Space Game Junkie Podcast

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast! This week, Jim, Hunter and I do something a little different. Since the show fell on Valentine’s Day, we figured we’d do something a little different. We therefore ran a contest in which we solicited love letters or poems written to people’s favorite space games. We got some great entries, and the winners are reprinted below, along with the two I wrote. It’s an odd, yet funny show, and we had a great time doing it, so we’re looking to do more like this. The next thing we do will likely be a haiku contest, so stay tuned for that. :) Next week on the show, we welcome back Eric Peterson to talk the classic (i.e. BEST EVER) space real time strategy game, Conquest: Frontier Wars! If you have any questions or comments, as always, drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. We’re looking for stuff for a new viewer mail segment on the show, so feel free to hit us up! Thanks for listening! Show Notes Winning Love Letters: By ACWraith My dearest time sink, All first person cameras should hang their heads in shame. I find I must look elsewhere lest I vomit while I aim. There’s alternatives I’ve dallied with but each weighs the same. Then there’s the 24 hundred hours my heart has spent in Warframe. Let us tell them this: Our tryst has survived through cysts. They may say it’s a cheat because we play on our feet on a surface with items to glean. I only steer your ship as I center my stick while waiting on the loading screens. But I’m MR 22 so I say, “Frell you.” Do they have any idea what that means? 23 is unkind. We’re out of items to grind. We’re stuck flying those damned archwings. Love, ACWraith PS: Enclosed are some limited edition Valentine glyphs purchased with platinum. And yes, honey, I bought the discount arrow skin bundle too. By Daniel Bradley Dear Homeworld, The first time that I say you, I knew I was in love. The way you moved in three hundred and sixty degrees, was a mind blower. The ship detail and camera flow. The gameplay, physics, storyline and soundtrack was second to none. But how I missed you, all the times I tried to replace you. Sins of Solar Empire, Star Ruler and The Jupiter Incident failed in comparison. I could not find you, Steam, GOG or any other outlet. You were not to be found on any DRM. Not since nineteen ninety-nine have I seen you. Then, sixteen lonely years later, hope returned. I was told that you were returning to me. And that Gearbox would be bringing you to me. At first, I was scared. Gearbox has not lived up to some titles. And I can tell you, if they hurt you, I would never recover… But alas! You have returned to me, in all your glory and more! Wide screen, high definition with added online multiplayer. They even gave me the classic versions! At last my dear, we are together, completely… Dan By Ktoś Tam We have been through a lot. We have destroyed entire galaxies together, we have invaded hundreds of worlds, enslaved tons of aliens. And it was you and me. I will always remember those moments. I always loved all thos things you could do. Crash while there are lot’s of ships in one place, launch an event when i am in a pinch, start a war, which caused me to flip my table. And you UI, so beautifull, and still so bad in the same time. I dont understand how i could live without you. And its always the same.

Hey friends, welcome to this (fairly late, sorry) episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast! This week, Jim, Hunter and I take a trip down memory lane to talk about 1995’s fantastic space combat sim, Interactive Magic’s Star Rangers. We really like the game a lot, but going down memory lane means, as usual, we meander a bit. We talk about not just space games, but flight sims and strategy games too. It’s a fun discussion overall, as always! On the next podcast episode, we’ll be discussing games we love, plus some of your love letters to your favorite games! If you have any questions or comments, as always, drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Thanks for listening! Show Notes   Games Mentioned * Starglider * Destiny * iF-22 * iF/A-18 * Wing Commander * Star Raiders * Strike Suit Zero * The Tomorrow War

Welcome my friends to this latest episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast! This week, Jim, Hunter and I (sadly as it was a morning show, they couldn’t join us) and eventually friend-of-the-show Alex Sczakiel sit down with Konstantin Kronfeldner and Philipp Erhardt, developers of the exciting new shoot ’em, build ’em and mine ’em up, Avorion! We talk a lot about the inspiration for the game, the custom engine upon which it’s built, many of the gameplay aspects, single and multiplayer implementation and much more. It’s a very fun, enlightening and technical conversation that I really enjoyed, and I hope you do too. I do also apologize for some audio issues in the early part of the show, Discord had some server issues, but I switched to another server which seemed to fix it. Next week on the show, we’ll be going back to the 90s to talk about a space game that is near and dear to our hearts, Interactive Magic’s Star Rangers. If you have any comments or questions, drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Show Notes Games Mentioned * Empyrion * Space Engineers * Jumpgate

