Future for Lunar Flight: Discussion, etc.

[eqfan592]

I would honestly pay serious cash for an expansion with some of these ideas implemented, especially the more open world, multiplayer, different ships, and other AI ships flying around (ala Flight Sim).

[gladhand-]

I've been having a lot of fun with Lunar Filght, great program. Seems like a lot of people want a more open and free enviroment, so at the risk of upseting a devloper or two, I feel I need to point you guys in the direction of Orbiter. A 100% free space flight simulator. It's been around for about 10 years now and must have a thousand mods. Fly from Earth to Moon, or Mars to Saturn, Dock with ISS, or launch a satalite from one of the shuttles cargo bays, nothing but freedom in Orbiter. It took dozens of attempts just to put a ship into a stable orbit when I started.

Orbiter -
orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/

As for the future of Lunar Flight, how cool would it be if they kept the flight physics the same but changed the game from space flight to Vietnam Heilcopter Piolt? Next time you fly over a beacon tower imagine it's an AA gun, dodging flak and returing fire. Doesn't have to be a shoot em' up, but could make it more fun.

[sh0v0r]

Originally Posted by gladhand-

I've been having a lot of fun with Lunar Filght, great program. Seems like a lot of people want a more open and free enviroment, so at the risk of upseting a devloper or two, I feel I need to point you guys in the direction of Orbiter. A 100% free space flight simulator. It's been around for about 10 years now and must have a thousand mods. Fly from Earth to Moon, or Mars to Saturn, Dock with ISS, or launch a satalite from one of the shuttles cargo bays, nothing but freedom in Orbiter. It took dozens of attempts just to put a ship into a stable orbit when I started.

Orbiter -
orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/

As for the future of Lunar Flight, how cool would it be if they kept the flight physics the same but changed the game from space flight to Vietnam Heilcopter Piolt? Next time you fly over a beacon tower imagine it's an AA gun, dodging flak and returing fire. Doesn't have to be a shoot em' up, but could make it more fun.

I absolutely encourage people to try Orbiter out if you want some very hard core. I'd also recommend Kerbal Space Program.

RE your comment about Helicopters, it just so happens that I have wanted to do a game with helicopters, for a while now and if I don't do a Lunar Flight 2 that will likely be the thing I pursue next but it may be something more like Jungle Strike or Return Fire with really nice physics.

[Nails077]

First time I tried out Lunar Flight I was not entirely sure of my purchase. I think mainly because I was so used to how Orbiter does things so I was not finding the instruments I expected to find and the controls felt off. Now though that I have gotten into it I am indeed very happy with my purchase. It is a very calm and tranquil game, kind of soothing even. Before I knew it the rest of the day had vanished.

On to some points/ideas/suggestions.

It snows on the moon? I understand the floating dots are there to give you a visual sense of speed and direction but I would like the option of turning it off and have to rely entirely on the instruments.

Different base types should matter more. I think you should be given different mission types depending on what kind of base you are at. Observation outposts would have more survey missions etc. Perhaps add a new mission type only available from there called "deep survey" or something, wich goes into extra hard to reach and distant places. Perhaps inside caves if you ever implement cave systems.

It might be weird with caves on the moon, but another suggestion would be to add other moons as maps that you could go more crazy with. Like instead of our moon, why not one of the moons of saturn? Would make for a different and interesting landscape. Also perhaps you could design a more futuristic looking vehicle for use on those maps.

Another mission type I thought up is something like a pizza boy. Obtained from Hydroponics. You either have a limited time to make as many food deliveries as you can fit in, or you have a timer that replenishes for each successful delivery and you keep going for as long as you can keep up.

It would be neat with some other visible activity other than yourself. Some scripted scenery like a solar powered rover driving around and other landers coming in from orbit and landing. The main base of any area might have another landing pad that is not meant for yourself, but for recieving deliveries from earth. There could be a larger landing craft that comes in from orbit and lands at that base, signaling that it may have a special delivery mission for you. This way it would not only be there to look pretty but would serve another function too. Giving you a visual que that a special mission is available at that base. Such special deliveries could be base expansions for the different outposts. Perhaps there could even be a map that starts out with only the main base and you have to build and expand the other outposts by dropping off modules in the right locations.

I got more, but I think I rambled on enough for now. I really like this little game so I wish there was more of it. Hope you will keep adding to it, even if you think all my ideas are crap :P

[Oblivion_au]

like a previous poster said, id like to see a mouse controlled free cam, where i can hold rmb and rotate to any angle around the craft, mousewheel to zoom.
the only problem i seem to be having is with the set camera views.


how about multiplayer ?

you could have a 2nd player who controls a robotic arm to collect lunar rock samples, repair space ports/sat. dishes etc, while the pilots job is purely to get them from A to B.
a list of missions (repairs, collections + more) to choose like you do in single player.
players get score based on fuel used, time, landing quality
maybe theres also a comms radio he operates?
something basic like Flight sim X single player comms, where you choose 1 of several lines of text for your reply, and a robotic voice responds telling you where to land etc

moonbase alpha was good MP, even though there were times it felt like you was on valium or something
the only reason you played over and over again was to beat your old time - if you got a decent crew with you.
it doesnt have to be action packed, as long as its fun, challenging and requires a bit of communication and/or cooperation

[MiG-21bis]

Originally Posted by sh0v0r

RE your comment about Helicopters, it just so happens that I have wanted to do a game with helicopters, for a while now and if I don't do a Lunar Flight 2 that will likely be the thing I pursue next but it may be something more like Jungle Strike or Return Fire with really nice physics.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY

[Bish0p]

Great to see you're still at it Shov.
Best to you in all your endeavors..

[doug141]

1) one should be able to click on the map and set a nav point. I tried to do this mark a ballpark location for lost cargo "northeast of alpha," for instance.

2) one should be able to quickly set the throttle lock to intermediate values. Perhaps I missed seeing keyboard shortcuts for this?

[Helicity Boson]

What about an actual simulation of lifting off from earth and dealing with all the physics gobbledygook to land on the moon....... in real time. sure it might take a few saves along the way, but isn't that what simulations are all about?

[Mr_Fusion]

Originally Posted by doug141

2) one should be able to quickly set the throttle lock to intermediate values. Perhaps I missed seeing keyboard shortcuts for this?

I didn't find any, and yes, it would be a big help. You can try to hold down space and immediately hit the thrust lock, which will lock the power level to the point it was in that moment, but since the power goes up to max in maybe a second, you'll just end up with some semi-random thrust value between 0 and max.

If we're at suggestions, I often find it very difficult to see the readouts on the center monitor when in cockpit view; the light green letters against the light dark / white lunar background become pretty much invisible. A dark outline, or a small black rectangle behind those values would greatly improve visibility under all circumstances.

[sh0v0r]

Originally Posted by Helicity Boson

What about an actual simulation of lifting off from earth and dealing with all the physics gobbledygook to land on the moon....... in real time. sure it might take a few saves along the way, but isn't that what simulations are all about?

That's not what Lunar Flight is about, if you want to do that I recommend playing Kerbal Space Program or Orbiter...

[Pilotclan9404]

be able to right click and drag / pan the camera around is my main thing i want.