I have decided to migrate this project to GitHub. You can find the new project page here:
https://github.com/pr-starfighter/starfighter
The website has also been migrated to GitHub Pages:
https://pr-starfighter.github.io
This corresponds with a very exciting new release, version 2.0. You can read about and download it here:
https://github.com/pr-starfighter/starfighter/releases/tag/v2.0
I noticed in my mailbox that Project: Starfighter had been greenlit, so I went to submit the game. Unfortunately, due to ethical boundaries I refuse to break, despite being greenlit, I will not be putting Project: Starfighter on Steam.
That ethical boundary is, quite simply, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), an agreement where one is given access to secret information in exchange for promising not to share that information with anyone else. I, frankly, have no interest in Valve's secret information, and I refuse to go into a conspiracy of secrecy to gain access to information I do not have any interest in seeing.
To be clear, I am not against keeping secrets. I am skeptical of, but not fundamentally opposed to trade secrets themselves; I think it's right for employees of certain government agencies like the FBI and NSA to be required by law to keep certain things secret; and I think it's a moral imperative for all people's personal information to be kept secret. However, any case of anyone being legally required to keep secrets must be via a specific law. It is unacceptable to join a conspiracy of secrecy for information which would otherwise not be illegal to share. To accept such a contract is a betrayal to one's friends, family, neighbors, and in fact the entire human race, because it is a promise to refuse to cooperate with them.
It's very slightly unfortunate that Starfighter and ReTux will not be going on Steam, but this is so minor that I'm not terribly bothered by it. Using the Steam website in an attempt to submit and manage games requires a sacrifice of my personal liberty (by running proprietary JavaScript code) anyway.
I have edited together a trailer for Project: Starfighter over the past couple of weeks. That can be found here:
https://archive.org/details/ProjectStarfighterTrailer
Additionally, while Steam Greenlight is still active, I have decided to post a submission there for Project: Starfighter. That submission can be found here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=888700125
Project: Starfighter 1.7 is now available for download. You can find it on the Download page, as usual.
This release is a very significant milestone. All of the basic code cleanup has finally been finished, and the handmade Makefile has been replaced with an Autotools build system. This release also adds (rudimentary) Windows support, and a Windows build (compiled with MinGW) has been added.
This release also marks compatibility with resolutions as low as 640x480 by setting the SF_SCREEN_WIDTH and SF_SCREEN_HEIGHT environment variables at compile time. This means that, for example, the game would be able to run on the OpenPandora with no modifications. I was actually originally going to produce an OpenPandora build, but decided against it when I realized that SDL2 is unavailable on the default system and the way its community works around that is to use Code::Blocks, meaning I would have to set up an entirely custom build system. I don't think that's particularly worth it.
Other changes in this release include the following:
My current focus is actually my contributions to Naev, but I've released another Project: Starfighter update since someone contributed the changes necessary to make it compile on Mac OS X. There is not currently a Mac OS X build, though, because I don't have access to a Mac OS X machine.
Other than OS X support, this release contains the following changes:
While I was recording the new gameplay video, I noticed a huge problem: the amount of sound mines produce is incredibly distracting and annoying. It's a total sensory overload. So I've decided to make a new bugfix release to fix that. As always, you can find it here:
http://starfighter.nongnu.org/
This release also includes the addition of "make install" installing an icon. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in how I put this into the makefile, so there's a source-only "1.5.1.1" release which fixes that as of January 15. (I don't think it's worth the effort to fix this for the binary releases, since this is primarily a problem for packagers.)
Another year, another Project: Starfighter update! Version 1.5 is now available for download. As usual, you can find it here:
http://starfighter.nongnu.org/
This was at first going to be a small bugfix release, but ended up including a lot more than that. Here is the list of major changes:
Version 1.4 of Project: Starfighter has been released. You can download it here:
http://starfighter.nongnu.org/
There is also a new video of Project: Starfighter 1.4 gameplay, found here:
https://goblinrefuge.com/mediagoblin/u/onpon4/m/project-starfighter-1-4-gameplay/
The most notable change to this version of Starfighter is improvements to the character portraits I paid someone to do, and dialog changes which should hopefully make Chris Bainfield a more likable character. If anyone has any criticisms about the new dialog, please let me know. :)
Other changes in this release are:
First, I'd like to make a note about version 1.3.2: shortly after I released version 1.3.1, Guus Sliepen noted that the makefile wasn't installing music files, so that release was just 1.3.1 with a fixed makefile. I don't remember if I forgot to announce this version, or just wasn't going to.
Now, onto the news: version 1.3.3 of Project: Starfighter has been released. You can download it here:
http://starfighter.nongnu.org/
This release includes some substantial changes, most notably:
Another release so soon?! Well, yes. Project: Starfighter version 1.3.1 is out, and you can download it here:
http://starfighter.nongnu.org
Changes from the previous version are:
In 2003, Parallel Realities released a game called Project: Starfighter. It was buggy, badly balanced, and had graphics that infringed copyright, but it was a lot of fun.
Then, in 2012, Guus Sliepen and some others picked up the game, replaced all the graphics and sounds with libre graphics and sounds, and fixed several bugs. This was version 1.2 of Project: Starfighter. But it was still somewhat buggy, lacked any music, and had one mistake in the graphics (asteroid and ore graphics that were not properly licensed). It also did nothing to address the balance problems of the original.
Now, I come to you with a new release of Project: Starfighter: 1.3, and I will be continuing to improve this game from now on. You can download it here:
http://starfighter.nongnu.org
Changes to this version of Project: Starfighter, compared to version 1.2, are:
I hope you enjoy this release! Please let me know what you think of this version; what changes you like, what changes you don't like, etc.