Transcendence: why do you love it? (no spoilers)

[bzm3r]

Hi all,

I have been thinking (maybe 'dreaming' is more honest than thinking) a whole bunch about mods I'd like to make, and have started to navel gaze a bit on what makes Transcendence (the concept, not necessarily the game as it stands right now!) fun. I thought it would be interesting to hear a few words from you guys as well. For me at least, its hard to put words to answers for questions like this.

Here's a couple of the main things I enjoy, in a rough order of "importance":

1) Setting: I like the story background, the description of the factions, the flavour text for the items and stations, etc. -- it's like exploring this brand new world that isn't just your "oh-so-typical" fantasy setting with orcs and undead.

2) Exploration: exploring the "physical" game world using stargates and finding stations, but not only that. I also like exploring for secrets/things I should not have: stronger weapons and defenses, access to locations that weren't ever meant for me (getting to the core, for example)...you name it. d

3) Communication: interacting with the bits and pieces, for example: getting a Tinker to build something for me using parts I scrounge around, or the story/"Domina"-mechanic in Eternity Port, and so on.

Here's what I would love to see more of:

1) Communication: more opportunities to interact with items, and other "people" in the universe?11

2) Exploration: more secrets to discover?

Please try to keep all answers spoiler free (or tag with appropriate spoiler code), and I look forward to reading your responses!

[PM]

First game I found that played like Star Control 2 and had more than one enemy ship firing at the player, and the game is free. My primary interest in such games is to take a ship and blast whatever is in the way.

[bzm3r]

First game I found that played like Star Control 2 and had more than one enemy ship firing at the player, and the game is free. My primary interest in such games is to take a ship and blast whatever is in the way.

Why Transcendence though? There are plenty of topdown arcade games that can be found on websites such as Miniclip.com or kongregate.com, which allow you to simply blast through things. Surely, there's something more than just multiple enemies that your subconscious likes?

[AssumedPseudonym]

 Nostalgia hooked me, but modding potential is what really reeled me in.
 I used to play Escape Velocity: Override back on my old Mac back around Y2K or so. Transcendence was the first game I found that really had a lot of the same feel, and like PM pointed out, it’s free. And then I got into modding. Once I wrapped my brain around the glorious kludge of a custom LISP variant stuffed into XML wrappers that is Transcendence modding, it was more or less all downhill from there. I’ve gotten past the I-can-do-this stage and on into the what-can-I-do-next stage, and it’s mostly that that’s really got me stuck here for the long haul. …Well, that and wanting to see what George comes up with next for the game.

[bzm3r]

 Nostalgia hooked me, but modding potential is what really reeled me in.
 I used to play Escape Velocity: Override back on my old Mac back around Y2K or so. Transcendence was the first game I found that really had a lot of the same feel, and like PM pointed out, it’s free. And then I got into modding. Once I wrapped my brain around the glorious kludge of a custom LISP variant stuffed into XML wrappers that is Transcendence modding, it was more or less all downhill from there. I’ve gotten past the I-can-do-this stage and on into the what-can-I-do-next stage, and it’s mostly that that’s really got me stuck here for the long haul. …Well, that and wanting to see what George comes up with next for the game.

That's a great point -- the extensibility of the game allows one to really *dream*!

[george moromisato]

This is a great thread! I've been thinking about how to describe Transcendence for various marketing efforts (ads, etc.) so it's great to hear ideas here.

Keep them coming!

[PM]

Why Transcendence though? There are plenty of topdown arcade games that can be found on websites such as Miniclip.com or kongregate.com, which allow you to simply blast through things. Surely, there's something more than just multiple enemies that your subconscious likes?

As I wrote before, it was the first game like Star Control 2 that I found. If there were more around 2009 or 2010 that were free and did not require internet to play (i.e., once downloaded, I can play offline), I might have tried them if I knew of them.

[pixelfck]

I like this game because of a combination of factors (listed in order):

• Its free;
• The storyline is quite deep, with promise for even more;
• There is a lot of content (devices, armour, misc-items), many of which hook back into the background universe;
• Its open source (© George Moromisato);
• I can mod it (step 1: initial notion);
• The modding system has a quite powerful scripting available (step 2: the promise);
• All vanilla content has been made with the modding options available to me, no hard-coded 'magic' (step 3: the realisation of full potential);

One other factor which is also quite important is the welcoming community and not in a small part the availability of Xelerus.de with all the mods offered.

[Ttech]

Mods are awesome and the community on IRC is a great community to be a part of, not to mention the story for Transcendence neat as well.

[digdug]

everything what the people said before, plus let's not forget the easter eggs and little references to classic sci-fi and books enriching a wonderful background universe.
The atmosphere and the feelings of a frenzy human colonisation of space is what makes this game unique for me and what makes me come back every time at every version.

[catfighter]

The game has such an in-depth storyline with lots of possible play-styles. I was pretty emotional when I first learned the story of a certain faction's desperate situation and I almost cried over their history and what happened to them when I failed them in their last refuge. Such storylines are the lifeblood of any successful game, no matter what the style or setup.

More and more is added every build, which is why I keep playing; there's always something new.

[Song]

1. The community. I can come here after/during an annoying day, turn my brain off and say crazy stuff in IRC, and people are cool. Occasionally, good ideas come out as a result.
2. The game mechanics, while constantly in development and never really complete, are quite good.
3. I'm quite good at the game! Lots of practice has let me beat the high score list before, and I've done gimmick runs (eg. Pacifist, no ammo weapons, autons, etc)
4. Game breaking bugs here tend to be funny. There have been some golden moments while testing various bits of the game.
5. By the same measure, the easter-eggs and fun little secrets are also cool. Like the "too dumb to live" death in Eternity Port. Transcendence isn't as intricate as I'd really love, but it's still got those little details that make a good roguelike/roguelike-like.

[EditorRUS]

no hard-coded 'magic'

Nope.