Rare space game with planets and wormholes 1994-1998

Help locating old / Pre year 2000 games you used to play.
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quarterstaff
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Rare space game with planets and wormholes 1994-1998

Post by quarterstaff »

Hi all. I have been looking for this game since forever.

Something very similar to:
* Star Rangers (1995) + Privateer The Darkening (1996)

What it is not:
* Battlecruiser 3000 AD (1996/97, similar graphics, lasers, wormhole exists, too much story)
* Darklight Conflict (1997, similar graphics and lasers)
* Descent: FreeSpace - The Great War
* Frontier: First Encounters (3)
* Privateer The Darkening (2) (1996, similar mechanics, similar graphics level, too much story)
* Star Rangers (1995, eerily similar lasers and rockets, graphics level, HUD, but it seems too fast-paced in every way)
* Star Merc (1996/97 similar level of obscurity)
* Star Wars Tie Fighter
* Star Wars X-Wing
* Star Wraith (2000, too new)
* Wing Commander Academy (too old)
* Wing Commander Heart of the Tiger (3)
* Wing Commander The Price of Freedom (4) (1996, similar graphics level, too much story)
* Wing Commander Prophecy (5)

Details:
(Grayish menus)The main menu could have been gray and tech styled. There were probably very few options.
(Winged? logo) It might have used Elite-type wings in its logo.
(Space simulator): It was a space simulator where you controlled a spaceship in outer space. I am fairly certain that I used the first person mode where I could not see any of the spaceship parts nor the cockpit, but there could have been at least one switchable 3rd person angle.
(Lasers as weapons)The ship had weapons which you could fire. I remember lasers with fairly snappy arcade navigation, but there could have also been long-range rockets.
(Few enemies) I do not remember many enemies.
(No RPG elements) I do not remember any RPG elements.
(Virtually no story elements). I do not remember any significant texts or story elements
(3D planets)The game had planets which you could get close to. The planets are more likely to have been low-resolution fully 3D rather than sprites. It was hard to figure what to do with them.
(Different star systems) (Slow travel within) There were different star systems. There was a lot of empty space, and you had to wait not seconds, but perhaps minutes, to get from place to place. It was fairly realistic in this regard. I do not remember there being that many enemies.
(Star) In star systems, there could have been a star that you could also get close to, and I think it mostly glitched when you did. Or maybe you got destroyed.
(Wormholes) The game had wormholes which you could use to jump to another location. They could have been red. It was hard to figure out what to do.
(Targets in minimalistic HUD with distance) In HUD, there were targets (enemies and/or planets) which were inside a (green?) circle. I remember targets also having distances with real time update (in kilometers?) (kind of like in Battlezone 1998, except in outer space). I remember spending many minutes getting to and from targets and watching the counters go down. The HUD was otherwise very minimalistic
(Few sound effects) I do not remember there being many sound effects. I think the following things made a sound: the wormhole and the weapons.
(Explosions) There might have been explosions (of enemies) that looked like cliche orange explosions.
(Most likely 1995-1997) It must have been released before 1998. Since it was so minimalistic in some ways (do not remember there being a story), and advanced in others (3D planets?), I have no idea about the lower bound. Perhaps 1994-1999. DOS or early windows.
(Graphics not very pixelated, but pre-3D acceleration) I do not remember it being very pixelated (could have been at least 640x480 instead of 320x200), but this might be a nostalgia thing.
(A "small" game) Since there were so few things, it could have been a beta, an unfinished game, or an obscure "indie" game
Last edited by quarterstaff on Fri Dec 25, 2020 6:13 pm, edited 28 times in total.
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Rwolf
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Rare space game with planets and wormholes 1994-1998

Post by Rwolf »

Wing Commander Academy? It has no story, it's only a combat trainer really. Not sure if there was any planets though.
https://www.mobygames.com/game/wing-commander-academy
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MrFlibble
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Rare space game with planets and wormholes 1994-1998

Post by MrFlibble »

Hmm, could it have been something from the Star Wraith series? The first game came out in 2000 but they were pretty minimalistic indie titles so could look older than that.
quarterstaff
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Rare space game with planets and wormholes 1994-1998

Post by quarterstaff »

Rwolf wrote: Wing Commander Academy? It has no story, it's only a combat trainer really. Not sure if there was any planets though.
Thanks. Wing Commander Academy is a bit too old, I don't remember a hand with a joystick. I think the game must have been 1995+.
MrFlibble wrote: Hmm, could it have been something from the Star Wraith series? The first game came out in 2000 but they were pretty minimalistic indie titles so could look older than that.
Thanks. Star Wraith (2000) is too new, the graphics are too advanced.
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MrFlibble
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Rare space game with planets and wormholes 1994-1998

Post by MrFlibble »

Have you tried looking through the MobyGames combat space sim list? It's not exhaustive but has quite a lot of games.
https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/ge ... t,0/so,1a/

Also, comparing your memory of the game to what has been suggested so far, do you think it was a commercial project or a one-man endeavour (that might have never been completed beyond the demo)?

For a one-man shareware project roughly of your time frame, check out LineWars II.
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