Welcome to this episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast y’all! This week, Jim, Hunter (welcome back!) and I welcome back our buddy Joe Mastroianni — host of the Upper Memory Block Podcast, co-host of the Star Wars Stacks Podcast, and a Star Wars aficionado — to discuss one of the landmark series of space games, the X-Wing series, which includes: * Star Wars: X-Wing (1993) * Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994) * Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (1997) * Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance (1999) We talk about what these games meant to us, their impact on the genre at the time, our memories of them, their legacy and much more. It’s a fun discussion that not only discusses the games themselves, but similar games before, during and after their release. Next week on the show, it’s an early episode (6 AM Pacific) because our guest, the developer of the fun looking shoot ’em build ’em up, Avorion, is overseas! Yay! As always, if you have a question or comment, drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Thanks for watching/listening, my friends, and enjoy the show! :)

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast my friends! This week, Jim and I sit down with F.J. Lennon, successful author and also the producer, director and writer of 1994’s space fighter sim classic, Star Crusader. We talk to F.J. about a lot of the games he’s worked on (he was at Microprose y’all! Microprose!), the rise and fall of Full Motion Video (FMV) gaming, and of course, Star Crusader, which was a high point in his gaming career. It’s a really fantastic discussion all around, and let me tell y’all, we had a BLAST not only talking about this game, but so many others in the 90s that I couldn’t write ’em all down. Next week on the show, we welcome back Joe Mastroianni of the Upper Memory Block Podcast to discuss the X-Wing series in detail! If you have any questions or comments, drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Show Notes Miscellaneous Items * F.J. Lennon’s Official Site Games Mentioned * XF5700 Mantis Experimental Fighter * Ripper * Battlecruiser 3000 AD * 7th Guest * Kerbal Space Program * Minecraft * Assassin’s Creed 3

Welcome to the Space Game Junkie Podcast my friends! This week, guest host and resident Space Engineers expert Alex Sczakiel and I sit down with CEO, CTO and Founder at GoodAI and Keen Software House, Marek Rosa, along with Community Manager and Media Producer at Keen Software House Joel Wilcox to talk about the aforementioned Space Engineers. It’s an early morning show for me (as our guests were in Prague), so I’m half-asleep through much of it, but regardless, we have a great talk about the game, early access, Steam, managing a community and much more! It ended up being a really fun show! Next week on the show, we welcome the lead designer and writer of a game I’ve recently become smitten with, 1994’s amazing space fighter sim, Star Crusader! As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Show Notes Miscellaneous Items * GoodAI * Space Engineers in VR * Marek Rosa – dev blog * Keen Discord Channel Games Mentioned * Medieval Engineers * Miner Wars 2081 * Dual Universe * No Man’s Sky * Star Citizen * Dreadnaught * Limbo * Insight * Doom * Wolfenstein * Kerbal Space Program * Great Age Inquisition * Warframe * Subnautica * Space Hulk: Deathwing

Welcome to 2017 my friends, and the first Space Game Junkie Podcast of the new year!  This week, Jim and I talk about what we’re looking forward to in terms of not only games, but movies and TV as well! We talk about a LOT of games (you can see the list below), and with so many games coming out just in the space genre alone, 2017 should be a fantastic year for space gaming! Next week on the show, it’s a morning show as our guests are in Prague in the Czech Republic (I incorrectly said Hungary in the show itself I believe), so tune in as we talk to the folks behind Space Engineers! We’ll also have our buddy and SE expert Alex as a guest co-host! :) As always, if you have a question or comment about the show, drop it in the comments below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Show Notes Games Mentioned Brian’s List Space Games I’m Looking Forward To: * Convicted Galaxy * PULSAR: Lost Colony * Void Destroyer 2 * Starfighter Inc * Alliance of the Sacred Suns * The Long Journey Home * Rogue System * 3030 Deathwar Redux Non-Space Games I’m looking forward to * Frozen Synapse 2 * Urban Empire * Diluvion * RealPoliticks * Sudden Strike 4 * Solstice Chronicles MIA * Dead Pixels 2 * Streets of Rogue * Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr> Jim’s List * Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach * State of Decay 2 * Dawn of War III * System Shock Remastered * TACOMA * HALO Wars 2 * Ghost Recon Wildlands * Worlds Adrift General Upcoming Space Games From Steam: * Space Battle Core * Infinitum * Avorion * PULSAR: Lost Colony

