Space Trader

This article is about the first-person shooter video game. For the Palm OS video game, see Space Trader (Palm OS).
Space Trader

Developer(s) HermitWorks
Publisher(s) HermitWorks
Engine id Tech 3
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS
Release date(s) Windows, Linux, Mac OS X
July 25, 2007
iOS
2009
Genre(s) First-person shooter, space trading and combat simulator
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution Digital distribution

Space Trader is a video game developed by the Canadian developer HermitWorks, for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and iOS. It was released on July 25, 2007. It started development in 2005, headed by Cameron Tofer and Marcia Tofer, both previously of Bioware, along with a group of other developers that have joined along the way. The iOS version was released in 2009 as Space Trader: Moon Madness.[1]

Currently Space Trader is at version 1.0.4, with a beta version of 1.0.6 available. A free demo is also available on the website.

Gameplay

Space Trader is a combination first person action and trading game with co-operative multiplayer, tied together with online scoreboards. Players assume the role of Traders in a fictitious future universe. Their goal: to make as much money possible within a time limit. They accomplish this by leasing cargo ships, traveling to planets and trading with Merchants. Each Merchant trades different commodities, and each at different prices. Finding successful trade routes between these merchants is one of the strategic elements of the game. Players can also be stopped along the way by an omni-present government organization known as the Ministry of Accounts, and forced to pay taxes. As well, shady informants reveal the location of black market merchants and the location of criminal bosses, which the players can attempt to bring down for the bounty placed on their head by the Ministry of Accounts.

In multiplayer, players work together in combat and attempt to thwart each other in trading by taking as many bonuses as they can from other players. All scores from games are uploaded to the Space Trader website, and players are ranked against one another. The Space Trader website features community scoreboards and forums, along with information about the game.

Development

Space Trader uses the open source id Tech 3, and is the first commercial title to use that engine since it was open sourced in August 2005. The latest released source code version was 1.1.14 from April 2008.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Space Trader: Moon Madness". Apple Inc. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
  2. ↑ Space Trader Source Code Release on hermitworks.com (April 2008)

External links