SubSpace X / SubSpace DS
A long time ago on an operating system far far away, my friends and I played a game called SubSpace.
SubSpace was a massively multiplayer online top-down space shooter, long before this MMORPG craze. The game was one of the earliest to take advantage of this new library called DirectDraw. The beta version was freely available—it was during the beta period that my friends and I played the most. VIE, Virgin Interactive Entertainment, later released the game and charged a one-time fee to play online however much one wished. Soon after that, VIE disappeared and the servers were taken down.
The community continued, though, and while I was busy learning about crazy alternative operating systems and desktop environments and instant messaging systems, they recreated SubSpace as Continuum (a reimplementation of the SubSpace client). Continuum, however, continued to be a Windows-only game due to its heavy reliance on DirectDraw. I was slipping further into Linux and never really bothered to play.
It is now nine years later and still SubSpace, nay Continuum, is basically only available for Windows. From what I can tell, the SubSpace community barely even acknowledges the existence of other operating systems. 
At least other gaming communities will briefly mention Mac OS X, even if just in passing. You know what I want to see? A good Mac OS X client. There was some sort of attempt to create a Linux client, but it seems to have failed. I’d love to see a small Mac developer take on this project. I’d gladly pay twice what I paid for the original ($30) to get a Mac OS X client.
You know what would be even cooler? If someone created SubSpace DS or a SubSpace-like game for the Nintendo DS. A top-down MMO space shooter which wirelessly connects to the internet from a handheld? I’d be in heaven.
I miss you, SubSpace. Please come back to me.
I sorely miss Subspace as well and have been in search of a replacement. Closest thing I’ve come across is Gate88. Cross platform, decent, close to Subspace, game play.
I have to say ditto to your post, except that I never played Subspace. I started with Continuum, but only use Linux these days. Someone needs to port it!
Oh man I played so much Subspace. What an awesome game. Must’ve been what, ‘93 or ‘94? You are dead on with the DS idea, that would rock.
SubSpace was apparently beta in 1996 and 1997, according to Wikipedia.
Glorious days those were when we registered like 40 new names every night, turreted, and got killed for 6 hours straight.
They were, in fact, glorious days.
I havent played subspace because i have a mac os x,
But i would like 2 very much.
However there is a game very much like it and it is 4 mac, linux, and windows.
It is called
Zap!
U can buy it or download the demo at http://www.zapthegame.com/
Its very fun and made by GarageGames
Im pretty sure it also made think tanks, tony hawks pro skater 4, deimos rising, and many other fun games.
Try it out, im sure u peeple will like it.
Have fun, hope 2 see u playing it,
racer937
for more info just go 2
http://www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.area.php?qa=38
I think I’ll continue waiting.
I miss Subspace too, that game has everlasting appeal, though to bring it to OS X I’d think it’d really need to be an open source, team effort rather than from a commercial developer. Sure I’d be willing to pay, but how many others would, especially those who have never played it before? Also In the back of my mind I’d always be thinking “how many years until development stops and support finishes?” at least with an opensource project as long as the passion for the game is there, development will continue. But I guess it takes someone with the neccesary skill to step up to the challenge and others to join and help towards the common goal.
I would LOVE to see this old favorite of mine ported to both Mac and various Linux flavors.
I program a bit, and would love to get involved in such a venture if there are others interested in doing so too.
Anyone know the status of the source code for Continueum? Is it still prepriotory or is it open source?
If anyone wants to talk about this, e-mail me at
astew at wam.umd.edu
replace the ‘at’ with an @ of course ;) damn spambots.
-ende
I’d like to see a port of Continuum to Linux as well… Death Star Battle with a spider is something I severely miss :)
But it looks like the Continuum source code is heavily closed; and the network protocol is encrypted or at least obfuscated… Also the experimental Linux client doesn’t work for playing; and Continuum doesn’t even work in Wine :(
Well, I’m still hoping for a change.
The reason the previous port for continuum to linux failed was because the lead programmer of continuum would not share the security algorithm with the developers of the linux port. Thus it withered and died a painful screeching death along with all hopes of a linux port. If you had enough money you might be able to buy it off Mr. God complex but there’s nothing to ensure that he won’t change it and cut you out again later. The best way to go about it if you truely want a linux port is to create a linux only community from the ground up. I played Subspace/Continuum for about 5 years until I got online with my ps2 then lost interest.