Welcome to the last SGJ Podcast of 2016 y’all! This week, Jim, Hunter and I talk about the just-launched Steam Sales, and what we think are the best deals you should look out for (you’ll need Enhanced Steam for the best experience). We cover both space and non-space games as well, so I hope the list helps! We also talk about our surprises and disappointments for 2016. It’s a long show, but it was a lot of fun. We’re off next week, but we’ll be back in January with a look at 2017! Check out the calendar for all upcoming shows! If you have any questions or comments, as always drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. List of Games to Look For on Sale Steam Sale 2016 Ideas: Games You Should Get or Gift if Not Owned Already, Must Owns Brian: * Drox Operative * Distant Worlds: Universe * Freespace 2 * Evochron Legacy * Space Rangers HD (or the amazing 1C Space Collection) * Star Hammer: The Vanguard Prophecy * Rebel Galaxy * 3030 Deathwar Redux * Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim * Alpha Protocol * Euro Truck Sim 2 Jim: * Starbound * Titanfall 2 Excellent Games to Get on Sale if you don’t Already Have Them, Should Own if a Fan of the Genre Brian: * Elite: Dangerous * Void Destroyer 2 * VoidExpanse * Star Nomad 2 * Star Ruler 2 * Descent Freespace – The Great War * Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion * Shadow Warrior 2 * Homefront: The Revolution – So far this is the best deal I’ve seen. * TowerClimb Jim: * Tyranny * Darksiders * Duskers

Hey friends, welcome to this episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast! This week, Jim, Hunter and I sit down with Dr. Mirko Seithe, creator of the top-down space exploration, combat and construction game, BossConstructor. We talk about the game, the engine that makes it tick (OMG it’s JAVA y’all), the varied game modes, all the work that’s gone into it and so on. My favorite part of the episode though, and I have to again thank Mirko for his candor, is talking about the psychological toll independent game development can take on the developer themselves. I usually don’t ask about this sort of stuff because it can be pretty personal, but once the door opened, it led to, what I think, was a fascinating discussion on setting one’s own expectations for their own game development and staying sane throughout the process. This alone makes this podcast worth a listen, methinks. :) Next week on the show, with the holiday season in full swing, we’ll discuss current and upcoming sales and gift ideas for the space game junkie on your gift list. :) If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about the show, please feel free to drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Thanks so much for watching/listening, and we hope you enjoy the show! Show Notes Games Mentioned * Continuum * Space Pirates and Zombies

Hello my friends, and welcome to this episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast! This week, Jim, Hunter and I sit down with  Marty Caplan, Executive Producer at No, You Shut Up Games (I serously love that name) to talk about their early access spaceship building and combat game, Atomic Space Command! Since the game is very multiplayer focused — sure, it can be played solo, but that’s not really how it’s MEANT to be played — we did something a bit different this time. Rather than leaving a pre-rendered video on in the background while we talked, all four of us strived to play the game live. Since it’s early access, we did run into some technical challenges, but overall we had a great time, and I can totally see using this game in an upcoming tournament I’m planning since it’s PERFECT for ranked play, with a spectator mode and EVERYTHING. :) Overall, we had a great time, and I hope you will too. That said, I hope I was able to capture all that in the audio-only version as we were playing. Next week on the show, we welcome back Joe Mastroianni — host of the awesome Upper Memory Block Podcast — to discuss the entire X-Wing series in detail! Yay! If you have any questions or comments, please drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Thanks for listening, and we hope you enjoy the show!

