Astronoid (MMOG spaceships shoot and race) beta version of the next release is out to

[snail1]

Hello, first of all, excuse me if my english isn’t perfect.

Second thing, please don't tell me I'm a spammer, I did a thread to introduce myself and ask if I could post about this game in this forum. I just want to tell you about a new, unknown independant game :)

I discovered this game 8 weeks ago and am really addicted to it. It’s so fun to race online with other peoples. I would like to race with more people, that’s why I came here to recommend it. We aren’t so much players yet because the game has just been released for the first time. The developpers haven’t got any money (nor time) to promote it. That’s why, we, players, decided to help.
It would be very kind of you if you could speak about this game around you, that would be very kind to support an independant game.

I’ll try to sum up the idea to you :
Astronoid delivers a multiplayer, high-speed galactic shoot-and-race PC game playable on the Internet. Racing (or shooting) other players online in a space ship with quick and fluid mouse-controlled steering and a 3-D front-seat vantage point, the game begins as simple, arcade-like fun and soon unveils a depth as impressive as the top simulation games.

It’s very innovative because it uses P2P which allows 5000 players to be online at the same time, adding everybody’s CPU and bandwitdh creating a sort of “huge computer”, no more problem of “host” for the game.

Before coming to race with us, have a look at a video, these aren’t official trailers, you will find the official one on their website ( http://www.astronoid.net ). These are only classical races, the killkill mode is more impressive !

Players videos : http://realjarod.free.fr/Astronoid/ingame/asteroa.avi (15mb)
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/djean007/_private/courselongwalk.wmv (26mo)


But the best thing to do would be to download it first, it’s free, you can play on 4 planets with 3 different ships. Of course, as usual, if you pay you can have more planets and faster ships. But lots of us only play on the free tracks, and we have fun like this too. But as I’m really addicted, I bought my licence :)

We’re waiting for you !

Best regards,

Snail (don’t hesitate to tell me if you try the game, I’ll be pleased to come and play online with you and give you tips :)



Here are some screenshots :

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/2874/01spacebuger3iv.th.jpg (http://img157.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01spacebuger3iv.jpg)http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/3581/hell63od.th.jpg (http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hell63od.jpg)http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/3765/asterojam163648715ns.th.png (http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=asterojam163648715ns.png)http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/7676/laspicas1ee.th.png (http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=laspicas1ee.png)http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2003/surfinbirds1ik.th.png (http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=surfinbirds1ik.png)

[Torsion]

Thanks, I am downloading it now. Hopefully it runs ok on my computer.

[snail1]

I hope you will like it and join us for crazy races :)
Don't hesitate to tell me what you think about it (even if it's bad !).
As it's an innovative game, you need few minutes to get used to it, but once you've got the knack (quickly), it's really great.
Don't hesitate to give me your ID so we can play online together (I could give you advises and tips).

Cheers :)

[Torsion]

Just a few comments for those that might want to try the game.

Initially, I found the installation process to be off-putting as well as confusing. The installation requires the internet at a few points and I was worried about spyware and viruses. Fortunately, nothing came of it and no random junk was downloaded to my PC.

The interface is a little cumbersome but managable. I think this could be simplified a lot to make it a little less confusing. The interface is HTML and I wish the game had a real GUI as part of its program.

You must also complete a training portion which seems silly for a game of this type. This is not americas army or microsoft flight sim 06. The controls are simple and intuitive and everyone should be able to figure it out after a race. I think he training portion should be optional especially since there is hardly anyone playing the game online right now.

The graphics are decent and well coded. The planets look like real natural rock formations and actual planet sufaces. However, the textures are quite low rez and bland with no real variation on the same track. The ships themselves look small and unimpressive, but most of the game is played in the cockpit. The sound also is quite low budget but does the job and indicates what is going on in the game.

The gameplay is nice, smooth and somewhat complex. Most of the gameplay comes from memorizing courses so you know when to boost and slow down. The weapons seem kind of puny and just kind of slow down other ships. I think this is good because it gives you a chance to catch up. On the other hand, if you follow someone closly you can shoot them at the end and zoom by before they can shoot back. This seems like a cheap way to win races. There are no unique challenges in the courses themselves so strategies really carry over to each race.

