Lunatic Fringe is a game originally distributed as an AfterDark screensaver | Hacker News Reader

Lunatic Fringe is a game originally distributed as an AfterDark screensaver

github.com

I remember this one! In the same spirit was Maelstrom (Ambrosia) and HemiRoids.

https://macintoshgarden.org/games/hemiroids

Oh man, this brings back memories. Loved this game, Maelstrom, and the Escape Velocity series of games which augmented this style of gameplay with an open world. So much fun. I pine for games that don’t need half and hour of cutscenes and a tutorial to learn to play.

I have yet to try out Endless Sky, the open source EV tribute act. Could be good.

https://endless-sky.github.io

Ooh! Thanks!!

Might I recommend Star Sector? There's a lot of Escape Velocity copycats out there, but Star Sector feels more like the natural evolution of EV:Nova or as I recently described it: "It's EV:Nova where you sell crack." It's really good, and it leans into the scale a lot more than the Escape Velocity series. You command a fleet, later a faction, and your actions have interesting consequences! For example, you can blockade a planet by killing enough traders, and this affects prices throughout the galaxy! Also the mod scene popped off and hasn't stopped.

The only counterargument I can make is that the developers refuse to put it on Steam until it's ready so you need to use some sketchy 90s era payment site to buy a copy. Or just grab a key from the forums.

https://fractalsoftworks.com/

Thanks for the recommendation!

The author of the original game:

http://www.sticksoftware.com/

The sealiesoftware implementation is I believe a 68k emulator - and since many AfterDark modules back then did direct frame buffer access, the number of toolbox traps that would need to be implemented could well be quite small.

Ben also wrote Solarian II [1], one of the first color shareware games for the Macintosh. Also, early game with digitized sounds (and then suddenly everyone would be also doing them).

[1] http://www.sticksoftware.com/archive/Solarian.html

I love that they want to recreate it, as I spent quite some time with the original when I was younger.

However, right now it doesn't seem to run that well. I'm getting estimated framerates of around 5 fps on a M3 Macbook Pro, making it essentially unplayable.

I don't see any other comments about the performance - am I the only one?

For those wondering, this project ports the game to run in modern browsers. Cool!

Is there a port of AfterDark that runs on MacOS? Would love the nostalgia.

probably macos 9 :)

The company that acquired the rights ported a few of the modules to modern macOS https://en.infinisys.co.jp/product/afterdarkclassicset/index...

Hm, can this be done with other After Dark games, like Rodger Dodger?

Why is it named after a Tom Cochrane / Red Rider song?

All I want is an Escape Velocity MMO

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