (can you see a pattern here?) You start off simply mining asteroids, but it gets more combat-heavy as time goes on. Probably my favorite iPhone game.
I agree i too am disappointed in the mean time there's always Oolite if you want Classic style Elite shenanigan's but some of the classic models are quite different from what one would be used too in fdev's looking at you anaconda..
Oolite has over 500 expansion packs, so who knows? It costs nothing but a little time to download it and try it out! :)
It also sounds like you might be looking for ideas about other games that will give you planet-conquering, mini-campaign, multi-ship, HomeWorld-like experiences. You may want to rephrase your title to something like "Looking for a space game where I can conquer planets, take over territories, etc." As it is now, it looks like you're only interested in Oolite.
Goodluck, and let us know what you find and find out! :)
Galaxy on Fire doesn't have a full galaxy, or thousands of missions, a working economy, or the ability to download expansions.* Alite is based on Oolite on the PC/Mac, which is a spiritual successor to Elite on the BBC micro/Commodore 64/Nintendo. Give it a try, there are no ads or micro transactions, so it's completely free.
*Edit, turns out after extensive playthrough yesterday and today that it's not a full galaxy right now. That's on a list of planned features. However there are currently hundreds of systems.
*Double Edit: Turns out I'm still not right...There are actually *galaxies in Alite. Found out when I went to the library, the in-game database and found out that Hyperdrive across galactic distances is possible with an Intergalactic Hyperdrive, found only in tech level 10 systems or higher.
- Pioneer! http://pioneerspacesim.net/ - Remake of Elite 2
- Oolite! http://www.oolite.org/ - Remake of Elite 1
They are open source(free) remakes of the original Elite games. They are both quite good!
Though I am an old dude, I'm ashamed to say I didn't play the original Elite games that much. Mostly, I just didn't have the right computers to play it, I think. I have a vague memory of using an old analog joystick on an Apple to try to sync-up my rotation before I could dock with the classic vector graphics. Maybe I played it on a friend's computer, I'm not sure.
A few years ago, I did play Oolite some. My understanding is that it's a decent imitation of the original game. It was lots of fun, though had minimal graphic. People playing ED now may get a kick out of it if they want a taste of what the original was like.
Anyway, I share your feelings of Elite today. It's amazing and I'm loving it. I feel bad for not joining the kickstarter, but I have no regret buying it at full price just after release.
I know the game has its critics. That worries me a little. I think it's just not for everyone. But, for those of us it works for, the experience is wonderful.
I really like Oolite. This is a remake of the old computer game Elite; but if you think open-ended, offline, single player precursor to EVE Online, you've got a general idea. You start out with a basic spaceship and a little bit of money, and are set loose on the universe. You can do commodity trading, taxi service, delivery driver, go hunting space pirates or become one yourself.
I would suggest you look at the wiki, the oxp section seems to have some recommendation. also it's worth flipping through the oxp section of the website (sort it by updated to go over some of the recently updated). There was also a recent thread in the forum that i can't find right now. I started a post on this subreddit to get some recent recommendations.
It's alive and kicking. This is actually kind of a "yearly release" - which is fine since they had enough material for it - but it deferred some ongoing, unfinished work to the next release.
Furthermore, as I pointed out, the game is made to be moddable, so most of the activity actually happens in the mods. On this side, I'd say you can get at the very least one new thing to play with every month.
For instance, the 3D-looking cockpit and the planets with rings one can see in the gallery (it serves random images so refresh the page to see more) are actually mods.
Not seeing Ur-Quan Masters. That's one of the first things I install when doing a new Linux build. Also runs on Win and Mac. OoLite is another good one.
There have been a truck load of clones throughout the years and a massive community behind Oolite and Pioneer space sim (originally a FE2 clone). So much so, that Braben has kind of left them alone. There was a full clone version based on the original Elite code (a new kind) which he did as them to remove. This isn't anything new.
Or, if you're looking for something like the original Elite, you could try Oolite (http://www.oolite.org). It plays quite a lot like the original, plus it's free (and open source), cross-platform, and has a decently active modding community.
If you are a fan of Elite:
"Pioneer is a space adventure game set in our galaxy at the turn of the 31st century" (Frontier Elite 2 clone): http://pioneerspacesim.net/
"Oolite: an open-world space opera" Elite 1 clone: http://www.oolite.org/
both are free.
Also, http://spacesimcentral.com/ is a good resource to find more
Holy crap I feel old.
I'm just going to say Elite on 8-bit computers like the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum back in '84/'85.