Overall I think this an impressive game especially since the team that made it did not have the kind of funding or PR that most companies have. The game has good gameplay and would appeal to those who like racing and sci-fi. It kind of reminded me somewhat of f-zero but not as good of course. I dont really ever play racing games but it seems like you get a lot of tracks if you buy the full version. If you like racing games you really should give the trial a try, after all it is free.

It is not perfect but higher quality than most independant projects that are attempted to be passed off as "games". This one surprised me in a good way.

[snail1]

Thanks a lot for that great review Torsion.

It's kind from tou to have taken of your time to share those informations.

Has anybody else tried the game ? Any feedback is trully appreciated, because I sometimes have the feeling that I'm doing all this for nothing...

But this game (but most of all, our community) really deserves it :)

[snail1]

Hello everybody.
Just a little post to tell you that after discussing of the game with lots of people, some said me the game was to slow...

Just wanted to tell you it’s because when you begin, you only have schoolship, then class AI (only 600km/h max), but after 20 races you can drive class X (nearly 2000km/h) or class III, which are more funny. It’s only because people need to learn how to drive those ships.

Have a look at the videos, they are all real ingame videos, and see if it looks slow ! lol

Astronoid is the fastest multiplayer racing game !

Also, some found it boring because they raced alone or with only another person...
The game looses a lot of its interest if there’s not at least 4 persons. Killkill mode with 8 persons is just great, thunder, speed and lightning everywhere ! Great adrenaline for me, but it’s normal, I love racing games ;)

So if you tried the game and found it boring (how can that be possible ??? lol), please have another try and come to play with us. There are peoples on servers right now.

Have a nice week everybody.

[snail1]

Hello everybody !

Aleph0 has announced the Astronoid 2.0.1 beta version on their forum yesterday evening. Everybody can now test “Mushroom City », the new Astronoid’s city.

For the moment, 2 news tracks have been published:

- "Mushroom city" on the beginner federation so everybody can discover this city, despite the track is difficult.
- "Psychedelic dream" on professional federation.

Those 2 tracks are quite difficult and will be modified (inscluding more straight lines) before the public release. Give us your feedback.

Here are few screenshots



http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/7673/sc11462501013754ga.th.jpg (http://img105.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sc11462501013754ga.jpg)
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/7253/sc11462503292188bt.th.jpg (http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sc11462503292188bt.jpg)
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/3430/sc11462504288591nt.th.jpg (http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sc11462504288591nt.jpg)





http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/9666/sc11462507670629af.th.jpg (http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sc11462507670629af.jpg)
http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/34/sc11462509266568yn.th.jpg (http://img77.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sc11462509266568yn.jpg)
http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/1483/sc11462510572501dx.th.jpg (http://img77.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sc11462510572501dx.jpg)




Download and installation of the private version

It’s another version so if you play on it, you’ll only see the private version players. You can install it independently of the other version. You can also uninstall them independently.

Here’s the link for this private beta version :

http://download2.astronoid.net/beta/AstronoidBeta-v2.0.1.exe (180 Mb)

Good flights !!!

[snail1]

Hello everybody,
A little post to let you know that Astronoid 2.0.1 is out.
What’s new about it ? Beginner server is still free and there’s now a new track called moontwist. A really tricky and technical track with buildings and tunnels... don’t try it on rusty tanker ship first ;)
Another new thing is that rusty tanker has been upgraded. The boost is far longer which means the races are lot faster. I had to change all my driving practices, but it’s more fun like this...
You don’t need to download a new version, just run astronoid and the update will be automatic. For those who don’t have astronoid yet and whom are too lazy to search, here’s the link :
http://www.astronoid.net/en/accueil/index.html

Here’s a new players video, it’s on race mode with tiger squale, no weapon, the idea was to show that astronoid is the fastest online racing game, and you have real collision and shooting in it...
Video :
http://downloadbis.astronoid.net/videos/Astronoid-Epitaf-Prov.avi

That’s it :)
Hoping to meet some of you on tracks soon,

Have a nice week-end,

Cheers,

Snail