Apollo-ing Conditions: Starpoint Gemini 2 In Development

SPACE. The final frontier of videogame themes. These are the voyages of the Starpoint Gemini franchise, to go boldly where a lot of games have gone before: INTO THE LONGRUNNING SERIES! That is correct. Aptly named Starpoint Gemini 2, sequel to successful 2010 action space-sim with RPG sprinkles game Starpoint Gemini, is in development. A game Jim (Rossignol, not Kirk) called a "real-time space captain RPG", the sequel is being made, and a very small video has been released, along with some details on the features of the new game.

Alpha footage featuring a dreadnought class vessel in the new Starpoint Gemini 2 - the Imperial Perun class.

When Jim initially had a look at Starpoint Gemini, he found that the battles in the game were more like naval engagements than traditional pew pew material in that manoeuvring your ship to have your vulnerables protected was a fine-tuned process. It also seemed a complex and at times very difficult game:

"Of course this kind of “become a pirate, or a trader” sort of options are pretty par for the course of space sims, but from what I have played so far I suspect that there is far more RPG-like depth to to SPG than you might otherwise expect. There seem to be so many skills, and so many ship-native abilities, that you’re going to discover some pleasing depth to all the non-curricular activities you get up to in the game, and craft tactics quite unique to yourself. Aside from everything else, there’s a rich space to explore and play around in, and that’s the kind of game design I can agree with."

This time round, the team hopes to improve on a few things. In an interview with, again, the aptly named SpaceGameJunkie website, Little Green Men Games general manager Danijel Mihokovic said that the main features of the new game will be "The open universe that I mentioned before, and direct controls; I think it'll be a great feeling to chase a cruiser with my corvette through a dense asteroid field, dodging asteroids and weapons fire, all the while trying to get that perfect aim to blast it out of the sky..." and this time round you can explore the entire game world as a whole, rather than individual "cut-out" maps, battle through a continuous universe divided into regions that provide special visual and gameplay experience with dynamic real-time combat. You can also hire mercenary captains to join up with you and plunder.

A bigger list of the features is available on Starpoint Gemini 2's website, but it's only in the early development stages yet. It does seem to have a well-tended Facebook page, though.