An open universe 3D space flight/trading/freelancing game from 3 decades ago might not seem revolutionary now, but by the gargantuan overlords of fuck - it was back then.
For a moderately updated version check out Oolite but bear in mind it'll never have the brain-melting impact that it did back then.
^(edit: too many minds in one sentence show me no thinky good)
Try Oolite: It's the same gameplay but with updated OpenGL graphics.
Available for Mac, Windows or Linux (you'll need to play using 32-bit compatibility mode if you're running 64-bit Windows).
No need to pay for fun stuff, btw
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/il8tr/itt_link_your_favourite_open_source_or/
I'm personally partial to http://www.oolite.org/ and http://blog.naev.org/downloads/
You could try Oolite. It's free, based on the original Elite game. The base game is... marginal, at best (since it's trying to mimic Elite from the 1980s). But when you add mods (available through the in-game Expansion Manager) it becomes quite the enjoyable trip.
>Not sure if anyone remembers the old Stargate Universe spinoff,
Anyone who does not must be pitied.
The ancient game Elite and its fan remake also have a solar fuel scoop mechanic. You have to carefully fly just close enough to a sun to scoop useful quantities of hydrogen, but if you get too close your hull starts to melt. It's a fun mechanic.
A similar idea is that by flying close to a sun, you can kill Vux Limpets or other problems onboard your ship.
> I can't remember the name at the moment, but there was something about lining up a ship with an airlock on a rotating space station?
Probably Elite. Specs are sadly below the minimums for the modern incarnation of Elite Dangerous, but Oolite and Pioneer are free open-source takes on the first and second games of the series that are worth suggesting to him even if it doesn't help get you a present.
Any other hints as to what he might like?
This may or may not sate your curiosity somewhat, but have you ever heard of Oolite? [wiki] It's based on older Elite games, but there are a ton of user-made expansion packs if you want to just see what other folks have already created, modwise.
Yeah it's not easy to be a fugitive, but with some practice it will get easier to avoid the cops and bounty hunters. The slowdown of the game during the intense battles can be of help. And at the very least those two planets will provide you good markets for computers, furs, food, etc.
If playing it on a C64 is top of the list for you, I applaud your dedication to keep it original. If not: download Oolite, a free implementation of Elite that gives you more modern graphics and speed but keeps the gameplay the same (or it can be tweaked as well).
Oolite is great. It's a remake/clone of the original Elite from the 80s - for those unfamiliar, Elite was a space trading and combat game noteworthy for being the first open world sandbox game ever released.
Elite does show its age however, with wireframe graphics and such. Oolite faithfully recreates and expands Elite, with gorgeous graphics (for a FOSS game) and the ability to easily expand the game with "OXPs" (mods) directly from the main menu, enabling you to add more planets, more modules, new ships, procedural missions, unique space stations, even better graphics, and much more. It's development is largely finished.
Elite also had a sequel in the form of Frontier: Elite 2. Frontier leans much more into realistic space sim territory, ditching the purely procedural galaxy and tiny single-planet systems of Elite in favor of a 1:1 replica of our galaxy with fully modeled planetary systems and Newtonian flight mechanics. Frontier also received a free remake/clone in the form of Pioneer Space Sim. Although not as expandable as Oolite, and still under development, the game is largely finished, perfectly playable, and very pretty.
If you're a fan of the old Escape Velocity series, try Endless Sky, a free game created in the style of EV. Still under development but mostly finished and playable.
NAEV - similar to Endless Sky but more combat focus. The NAEV site is down, but the github is up or STEAM.
or
Oolite - 3d instead of 2d... not heavy on combat, but when you get into a good fight, it can be great: http://www.oolite.org/
Dwarf Fortress - Adventurer mode
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If you can increase your budget to even $5 USD, I can give you many more recommendations.
I highly recommend getting a set of CH Products gear for flight simulators. It's not a flight simulator, but I play Oolite and did a lot of research into joysticks and throttles for Oolite. I actually purchased a X-52 joystick and throttle but the joystick just didn't have fine enough control.
My CH Products Fighterstick is amazing, lets me fly exactly where I want to and the Pro Throttle has plenty of buttons to program. For me, the throttle took a little while to get used to due to it's size, but it was fairly painless. Enjoy!
Good News Everyone!
Captured within Oolite 1.88, an openworld space simulator available here
Will need the Planet Express Mod
> Admittedly, the pace is rather glacial these days, due to being a skeleton crew, and most if not all of us are short on free time. But we are keeping the lights on. > > We would much appreciate more hands for sure. > >
I think something like oolite extensions might help get more contributors as it makes it easy to work on pioneer (without having to get the agreement of the pioneer developers for merging code). I know pioneer has mods but something like oolite built in mod manager/installer could make them much more discoverable/accessible (more players mean more potential developers and more feedback, for the mods and for the game).
