Sphere Of Influence

This concept fascinates me. There is a sever running the game. You view the result and command spacecraft in the game through a client presentation interface (Power Point type). The designer didn't invent an interface that exists in the game world by which to command, as most game of this type do. Rather he used an existing interface common to the OS/2 platform. Other games have the player controlling an unseen protagonist sitting in front of some far off highly advance imaginary computer. But this is as if you were actually commanding spacecraft with an OS/2 computer. You are using the computer you are using, not an imaginary one.

zerothis # 2014-02-17 14:00:50

SOI is a game designed for the OS/2 presentation manager. It is a cross between a role playing game and a simulator. It runs under a client/server architecture whereby simulations are run by a server either independently or under the control of a game master. The simulations may be simple such as Star Trek's Kobayashi Maru scenario from Star Trek II, or as complex as an intergalactic scavenger hunt or multi-species interstellar war. Scenarios are designed with a separate scenario editor. The first release of SOI will be a single player version with the simulation controller (server) and client running on the same machine.

The player character has the role of ship captain in the Terrani Naval Forces. The captain must carry out missions designated by the simulation controller. For more information see the Captain's Indoctrination (to follow soon).

The SOI client is written in C++ and assembler and is fully object oriented. All game objects, characters, ships, planets, etc. derive from a base object and can be dragged and dropped in the various windows. This, for example, allows the player to drag an object to the Interstellar Navigation window and see its last reported location.

# 2014-02-17 13:48:34 - official description - source

software: C++ programming language,

display: raster