I’m actually working on a Windows/OSX/Linux/etc.. subspace client, but it may not ever get finished. There is an open source subspace game server (ASSS), and the protocol is documented to a decent degree. The communication to many servers is encrypted though, and continuum is required. It should be possible to create a client to connect to unencrypted servers, and I’ve seen other clients that sort of work. The programmer of continuum is PriitK, the same guy who created Kazaa and Skype. He is very inactive in the subspace scene however, and the latest version of continuum is .39 public release 1, WHICH CAME OUT IN NOVEMBER OF 2003! There are active subspace programmers, BUT NO ONE HAS ACCESS TO THE SOURCE OF CONTINUUM EXCEPT FOR PRIITK! Many subspace council members seem to have a disdain for open source software as well (so I’ve heard). And yes, I do think PriitK has a god complex. Does this not look like a disaster in the making for the Subspace community?
Yeah, I’ve never really liked Kazaa or Skype (go Gizmo!), and I do remember reading things from PriitK.
Oh well, that’s what happens when a community which could be greatly benefitted by open source rejects it…
Hey guys,
I am close to the guys who run SubSpace/Continuum and administrate it. Hell i use to host zones.
I am not an offical member of the group “SSC” who runs the game.. but I am on there chats/private forum and recive most of the emails.
For the most part a linux client for the time beeing will not happen.
Open source..
Game Server,Directory Server,Bots,Chat Clients and map editing tools all useable copys are avaliable.
We just lack the client…Whine will not run Continuum due to Priitk’s anti cheat mesures…
Only hope you guys really have is if a coder named snrrrub once he finihs his schooling, HE MAY finsh off his client.
Thus far priitk seems to not want to move to linux…Any questions ask me
Yeah, well, that’s a shame, because those of us on Mac OS X or Linux would like to play the game, but priitk seems to be a dick about the whole thing. So oh well.
We shall see Julian,
.39 for windows is going to be worked on once skype is fully sold to ebay…then priitk will have lots of free time to code. Hopefully we can get some sort of nix/mac version.
This is a VERY big maybee.. whole other slewww of issues faceing this old game :)
It certainly doesn’t sound to me like priitk is the type of person who really cares about Mac OS X, Linux, or Open Source. I wouldn’t hold my breath if it depends on waiting for him to do the coding.
Priitk cant make one in Linux OS, for other reasons
Hmmm… well, I started writing a subspace client for linux in 2001. Actually I had planned to write my own version of subspace called orbital because I couldn’t get enough info about the server protocol. So far it loads a subpace map, lets you choose ships, and you can fly around. No collision detection yet, and none of the protocol for multiplayer communication with the server written. Now I run osx and am thinking about continuing with it, but I don’t have much free time…
I’ll look back at it and see if it’s worth continuing…
Those of us interested in seeing this come to fruition and have something to offer should begin a website at least to host any and all efforts aimed at this endeaver. Maybe even a project on sourceforge.
Oh just wanted to add - a DS version would be near impossible. The amount of data that has to be transferred + ping times would make the game likely unplayable.
When Subspace was in beta I was playing it on my 56k modem, as were most of the people playing the game. Somehow I think that 1-2mbps should be fine.
You’re freakin’ kidding me. Check out (google) the ASSS project. SubSpace\Continuum for Linux. Bringing the best game ever and the best OS ever… together. Since, like… a lonnnng time ago. :) Enjoy.
First off, ASSS is not that easy to find on Google (just googling “ASSS” or “ASSS project” or even “ASSS project subspace” doesn’t really work).
Second, I did mention: “There was some sort of attempt to create a Linux client, but it seems to have failed.” I do believe there was such an attempt to create a client, but it’s not ASSS…
Third, it’s a small subspace server, not a client. Why the heck would I care about running a subspace server?
Nice try.
