By Jim Rossignol on January 11th, 2012 at 8:45 am.
I’ve been having a bit of a play of Big Block Games’ (previously made Super Goblin War Machine) 2D space trader, Black Market HD. Why HD? Well because you can play an “SD” Flash version in your browser just here, or get the full executable. It’s a neat little game, with a storyline and a free-play mode, as well as all the things that make freeform space adventures interesting: trading, upgrading ships, fighting off pirates, bounty-hunting, and so on. Definitely take a look if the spaceship lark tickles your interest. Trailer below.
11/01/2012 at 09:00 Hoaxfish says:
I think the last 2 times I tried this game, after I lost my ship I kinda gave up as it was too hard to get another since I had traded everything to the prime locations.
11/01/2012 at 09:17 Revisor says:
From the website:
What?!
11/01/2012 at 09:46 mrwout says:
They seem to be pretty serious about that HD thing then.
11/01/2012 at 10:44 LCinn says:
It plays just fine on my integrated graphics for a while, and then it starts taking minutes to load new screens, so I guess (I really guess, I don’t know how these things work) those system requirements make some sense after all. A shame though, because the game seems great and the graphics don’t really look like they warrant those requirements. I mean, they look lovely, but not ultra-fancy-3d lovely.
12/01/2012 at 03:27 Jambe says:
There are twenty-dollar video cards with 512MB of VRAM and forty-dollar ones with 1GB. Heck, since you can fit like 16GB of RAM in a mainstream PC these days on the cheap, it’s not like onboard solutions hurt for it, either.
*shrug*
11/01/2012 at 11:14 HexagonalBolts says:
How does the fighting part work? It looks like the sort of game where it is automatic, or is there player control of it?
11/01/2012 at 12:32 Prime says:
Player control. You select the icon weapon you want to fire – lasers, missiles or special items – then mouse over your target ship, and area of the ship looking for critical and subsystem damage, then click mouse until you or he goes KABOOM. You can choose to run away at any point, too, as can your opponent.
11/01/2012 at 11:30 fashionbbn says:
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(http://url7。me/c6i4 )
11/01/2012 at 12:03 Wang Tang says:
Everytime I hear of space and trading, I immediately think of Gazillionaire. And how I need to install and play it again. Then I forget about it, until a new space trading game is announced/talked about…
11/01/2012 at 12:11 c-Row says:
Somehow, whenever I think about some type of game that would be great to code, somebody else is faster than me just mere days later. Apparently the Gods want me to stay away from game development…
11/01/2012 at 12:33 DeanLearner says:
No word of a lie, I swear I had the exact same thing but with minecraft!
11/01/2012 at 12:31 DeanLearner says:
As good a place as any to ask… can anyone remember the name of the following game?
I think the demo came out between 1996 and 1998
It was a bit like drug wars, but you went between planets selling and buying goods.
I’m pretty sure it was a Windows game.
I’m pretty sure the title was just one word (I’ve got the word stars stuck in my head, but I don’t think it’s that)
11/01/2012 at 12:54 JYzer says:
Sounds to me like the game Wang Tang mentioned a few comments up, Gazillionaire.
11/01/2012 at 12:59 DeanLearner says:
Oh god, I think you (and Wang Tang) might be right!
I’ve wondered this for years!!
11/01/2012 at 17:19 thebaron says:
Could also of been Diaspora? But that was a bit later. That’s what this reminds me of.
11/01/2012 at 12:40 Prime says:
It’s rather good. Plays very much like a 2D Freelancer. You could do with being able to zoom out of the map screen a bit more – travel is a touch tedious when you have to click on nearly every waypoint or beacon on the way – but overall it’s very slick and nicely written. While I don’t think it will hold me for very long (nor, I think, is it meant to) I can see me happily firing this up for a quick blast on a rainy day.
11/01/2012 at 13:44 huw says:
Oooh, this looks alright dunnit? Thanks for the tip!
A bit like Smugglers 3, only good, I’m hoping. :D
11/01/2012 at 13:45 Some_Guy says:
Dosent clifski have an old space trading game?
11/01/2012 at 15:58 armaankhan says:
It’s a decent enough trader game, and I love the battle system, but the tech support is atrocious, and it connects to the server every single time you start it up to verify your registration. So, if your internet is down (or their servers), you’ll only be able to play in demo mode.
11/01/2012 at 16:30 INTERNETNERDRAGE says:
Oh man, this game really scratches that space trading and combat itch that used to be satisfied only by games like Escape Velocity. I thought this was a free game (I didn’t read the fine print too well) and I was disappointed when I’d reached the level cap of 18 on weapons/piloting/nav/etc., when I saw the prompt to unlock the full game.
I’m really considering it. I could easily waste a whole day in front of my monitor playing this. I wish it was on Steam. I also wish I wasn’t out of work right now so I could justify the purchase to the Mrs., who would yell at me for buying anything entertaining that doesn’t put me closer to a new paycheck.
12/01/2012 at 03:18 e4rache says:
Is it as thrilling as the good old Elite series ?
12/01/2012 at 13:37 buzzmong says:
No.
Not in the slightest.