5 ms·

You need to earn money, sure. But it's really sad that things like this are not OpenSource for people to play around with. I am sure the possibilities would be

You need to earn money, sure. But it's really sad that things like this are not OpenSource for people to play around with. I am sure the possibilities would be endless. This seems to make a great foundation for a new MMORPG in space.

Animats 7y ago
They could release a free version where you can't exceed the speed of light. Gameplay would be slow, of course.
- malux85 7y ago
  > Gameplay would be slow, of course. Understatement of the century, 4 years to the closest star, it's the new desert bus simulator!
  - Taniwha 7y ago
    time dilation ....
    - earenndil 7y ago
      Time dilation would not really be workable. Otherwise--consider this. Alice travels to proxima centauri at very close to the speed of light, and then immediately returns at the same speed. From alice's perspective, she's spent a leisurely couple of hours, while from bob's perspective she left and returned ~9 years later. Bob spends those 9 years building a monument. The problem is, alice comes back 2 irl hours later, while the monument still takes 9 more irl years to build. With real time dilation, she could come back to a finished monument; in this case, she can't.
      - TeMPOraL 7y ago
        Well, it would be perfectly workable... in singleplayer. (In multiplayer, I can imagine "time warp credits" that need to be spent before two players can interact. This would allow Alice and Bob to sync up, but I suspect it might break with more than 2 players.)
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
- Nition 7y ago
  Are we living in a free trial universe right now?
  - Nition 7y ago
    P.S. I highly recommend reading Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy for another creative perspective on why the maximum speed in the universe might be limited.
- rbanffy 7y ago
  It all depends on what is your reference point. With a warp engine that pushes all of the atoms in the ship at the same acceleration your biggest problem will be abrasion.
- hannasanarion 7y ago
  The game is already free.
  - zamadatix 7y ago
    As of last month it is not.
applecrazy 7y ago
It used to be free (not sure it was OSS back then). Then, it seems the author believed monetization was the best option (not saying that's bad or anything, people need to eat).
- Freaky 7y ago
  Previous versions are still free, just hidden behind a survey.
huhtenberg 7y ago
> You need to earn money, sure. Oh, for f#ck's sake. Such a cheap way to belittle this person's lifework. Take this bit out and the rest of your comment actually makes sense and could serve as a good discussion point.
- rexpop 7y ago
  I don't see how this belittles their work. OP's reverence is evident to me. The more valuable the work, the greater the shame in its absence from the collective canon. Of course we can't blame the creator for their moat; under our current economic system, it's basic self-defense.
  - gonational 7y ago
    > under our current economic system With philosophers like you on working the case, our economic system will be replaced by something much greater in no time. Would you mind hitting me up when you have a chance to email me the blueprints. In the meantime, would you mind setting up a quick go fund me account and getting a campaign started to raise money to purchase space engine so that we can make it open source?
    - adventured 7y ago
      > With philosophers like you on working the case I've flagged both your posts under the OP. You're very clearly being belligerent and trolling. I would suggest taking a look at the HN guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
rexpop 7y ago
> You need to earn money, sure. But it's really sad that things like this are not OpenSource I find myself saying this about basically all unfree software. So much in our economy is redundant, and obfuscated. I understand the place for competition and new ways of doing things, but it's a shame that artificially limiting the proliferation of good ideas is our default survival strategy.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Competition is a thing in Open Source too, look no further than the NPM library. It really boils down to "people need to eat".
  - rexpop 7y ago
    NPM and Yarn are hardly "open-source competition". They're loss-leaders in a SaaS market competition between private corps Facebook and NPM.
    - TeMPOraL 7y ago
      That's not what I mean. Look inside NPM repository. Individual libraries compete against other libraries doing the same thing.
      - rexpop 7y ago
        Yes, I understand and value that, especially when the "victor" can be learned from, and incorporated freely.
gonational 7y ago
You should make one, and then you can make it free for me to use... OMG that’d be so epic; I hate paying to use closed-source software! If I leave you my contact info, can you get in touch with me when it’s ready?
pkilgore 7y ago
That game (though proprietary) already exists: no man's sky.
dakom 7y ago
What are the viable monetization strategies if this were open source?
- Synaesthesia 7y ago
  Why does everything need to be monetizable? That’s not the point of open source.
f00zz 7y ago
If you're writing a space MMORPG, rendering some planets is the least of your challenges.
bullen 7y ago
Not a RPG, yet; but MMO in space: http://aeonalpha.com http://aeonalpha.com Not open-source, yet; but the back-end is though.

