A new FreeSapce?

[Matt Toschlog]

Something that’s been asked in the comments for our Kickstarter campaign is whether we might do a new FreeSpace game. In fact, we raised the issue ourselves in the FAQ on the Overload web site.

We don’t own the rights to FreeSpace, and if I had to guess I’d say that it’s unlikely that we’d be able to license them on reasonable terms. But we do have fond memories of FreeSpace and we know that lots of other people to do. Creating a “spiritual successor” to FreeSpace is something that holds great appeal to us.

Of course, we’re busy with Overload now, and will be for a long time. But we’ll keep talking about FreeSpace and thinking about what we might want to do. And if Overload is successful, a space game might be a good next project for us. We’ll see.

Did we metion that Jason Scott, the write for FreeSpace 2, is the writer on Overload? Pretty cool!

Thanks,

– Matt

[karx11erx]

Star Citizen anybody?

[MAKAsaurusFLEX]

I remember playing Freespace. It came with the MS Sidewinder Force Feedback stick from back in the day. It was pretty fun. Would be great with VR.

[Drakona]

Man, I loved FreeSpace. One of my very favorite single player experiences to this day.

[Selectah]

Ah, the inevitable topic, and already addressed by the development team themselves! 🙂 I think I am going to pay very close attention to Overload.

Hey, this is great news, all of it. I loved the D 1+2+3 series (w/ #3 being my favorite), as well as the FS series. Great to see you guys again.

[deathspeed]

I still play FS2 often. In fact, it was at a FreeSpace community website where I first heard about Overload (hard-light.net). They are very active still, and have done amazing things with the source code. And we all squealed when we saw Overload and who was developing and writing it.

[Sirius]

Yeah, I’m not quite sure how I’d feel about that. One of the things that was so great about the FreeSpace series was the story – it’d be a shame to leave the “what exactly happened there?” question at the end of FS2 unanswered.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by Sirius.

[Hunter]

Do you own the rights to the assets from FreeSpace, like the names and such?

[Matt Toschlog]

@Hunter, Parallax does not own the right to FreeSpace. They were part of Volition which then got sold to THQ.

[parricc]

If a day ever comes when the owners at Koch Media and Interplay realize they are being awful people and should just give FreeSpace back to you guys without asking for money, that would be amazing. FreeSpace 2 ended with such a terrible cliffhanger. 🙁

With that said, a spiritual sequel would still be amazing! 😀 The story telling, music, and gameplay of FreeSpace remains unmatched by any other space shooter games to this day. And Star Citizen is NOT even remotely the same kind of game. Too many space sims out there today try to appeal to people that like sandboxes. As a result, there is no driving direction or story in them. Then, at the same time, they are only aimed at the most hardcore players. Even the thought of Star Citizen completely overwhelms me. How can a casual player like that? I don’t want a whole open universe in a space shooter, I just want a game with a beginning and an end. You are the only developers out there that actually seem to understand this.

[JosheM]

Caught Freespace on steam a few days ago and had a blast reliving the great missions and storytelling even if the models and textures are severely outdated!

While it is true that Star Citizen is basically a sandbox game (living breathing universe they call it) and does not fit the same experience as Freespace, Freespace fans may be interested in making sure they have a copy if Squadron 42 which is also being made in parallel with Star Citizen. It is supposed to be the same compelling story, deep characters, high galactic stakes, and variable ending missions based on your performance/choices. I hope Sq42 is successful in filling my desire for more space sim story epics!

[Hunter]

If you download FSOPEN you’ll be able to enjoy FreeSpace in modern AAA quality 🙂

[deathspeed]

Here is a side-by-side comparison of FS2 Retail and the FSOpen 2014 graphics upgrades.

And here is some footage from the mod Blue Planet.

[homeyduh]

10/10 would back a FS spiritual successor. I’m glad you guys still show it love 🙂

[Cheeseness]

FreeSpace 2 is IMO the greatest space sim ever made. It captivated me in ways I was not expecting and manages to remain enjoyable to this day.

In particular, I found its approaches to building storytelling into the game itself (rather than being limited exposition and cutscenes between missions) to be masterful and inspiring 🙂

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