Some have gotten Wine on linux to run Continuum. Wine just needs a slight code adjustment. see http://forums.minegoboom.com/viewtopic.php?t=5639 for the adjustments :)
Yes, apparently you can run it under Wine with a modification to the Wine source (I’m about to try it and find out for sure). The link mentioned in the last comment doesn’t work anymore, but here is a link with the information needed: http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?versionId=3703
If I’m successful at running it, I’ll let you guys know.
It works!
Some screenshots I took here (my favorite, Death Star Battle) http://www.flickr.com/photos/59809416@N00/
Unfortunately it doesn’t play smoothly, at least not consistently. The longer I’m in a zone, the worse it gets, to the point of being unplayable. It also had horrible flickering before I switched to windowed mode (in Continuum, not Wine). But the fact that it plays at all is encouraging, and I am hoping the playability can be improved by further tweaking. Any ideas?
Update- With further tweaking of Wine and the settings within Continuum, the game is totally responsive and playable. No more booting into Windows just to play my favorite game!
But not on mac os x ppc probably?
Probably not (yet). I should have mentioned before that I’m running Linux (Fedora Core 4).
From what I understand, Darwine (Wine ported to the Mac) cannot currently run Windows executables. However, this quote from the Darwine FAQ leads me to believe that Continuum could be made to run in Darwine if you could convince the Continuum developers to do a compilation using WineLib:
“While the basic compatibility is there as Darwin is largely FreeBSD, there is the hurdle of its Mach kernel which uses the Mach-O format rather than ELF. This part has been achived with success. It means that WineLib is now working on Mac OS X, and that developers should be able to recompile their Win32 Apps using WineLib and make them work in Mac OS X.”
If only Continuum was open source….
I have XP for only one reason, Continuum. Playing under Wine is terrible. I would try to help
with my limited coding skills to develop real nix-client. And I also believe that there is people
who would also be willing to help, if there would be somekind of team/project.
I bought the subspace cd like 10 years ago, or something like that, so far no one is willing to give source code of the client, no one is willing to work on it, because staff and sysops wont recognize someone who is willing to waste their time in an open source project. not even coders from trenchwars (where i usually play) are willing to take the job of head programmer on the twcore, since the last 2 got fired (for stupid reasons). i think its useless, and its a shame, oh well… someone hack priitk’s computer?
subspace is a game that is rare.
i got a xbox but still i choose to play the online 2d game at times.
this proves there is still life in simple 2d multiplayer games.
Anyone who likes it too should come and play cause i feel like its dying a bit.. this shouldnt happen.
If you decide to come and play subspace connect to (my favorite zone) Chaos league zone and i might be shooting your ass :P
greeets
Aw man… I used to play Subspace so much! I miss Javelin in Trench Wars… I used to be on Disobliged… Someone needs to program a Mac version.
There are other clients, for win, linux and mac os. These clients are private and are not in public circulation.
Subspace portable, although sounds cool has two flaws:
1) How often do you happen to be near 10 other people with the same model handheld as you?
2) How can you possibly fit all the weapons onto so few buttons?
Smong,
Clients in private circulation don’t count.
1) Who said anything about having to be near people? I regularly play games of Mario Kart DS and Metroid Prime Hunters with people on the other side of the world. The DS supports playing games over the Internet.
2) Touch screen. Gestures or GUI on it. Metroid Prime Hunters even makes use of a Pie Menu / Marking Menu for rapid weapon switching and it works pretty well. The other option is to not have as many weapons. Realistically you don’t need all of the extra stuff. When I first started playing subspace it had less than half the amount of weapons the current one has, and the game was still fun.
I think a multi platform client for subspace needs to be written. I know a few ppl with macs that miss out on the ss experience, and wish for one to be written. Currently i own a psp and think it would be an awesome idea to use a psp to play ss. portable pwnage =). It is a powerful lil piece of hardware that would be able to handle something like ss.
Im not a coder but i would like to see the following:
1.) Mac/windows/linux running a clone SS
2.) Psp/DS also running it as well
3.) More developemnt on the game, seems like priitk no longer cares for the game
as far as weapons and stuff go, you will have an option to map as many weapons as you can to the available buttons/keys. I think thats a small sacrifice to pay for having portable fun.
Maybe have 2 modes, game mode and chatmode.