Also IMO having a "main campaign/story" would attract more players, as it gives player something to look forward to (better modding could help with that , story/missions mods could be integrated to the game once they are mature).
Oolite An open source version of Elite, vast amounts of add-ons
Open General Beautifully polished version of Allied/Pacific/Panzer General. Many maps and many expansions
Cosmoteer Design your own space ship and battle pirates
Hope I help some people find some different free games instead of the same, same ones that get recommended every time.
Nice, I had no idea that was still available online. If Ian and David had stayed together as a creative team, space sims would be in a way better place today. Don't miss this version either: http://www.oolite.org
Unfortunately, there's no official demo, but Deftin_Wolf provided an interesting link.
but, there are remakes of the older games that have been made completely free and some of which are pretty good for something that's free. They don't at all match the beauty and detail that Elite: Dangerous has, but gives you a good idea of what the older games were like and what Elite: Dangerous came from but with some different things like atmospheric flight and passenger transport and we are still waiting for ED to get.
Pioneer, An old remake of Frontier: Elite 2, very mod compatible but can be difficult to get around.
Oolite, A remake of the first Elite game with some extra additions, very mod-dependent.
Paragon, this one is paid, it is basically a very pretty version of Pioneer, literally, because 99% of its code is stolen from Pioneer to the point where console commands are identical and the games share the same bugs. I actually recommend you to avoid it, I got it when hyping up for Elite and regret it because it is a scam, developers steal code from pioneer, monetize it and refuse to update it frequently. The bugs and performance is so bad that the game wont even launch for me on the latest build, with a 1% chance of success.
Emulators, you can always try out the older Elite games through those.
Those are the main titles that are similar to Elite and its predecessors.
> Other than that, I was speaking to actual Lore, not stories written within the Lore.
Oh. You were talking about shitty fan fiction? My bad.
Excuse me for mistaking you for someone who wasn't a rabid fanboy.
You are still wrong tho.
If you aren't hung up on pretty graphics, you can try out a lot of the pacing and mechanics for free by downloading Oolite. It's an open source version of the older Elites, and i'm pretty sure that if you find that boring you will find this one boring too.
If you're feeling adventurous, Oolite is a free game based on/inspired by the original Elite. Vanilla game is very basic but there's tons of expansion packs (mods).
I haven't tried it in a long time but looking at it now, it seems like they've added a fair bit. The newest update with improved AI and systems looks like it would make the game world a lot better.
They weren't selling it for money, they'd just upgraded the original to run on newer systems and were slowly adding new graphics etc. It was no different from Oolite http://www.oolite.org/ Which was left alone. (Although that came later)
Remember back then, there was nothing at all about Elite 4, everyone pretty much thought it was dead, as indeed it was, not for another 10 years did we hear anything. Its easy to look back now and say it was being misrepresented, but it was a dead franchise back then.
I would definitely check out Oolite, an adaptation of Elite, which fits the bill almost exactly for what you're looking for. It's based around commodity trading, space lanes, and exploration, and will run on a potato. I haven't played in a while, but I remember there being an active mod community, which means you can probably find your favorite flavor of spaceship. If you're into the space piracy/trading/adventure thing, you could do a lot worse. I believe Elite and Oolite to be the predecessor to games like X (Although I haven't played that) and Evochron Mercenary.
I play some open-source stuff (Streets Of Rage Remake and Oolite, a remake of the space-trading game Elite from the 1980s). I'll occasionally shoot around on Rush Team online for a laugh. That's about it. Most of the games I play are on the iPhone (FIFA 14, Minion Rush, Words With Friends).
Cross-platform, Free/Open Source (GPL). Requires at least a 400 MHz processor, 256 MiB of memory, and a graphics card capable of accelerating OpenGL graphics. Highly customizable.
Check the Links page for expansion packs, wiki, FAQ, fanfic, etc
Sacrilege. Elite pre-dated Wing Commander by 6 years. At least you mentioned it.
Though even Elite is only one of the first home computer 3D space simulation games - games like Star Fleet: The War Begins (and the several unofficial primitive Star Trek games that inspired it) preceded it.
(Incidentally Oolite is worth checking out as a spiritual descendant of Elite)
it's one of the two games i have ever bought. i think it's great (but what do i know, having only ever bought two games :o)
which makes me wonder if anyone ever ported / rescued / rewrote elite to run on linux? i will go search... [edit: yes - http://www.oolite.org/]