Animats 7y ago

They could release a free version where you can't exceed the speed of light. Gameplay would be slow, of course.

malux85 7y ago
> Gameplay would be slow, of course. Understatement of the century, 4 years to the closest star, it's the new desert bus simulator!
- Taniwha 7y ago
  time dilation ....
  - earenndil 7y ago
    Time dilation would not really be workable. Otherwise--consider this. Alice travels to proxima centauri at very close to the speed of light, and then immediately returns at the same speed. From alice's perspective, she's spent a leisurely couple of hours, while from bob's perspective she left and returned ~9 years later. Bob spends those 9 years building a monument. The problem is, alice comes back 2 irl hours later, while the monument still takes 9 more irl years to build. With real time dilation, she could come back to a finished monument; in this case, she can't.
    - TeMPOraL 7y ago
      Well, it would be perfectly workable... in singleplayer. (In multiplayer, I can imagine "time warp credits" that need to be spent before two players can interact. This would allow Alice and Bob to sync up, but I suspect it might break with more than 2 players.)
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
Nition 7y ago
Are we living in a free trial universe right now?
- Nition 7y ago
  P.S. I highly recommend reading Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy for another creative perspective on why the maximum speed in the universe might be limited.
rbanffy 7y ago
It all depends on what is your reference point. With a warp engine that pushes all of the atoms in the ship at the same acceleration your biggest problem will be abrasion.
hannasanarion 7y ago
The game is already free.
- zamadatix 7y ago
  As of last month it is not.

applecrazy 7y ago

It used to be free (not sure it was OSS back then). Then, it seems the author believed monetization was the best option (not saying that's bad or anything, people need to eat).

Freaky 7y ago
Previous versions are still free, just hidden behind a survey.

huhtenberg 7y ago

> You need to earn money, sure. Oh, for f#ck's sake. Such a cheap way to belittle this person's lifework. Take this bit out and the rest of your comment actually makes sense and could serve as a good discussion point.

rexpop 7y ago
I don't see how this belittles their work. OP's reverence is evident to me. The more valuable the work, the greater the shame in its absence from the collective canon. Of course we can't blame the creator for their moat; under our current economic system, it's basic self-defense.
- gonational 7y ago
  > under our current economic system With philosophers like you on working the case, our economic system will be replaced by something much greater in no time. Would you mind hitting me up when you have a chance to email me the blueprints. In the meantime, would you mind setting up a quick go fund me account and getting a campaign started to raise money to purchase space engine so that we can make it open source?
  - adventured 7y ago
    > With philosophers like you on working the case I've flagged both your posts under the OP. You're very clearly being belligerent and trolling. I would suggest taking a look at the HN guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

rexpop 7y ago

> You need to earn money, sure. But it's really sad that things like this are not OpenSource I find myself saying this about basically all unfree software. So much in our economy is redundant, and obfuscated. I understand the place for competition and new ways of doing things, but it's a shame that artificially limiting the proliferation of good ideas is our default survival strategy.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Competition is a thing in Open Source too, look no further than the NPM library. It really boils down to "people need to eat".
- rexpop 7y ago
  NPM and Yarn are hardly "open-source competition". They're loss-leaders in a SaaS market competition between private corps Facebook and NPM.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    That's not what I mean. Look inside NPM repository. Individual libraries compete against other libraries doing the same thing.
    - rexpop 7y ago
      Yes, I understand and value that, especially when the "victor" can be learned from, and incorporated freely.

gonational 7y ago

You should make one, and then you can make it free for me to use... OMG that’d be so epic; I hate paying to use closed-source software! If I leave you my contact info, can you get in touch with me when it’s ready?

pkilgore 7y ago

That game (though proprietary) already exists: no man's sky.

dakom 7y ago

What are the viable monetization strategies if this were open source?

Synaesthesia 7y ago
Why does everything need to be monetizable? That’s not the point of open source.

f00zz 7y ago

If you're writing a space MMORPG, rendering some planets is the least of your challenges.

bullen 7y ago

Not a RPG, yet; but MMO in space: http://aeonalpha.com http://aeonalpha.com Not open-source, yet; but the back-end is though.