Here we have two projects that are really exciting. Both are open-world space exploration concepts and both will allow you to walk around on your ship and on the various planets you find, engage in space combat, hack your enemies computers, trade commodities and loot abandoned ships and other wreckage.
Both games boasts virtual computers onboard your spaceship that control the various functions you need, and both games will allow you to program and optimize the code;
Rodina will allow the user to program the computers using LUA, while 0x10c will require the user to program the 16-bit simulated DCPU either in assembly, or possibly (looking at the screenshots) through an embedded BASIC-interpreter.
Which one will be the best for the users are hard to say, but I will say that both will need a certain level of nerdyness.
So far both games are in early development, and so far they have developed different styles from eachother. Rodina shows off a procedural planet/surface generator that looks really amazing. It is capable of generating really huge planets and gives the player freedom to roam around freely. The Feature list on Rodina says this about the world:
Explore procedurally-generated planets with millions of square kilometers of surface area. Seamlessly travel from a planet’s surface to the depths of space, with no loading screens, warp doors, or invisible walls. Investigate asteroids, moons, space stations, and stars.
Both games will also have seamless movement from space to surface, and this is demonstrated in the video Elliptic Games have put up on their site.
We haven’t seen a close up on the world in 0x10c yet so I can’t compare the two.
Also, there are no screenshots for Rodina and there are no video for 0x10c, witch makes comparing the two list-reading and speculations.
At first release 0x10c looks to be very focused towards multiplayer (mmorpg style perhaps), and Notch has even said that there will be some sort of monthly fee to access what he calls the Multiverse and that will be the official server. Rodina on the other hand will focus on the singleplayer experience on release and states that multiplayer will obviously be a great addition to the game, and will always be in the backs of their minds.
Other similarities for them are that they are both aiming for simpler graphics and putting the focus on the gameplay. Notch has obviously already had good experience with this through Minecraft, and Elliptic Games has seen this and uses this as their guideline for developing Rodina.
I will not speculate wildly about how any of these two games will survive in the coming weeks/months of development and competition, but as a gamer I will think that the competition is good. Now they must be a little more on edge to create a good game.
That said, I am really excited about both games and I will most likely end up getting both, as they seem to have enough difference to be worth a look.
Feature-List for Rodina:
- Explore Space, Inside and Out
In Rodina, the gameplay can happen anywhere. You will find yourself having dogfights in space, gun battles on a planet surface, interacting with crewmates on the bridge of your ship, defending your ship from boarding parties, and capturing ships belonging to your enemies. - Huge Seamlesss Procedurally Generated World.
Explore procedurally-generated planets with millions of square kilometers of surface area. Seamlessly travel from a planet’s surface to the depths of space, with no loading screens, warp doors, or invisible walls. Investigate asteroids, moons, space stations, and stars. - Open-Ended Gameplay
Rodina is not a game with quests that have a small number of pre-designed solutions. In Rodina, you solve problems your way- with creativity, using the skills you and your character have developed. Make your own solutions and your own allies. Make your own way through the world. - Simulated Gameworld
Rodina will boast a game world simulation which supports player creativity and rewarding feedback. Release toxic gas into the engine room. Fly a false flag in order to trick your opponents into thinking you are their ally. Hack into the ship’s computer and delete the source code that fires the weapons, rendering them useless. In Rodina, experimentation is encouraged and creativity is required!
Feature-List for 0x10c
- Lots of engineering.
- Fully working computer system.
- Space battles against the AI or other players.
- Abandoned ships full of loot.
- Duct tape!
- Seamlessly landing on planets.
- Advanced economy system.
- Random encounters.
- Mining, trading, and looting.
- Single and multi player connected via the multiverse.