Space Station 13
| Space Station 13 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Originally developed by Exadv1, now multiple |
| Engine | BYOND |
| Release date(s) | 2003 |
Space Station 13 (or SS13) is a top-down role-playing multiplayer video game on the BYOND game engine, originally released in 2003. The game is tile based and is played from a 2-D angle.[1]
Set on a futuristic space station, players choose to play from a selection of different jobs available on the crew roster; the outcome of which is determined by the interactions players have with the environment around them.
Recently the game has gained an expanding player count, sometimes reaching averages of 500 players on at any one time.[2] Its popularity has gained it communities from websites such as Something Awful, 4chan, Reddit[3] and the Facepunch Studios forums, as well as attention from various video game journalism websites.[4][5][6][7] The game has also been mentioned as an inspiration for the upcoming game ION by DayZ creator Dean "Rocket" Hall.[8]
Gameplay
Space Station 13 takes place on a fictional space station. At the beginning of each round, players are given time to either create a customized character using a character sheet or they may begin playing with a completely randomly generated character. Players can choose different jobs, such as janitor or engineer, which dictate their role on the space station. The game is akin to a roleplaying sandbox game, with events in each round largely being player-dictated and lacking a real objective or goal.
The player can examine and use almost any object or being on the station, and is almost always context sensitive. Different results will occur depending on many variables in any given interaction (e.g. Using a crowbar on another player would attack them but using it on a floorboard would pry it up). Additionally, the player can change their 'intent' between four different states (Help, Disarm, Grab, Harm) which will further influence actions taken. For example, using an empty hand on another player with help intent would cause you to hug them, but would cause you to punch them on Harm intent.
The game engine fully simulates power, biology, atmosphere, chemistry, and other complex object and environmental interactions beyond the vast majority of video games, which to many people, compensates for its lack of visual quality and speed.
While different servers may have their unique station constructs, generally there are eight departments aboard the station.
- Command (taking leadership roles aboard the station).
- Security (enforcing the law, keeping peace and responding to emergencies aboard the station).
- Engineering (generating power and keeping utilities maintained aboard the station, such as keeping doors functional and ensuring Oxygen is present around the station).
- Science (researching technologies and developing 'Silicons' aboard the station).
- Medical (keeping the crew healthy, performing most surgeries, researching diseases and creating clones for deceased players aboard the station).
- Supply (mining for minerals on a nearby asteroid, and taking charge of the cargo, such as purchasing goods for crewmembers and sorting through all disposed items).
- Service (keeping the station clean and providing food and drinks for the crew. Job Titles include Janitor, Chef and Bartender).
- Silicons (consisting of the station's A.I and cyborgs, who are often bound by the Three Laws of Robotics, which restrict AI from committing illegal acts, such as assaulting a crewmember, unless someone changes said laws).
Optimally everybody will spawn into the station at the beginning of each round and perform their jobs. However, randomly selected players are chosen to spawn as an 'antagonist' aboard the station. Antagonists can range from a character with secret objectives, genocidal A.Is, and a wide assortment of monsters such as changelings and aliens. It can be difficult for normal crew members to identify antagonists, and even harder to determine their ulterior motives.
Due to the presence of antagonists, most rounds will end with the station left in chaos, and most others with it completely destroyed. While some servers may have an end game, often the rounds will end when an emergency shuttle is called to pick up the crew at the station.
Story
While most servers have personalized lore and backstories, generally Space Station 13 is a state of the art research station in orbit around Tau Ceti, Epsilon Eridani or an unnamed gas giant, which the megacorporation known as Nanotrasen owns. Nanotrasen's influence and power have effectively made them a government entity, but it is often left ambiguous as to whether they are good, evil or uncaring depending on the server. Due to Nanotrasen's immense stature, it is targeted by an array of third party aggressors. This includes but is not limited to; The Syndicate (a coalition of smaller companies and planetary governments), the Space Wizard Federation, and various strange and mysterious beings such as changelings, vampires, and cultists.
The station exists to research the mysterious 'plasma', (or 'phoron' on some servers), which is a newly discovered mineral that Nanotrasen has taken a keen interest in, despite having almost no knowledge of its uses or properties.
Development
Space Station 13 was kept in a closed source and originally developed as an atmospherics simulator in 2003 by Exadv1.[9] Allegedly the source code was stolen in 2006 and leaked onto the internet, which gave rise to the current popularity of SS13.[10]
Since then, the player count has grown and is now commonly known across many gaming discussion sites. Due to the nature of BYOND, each server has a version of the Space Station 13 code meaning that each server is an entirely unique iteration of the game with different features and content. In the past, an underwater Sea lab and a Mars base server have existed based on the original Space Station 13 code.[11]
As of March 2016, the current three most popular code, and server, bases for SS13 are Goonstation, Baystation and /tg/station. Each catering to a unique play style and role play standard and with many, if not most, other small servers using these servers' code. While most servers are generally English-only speaking, there are a few other servers that primarily use other languages, such as Tau Ceti Classic (Russian), Infinity (Russian) and Hispanistation (Spanish).
As the majority of the stations often have some unique code, gameplay systems (such as Chemistry) may vary Greatly from server to server. It is to be noted that many of these servers have adopted their own wiki pages, explaining how their gameplay is written, and played.
See also
References
- ↑ "Space Station 13 by Exadv1 at BYOND Games". Byond.com. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
- ↑ "BYOND Games - Make & Play Online Multiplayer Games". Byond.com. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
- ↑ "Space Station 13". Reddit.com. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
- ↑ "Space Station 13: a multiplayer space station simulator about monkeys, insane AI, cultists and paperwork". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
- ↑ Smith, Quintin (2010-07-21). "Space Station 13: Galactic Bartender Ep. 1". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
- ↑ "Space Station 13 (Game)". Giant Bomb. 2015-05-22. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
- ↑ "Space Station 13 | Rock, Paper, Shotgun - PC Game Reviews, Previews, Subjectivity". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
- ↑ PULLAR-STRECKER, Tom. "Kiwi DayZ creator Dean Hall moves from zombies to space stations with Ion". Stuff.co.nz. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2015-06-22.
- ↑ "Exadv1 - Creations". Byond.com. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
- ↑ "The history of SS13 - /tg/station 13 Wiki". Tgstation13.org. 2015-01-14. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
- ↑ "Space Station 13: Mars Outpost 42 (SS13 on Mars!)". Bay12forums.com. Retrieved 2015-05-29.