Space Commander: a game inspired by Elite and Privateer with elements of Trade Wars, aiming to deliver an immersive space exploration experience.
Space Commander is a fantastic game that offers an impressive level of functionality while remaining a reasonably lightweight space simulation. If you're a fan of Elite, Privateer, or Trade Wars, you'll love what Space Commander has to offer.
One of the great things about Space Commander is that it has fewer than 200 lines of code in the main file, making it a remarkably efficient and streamlined game. However, it does require a few dependencies to run smoothly, including a recent version of Python and support libraries. The game is currently written using Python 2.4.3, but it may work with newer or older versions with some minor tweaking.
To run Space Commander, you'll need to have Python 2.4.3, PyGame 1.7, and Numeric 22.0. These are pretty standard libraries for most Linux distributions, and Windows/OSX users can install them easily with minimal effort. If you're running Linux and want to play the MIDI score, you'll need to install and configure Timidity due to old code in sdl-mixer which is a pre-dependency of PyGame. However, if you run into any issues with MIDI, just comment out the MIDI line in spacecommander.py to disable it.
As for performance, Space Commander is designed to be a balance between ultimate performance and the ability to understand and tinker with the code. If you have a slower computer or weaker graphics card, you may experience some performance issues. However, you could try reducing the number of stars in the galaxy by editing bigbang.py to improve performance. You're also welcome to rewrite the game in hand-optimized assembler if you want; just remember to send a copy of your code per the LICENSE.
To run the game on Linux, simply type "./spacecommander.py" into the terminal. Once you're in the game, the keyboard commands are straightforward: ESC/Q to quit, Left/Right to yaw, Up/Down to pitch, and PgUp/PgDN to roll.
The latest release of Space Commander includes a new and improved main engine that supports flying a spaceship around a randomly generated galaxy. Additionally, 2D rendering of objects using PyGame is now supported, and mouse flight control is featured as well. If you love space sims and want a great game to sink your teeth into, Space Commander is definitely worth checking out.
One of the great things about Space Commander is that it has fewer than 200 lines of code in the main file, making it a remarkably efficient and streamlined game. However, it does require a few dependencies to run smoothly, including a recent version of Python and support libraries. The game is currently written using Python 2.4.3, but it may work with newer or older versions with some minor tweaking.
To run Space Commander, you'll need to have Python 2.4.3, PyGame 1.7, and Numeric 22.0. These are pretty standard libraries for most Linux distributions, and Windows/OSX users can install them easily with minimal effort. If you're running Linux and want to play the MIDI score, you'll need to install and configure Timidity due to old code in sdl-mixer which is a pre-dependency of PyGame. However, if you run into any issues with MIDI, just comment out the MIDI line in spacecommander.py to disable it.
As for performance, Space Commander is designed to be a balance between ultimate performance and the ability to understand and tinker with the code. If you have a slower computer or weaker graphics card, you may experience some performance issues. However, you could try reducing the number of stars in the galaxy by editing bigbang.py to improve performance. You're also welcome to rewrite the game in hand-optimized assembler if you want; just remember to send a copy of your code per the LICENSE.
To run the game on Linux, simply type "./spacecommander.py" into the terminal. Once you're in the game, the keyboard commands are straightforward: ESC/Q to quit, Left/Right to yaw, Up/Down to pitch, and PgUp/PgDN to roll.
The latest release of Space Commander includes a new and improved main engine that supports flying a spaceship around a randomly generated galaxy. Additionally, 2D rendering of objects using PyGame is now supported, and mouse flight control is featured as well. If you love space sims and want a great game to sink your teeth into, Space Commander is definitely worth checking out.
What's New
Version 0.4: N/A