Arenas set up for Handhelds only(for the ppl that think its too much of a dissadvantage to play off of a handheld)
I think everyone needs to get together and for a team. There are alot of ppl that share your feelings. (**cough me **)
http://pspupdates.qj.net/PSPace-Alpha-released-/pg/49/aid/48800
I’ve not played Subspace, but the game looks very cool. But with no unix port or means to promote active development, I’m less than excited about trying to play. I was interested in Subspace, because I wanted a revamp of Nettrek. Since Subspace is a total no go for outside developers, why not spend time resurrecting Nettrek instead?
Another game which looks very cool is Uniball. However, it appears Uniball is a Windows only game too. I love the idea of a top down multiplayer game played like a sport. And even though I’m currently running Windows as my main OS, if I don’t see support for Linux/FreeBSD/MacOSX, I don’t even bother to play. I want to stay flexible in my choice of OS. I can’t fault commercial companies for making the choice to stay with only one platform, but to have communities form only to support a single platform…that just seems dumb.
working on it…
windows binary for now, but I’m not using anything dependent on windows.
http://rshl.org/bak/client.html
Does anyone knows of public servers that accept Subspace clients? It seems like all servers require Continuum :-(
Unfortunately Oliver, SubSpace is simply too old and hacker-prone. That’s why the Continuum client was created. :/
Hey BaK, if CLASS was able to crack the SubSpace CD and obtain the source, wouldn’t it be possible to obtain the same source and work from there for a new client?
Shit, subspace rocked. I had a squad and it totally sucked but whatever..
wait, anyone remember Bolo? I am totally gonna install that tonight.
Unfortunately if we want real improvements made to Subspace…we’ll have to cross our fingers for Bak’s client. Im hopeful that he’ll keep working on it, and bring some long waited improvements to the game. CR/Infantry type improvements…and since its SDL there’s a chance we’ll see it ported everywhere. This can only help the community, with new players. Imagine the amount of Mac and *nix users that would horde to the game…all the newbs I could kill…
In the meantime, if you have a newer Mac(intel), you can run Bootcamp or Parallels. Its amazing how well it runs in a Parallels window(80-90fps)…although I did notice some frame lag from time to time…
The problem with continuum these days is that there isn’t nearly as many people playing as there was 3-5 years ago. Hence, there are less developers and less interest in advancing the game. Many small efforts have been made, but without proper support, most have failed. Perhaps a large collaberation of whatever remaining developers there are that have interest in advancing the game would lead to more successful results. The one flaw with these smaller projects is that, for the most part, they were led by individuals or very small groups, and even if the project had succeeded, there is a good chance we would have the same problem as we do currently with PriitK, in that he alone has the source and there is no way to obtain it. By the way, drop by SSCU 17th Parallel zone sometime, that’s where I live. ;) Currently, I am Head System Operator of the zone, under MikeTheNose and Nurples (of Nurples.com webhosting services). It’s a smaller zone these days (a few years ago, it was very popular), but we could always use more players.
I want SubSpace on Mac os x. :(
I never played SubSpace, however I was very interested in it because of it’s similarity to Netrek. So all these comments of wanting an open sourced SubSpace client follow the same vein as wanting an updated Netrek(like) game for Linux. I think the only way to “revive” this multi-player top down shooter style of game is to recreate one from scratch.
On a semi-related note: Uniball is a very cool game too! I think that game is open sourced, however it’s all Windows API based. I always thought a nice Linux port would be cool. Could call the game unixball, as in Uni-X-Ball.
I’d rather see nice quality 2D games like these be revived in open source then see another FPS game for Linux.
I’m not sure if this has been touched upon yet or not, but I have found a way to operate the game on Mac. It’s complicated, but it works, and if you have uTorrent or some equivalent thereof you don’t have to buy anything except a PC keyboard. You download/buy Parallels, install that, download/find in basement/buy some form of Windows whatchacallit (You know, XP, 98 or whatnot), install that, get on Windows in Parallels, download Continuum, plug the PC keyboard in… and yeah, the rest is pretty much self-explanatory.
Hope that helped in some way to tide us over until someone actually manages to get the whatsit and make a proper Mac version.
dating chat room…
black chat rooms…