Infinity: An Amazing Space Shooter

Posted on August 28, 2009 by RezPLS

In our opinion, indie development is the way of the future for all aspects of gaming. Expanding costs of game development, smaller teams of game designers, and the advantage of online distribution have given us some truley unique games. One particular game that has been on RezPLS!’s radar, and looks to be a real treat, is Infinity.

Infinity is a sci-fi space shooter which allows for a massive amount of players to connect and do battle with one another, just like the classic game Star Wars: Tie Fighter. For those pacifists, Infinity also offers players the choice of exploring a vast universe full of an infinite amount of space wonder. Although the game is still in early development, it’s already shaping up to be one of the most beautiful games we’ve seen in a long time. The intent of the game is still being developed, but the plan so far has been to turn this game into an epic space shooter with player controlled content, plenty of story, and exploration. The game can be compared to EVE, but there are many features which sets it apart.

The Infinity universe has a vast and elaborate historical background, and a complex political structure. Within this, the game features a state-of-the-art dynamic story generation engine, making a deep and rich story-tapestry for the player to explore.

The political landscape of the universe is designed to develop over the course of the game: alliances are made and broken, battles won and lost, new systems are charted and populated, and empires rise and fall – all hinging on the action of the players, in cooperation and contest.

The central quest of the game – the Quest for Earth – proceeds through player exploration and the discovery of clues (artifacts and suchlike). Through these discoveries, players learn more about the shape of their quest, the ancient history of their civilization, and perhaps even find their way back to Earth, the rumored planet of origins.

An infinite variety of side-missions will also be available to the player: exploration and surveying, dangerous mining operations, border patrols, espionage, racing, trading, piracy, colonization and empire-building – you name it! Whatever you find fun or challenging to do in the game, you will be able to find someone out there willing to reward you for your services.

A state-of-the-art procedural story generator helps guide the development of your character – although you are free to develop your character in any direction you wish. Imagine limitless dynamically-generated missions, tailored specifically for your character. Even your character’s history is procedurally generated and unique – and it has a bearing on the special missions you receive in the game.

You can always visit a station to see what jobs are available, but you may receive a coded transmission, inviting you to a secret rendezvous. You might receive a distress call – but will you answer it, or might it be a trap? At any point you can opt-out and just have fun flying around, but whenever you want, a rich story-world awaits.

Using a sysem built by a small team of developers whose engine is able to generate an immense amount of planets, galaxies, and spectacular landscapes on the fly using unique algorithms which, claimed, will have little slowdown on your system. The team plans to allow players to vist each planet, with lush landscapes and ambiance, making Infinity gorgeous eye candy. The spaceships displayed thusfar have seen scales from a small personal vessel to large tankers owned by corporations. Hopefully exploration shapes up to be as epic as it sounds. Who wouldn’t want to fly through space, filling your vision with nebulas, quasars, and galaxies? This is one game which could be an amazing experience on a large screen or with video glasses.

The community is also getting a hand in the development. The indie team has listened to their forums and continually update the game with fixes found by its members. Members have also contributed such things as sound and music for the game. The community is very active and helpful to new members, and are very passionate about the game and its development.

Don’t bother asking about a beta though, because it’s still in early development, but this is one game you should definitely wait for. If you do have an itch to play the game, the developers offer a small combat game that uses some of the features planned for the game. The game has that nice feel of grandeur, but with a sense of danger as a well placed laser can send your body into the cold reaches of space. Keep up with Infinity and expect to be wowed.

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