Welcome to this episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast my friends! This week, Jim, Hunter and I sit down with some of the folks who’ve been working on the Halo-based mod for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion entitled Sins of the Prophets! We talk to team members Unikraken (lead developer and community manager), Lavo (lead balance designer and coder, Malcontent and lead artist) and Idio (Q&A Lead), all of whom were very knowledgeable on Halo lore, Sins moddability and much more. Unfortunately, due to a screw up on my part, I had to actually play the mod during the show, rather than show a pre-recorded video, so I’m not as engaged as I could be (I basically installed the mod incorrectly when I recorded the video). Thankfully our resident Halo expert, Hunter, was there to totally take the reigns and keep the show mostly on track (as much as it ever is). :) Overall, it was a great time! Next week on the show, we welcome the developer of the co-op spaceship building and combat game, Atomic Space Command! If you have any questions or comments, you can drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Thanks for listening, and please subscribe if you’ve not already! Enjoy the show! Show Notes Games Mentioned * Sins of a Solar Empire * Homeworld * Stellaris * Freespace 2

Welcome to this week’s Space Game Junkie Podcast y’all! This week, Jim, Hunter and I sit down with Virgil Wall, founder of Knuckle Cracker, about his fantastic space combat, tower defense and strategy game, Particle Fleet: Emergence, as well as the Creeper World games that preceded it. It was a very fun podcast wherein we talked about Virgil’s move to full-time game development, Steam’s early access and the pitfalls surrounding it, creating a vibrant community and much more. It was a really great conversation you guys. Next week on the show, we’re talking mods with the developers of the fantastic Halo-based mod for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion enetitled Sins of the Prophets. If you have a question or comment about this episode, as always, drop it below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Thank you so much, as always, for listening/watching, and we hope you enjoy the show. :) Show Notes   Games Mentioned * Creeper World * Creeper World 2 * Creeper World 3 * EVE Online

Welcome to this episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast my friends! This week, Jim, Hunter and I sit down with Ryan Bemowski (Design, Programming and Business), Kevin Barthman (Design and Programming) and Aaron Koback (Design and Audio) of Mind Grown Software to talk about their upcoming space combat, exploration, resource gathering and territory conquering game, Convicted Galaxy! While we do talk a lot about the game, I have to admit, with so many guests, we do go off on tangents quite a bit (but hopefully fun tangents). It was also election night, so I have to apologize for my inconsistent appearance since I couldn’t help but look at election results as we talked (sorry guys). Overall though, it was a really fun show! Next week on the show, we’ll be talking to the developer of the very fun and challenging space tower defense strategy game, Particle Fleet: Emergence! If you have a comment/question/request, as always you can drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Thanks so much for watching/listening, and we hope you enjoy the show! Show Notes   Games Mentioned * Drifter * Space Pirates and Zombies * Call of Juarez: Gunslinger * Red Dead Redemption * Rodina * Headlander * Paradroid * Risk of Rain

Welcome, my friends, to this week’s episode of the Space Game Junkie Podcast! This week, Jim, Hunter and I talk to Sergey Komar, founder of Mizar Games, about his multi-platform spacey MMO, Nebula Online, which was released out of early access as of today!! We talk about running the game on multiple platforms, its economy, its play style, plans for the future and much more! Next week on the show, we’ll be talking to the developer of the spacey exploration, combat and action roguelike, Convicted Galaxy! As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you can drop them below, email us at hail@spacegamejunkie.com or hit us up on the forums. Thanks for listening/watching, and we hope you enjoy the show! Show Notes   Games Mentioned * EVE Online * World of Warcraft * Freelancer * Jumpgate * Diablo III * Earth & Beyond * Star Wars Galaxies * Elder Scrolls Online * Lord of the Rings Online

Welcome back to Space Rogue my friends! In this entry, I don’t die as much, yay! However, I do play a spot of hive, trade some more goods and hopefully make a little more progress in the universe. I’ve got a statuette I’m supposed to deliver to someone, but without maps I’ve no idea how to get there. This game really, REALLY gives no fucks about its audience, it seems. I’m feeling a tad lost by the end of the entry though.