"Porting SS13 to Unity is a big possibility" says Joep Spiker

[Nightcaper]

Modding since the Commodore 64, Joep has had a softspot for Space Station 13, a game on the BYOND platform that allows players to step in to the shoes of space station attendants of all job roles. Space Station 13 didn't reach the height of BYOND game popularity until a code leak happened, and since the incident many gamers and modders have improved on the original code, hosting their own stations. Joep has been playing on and off on many of the stations between making patched DirectX files for mediocre PC ports and working with the Unity engine. We interviewed Joep for his thoughts on Space Station 13, and the future.


"Space Station 13 is a very original game, and a rare example of how creativity can break the mold of even AAA giants from the most known developers." He goes on to say, "Unfortunately, the BYOND platform and its limitations show with a game like this, and because of these limitations, Space Station 13 can't really push the boundaries many people want it to."


We asked him his thoughts on how this issue could be tackled, to which he replied, "A port is of course necessary, and the idea has been shot down every time because of the believed 'effort' it would require to simulate all the features of such a complex game." We asked him if he agreed with this notion. "Absolutely not, I've worked with the Unity engine for under 2 years, and even with only that I can say that there are plenty of assets and controllers that can be used to make a similar, if not BETTER experience for the game, with better networking and more responsive interaction overall."


Joep concludes, "I'm actually working on a proof of concept, very much indev and nowhere near an alpha, in what time I'm not using working on other projects. I would say by early 2018 that it could very well be in late alpha or early beta."

Thoughts and opinions?

[Casany]

Yeah no, I've worked with unity and I have to say, it's never happening. Sure, you could get a game. Of course, it'd be missing it's chemical, medical and food codes, and ZAS wouldn't be included. Oh, and science is a no no. Actually, so is engineering. You'd have a husk of a game at best

Unless someone shows me a game like SS13 with the same ZAS/atmos and chemistry/medical, I ain't gonna believe it

[Sodah]

It's going to fail like every single other SS13 port has failed. It's not a case of "people not attempting because its too complex" it's just always fallen through becuase issues crop up and they're almost always rookie devs, you'd need a actual proper team working on it imo.

[Casany]

It's going to fail like every single other SS13 port has failed. It's not a case of "people not attempting because its too complex" it's just always fallen through becuase issues crop up and they're almost always rookie devs, you'd need a actual proper team working on it imo.

This too, of course

And there's also the community, which would be very hard to migrate even IGNORING all these problems

[Nightcaper]

Hope you all had a happy April Fools day!

[Sodah]

You didn't even post it on april fools day reeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Nightcaper]

You didn't even post it on april fools day reeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

It was 1-3AM on April 1st in my time (Central Standard), sooooo

[Sodah]

It was 1-3AM on April 1st in my time (Central Standard), sooooo

Forumtime it was like 11, reee.

[immaspaceninja]

You might want to take a look at griefly.
https://grief.ly/