I recently got a chance to sit down with one of the developers from Playtechtonics, an Austin TX based company that runs a free to play MMO called Starport. You are the captain of a starship and the goal is to rack up experience and cash. To do this you can explore, complete missions, kill NPCs and PCs, colonize planets, capture other players' planets, and trade. The colonizing of planets allows you some control and modification of the game environment. You can "build" an empire that spans the galaxy and use it to generate wealth and experience while defending it from other players.
Don’t think of “experience” as you would normally. It doesn’t get you levels because the game is 100% skill based. Think of experience as your score. Starport’s major appeal to me personally is that it has shards that restart every 15 days. They call it a "rebang" – like the redo of the big bang, get it? – it looks at the top ten players before rebanging and awards them medals based on their experience. Then a completely new galaxy is created randomly and all characters start on equal footing again.
Starport has many different universes to play in or "shards". It has the rerequisite PvP shards and non-PvP shards (they call them Pax servers). They also run servers that never rebang. They are referred to as "permas". On the permas there are typcially large corporations battling over swaths of the galaxy, constantly invading each others colonies. These are the option for players who like their worlds to persist, but because the corporations on these servers are so strong, it is hard for a new player to get a start.
The game has quaint 2d artwork but occasionally you'll see something unexpected and impressive like the light from the sun reflecting off your ship's hull. The combat and flight in the game is done from a top-down perspective, like the classic arcade game Asteroids. There are many types of ships to pick from and each is uniquely suited for different ways to play. This allows the game to have both strategic elements and some decent nail-biting combat action.
To keep the game fair to players who don’t have all day every day, there is a limiting factor to the amount you can play: warp fuel. Most everything of use in the game costs warp fuel. Players start with some fuel and it regenerates slowly over time. The speed of regeneration differs depending on which server you choose, so it’s easy to decide whether you want more time to play, or would prefer a server where everyone is held to a modest amount of time per day. Warp fuel consumption forces you to think about what you do before you do it. Once you run out of fuel you’re basically out of operation until you have some fuel regenerated.
Starport has been up and running for 2 years and has a very active community, the forums for the game are receiving 73 posts per day on average. There are lots of strategies and guides available to help you get your empire up and running and there is also a section for bugs to be addressed and ideas to be posted and voted on. The developers like to express their sensitivity to the players’ needs and their dedication to maintaining a bug-free game. The Playtechtonics team is currently very active and are updating frequently. Most recently they added an entirely new soundtrack (which sounds pretty good) and a new HUD. All in all it seems like a game for people who like competition. The PvP is fairly hardcore and the shard style can take you back to the days of Ultima Online; I choose to mention UO because one of the lead developers of Starport was also a lead on UO.
So how does the company support themselves without charging to play? Most shards support Real Money Transaction (RMTs) item sales. This system allows players to support the development of the game, and also gain some cool items or additional playing time in the process (yes you can buy warp fuel.) Most importantly, from a gameplay perspective, the RMTs are not required for a player to find success in the game. It’s a very good addition to the game, providing revenue for the company, and just a bit of a leg up for the player, but not an “I win” button.
The fact that Starport has been running for 2 years and is still growing in popularity probably says the most about this game. In my opinion, it deserves every bit of the success it is currently experiencing and more. The game can be downloaded free from www.starportgame.com -- I suggest you give it a shot and support independent development.
