Space Station 13

Space Station 13 (abbreviated as SS13) is a top-down tile based role-playing multiplayer video game running on the freeware BYOND game engine, originally released in 2003.

Space Station 13
Developer(s)Originally Exadv1, now multiple
EngineBYOND
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows 
Release16 February 2003[1]
Genre(s)Roleplaying, Sandbox
Mode(s)Multiplayer

The game is generally set on a futuristic space station, although certain player communities feature different settings, including spacecraft and exoplanets.[2][3] The game is defined by its emphasis on player roles: at the start of every round, players choose from various roles and attempt to either help or hinder others' progress.

Gameplay

Space Station 13 is generally played in rounds that are isolated from each other: actions do not persist canonically between rounds. At the beginning of each round, players are given time to either create a customized character or begin playing with a randomly generated one. Players can choose different jobs, such as janitor or engineer, which dictate their role and responsibilities. The game is akin to a roleplaying sandbox game, with events in each round largely being player-dictated.

A screenshot depicting the game's graphical user interface in 2010.

The player can examine and use almost any object or being on the station, and is almost always context-sensitive. Different results will occur depending on many variables in any given interaction (e.g. Using a crowbar on another player would attack them but using it on a floorboard would pry it up). Additionally, the player can change their 'intent' between four different states (Help, Disarm, Grab, Harm) which will further influence actions taken. For example, using an empty hand on another player with help intent would cause you to hug them, but would cause you to punch them on Harm intent.

The game engine fully simulates power, biology, atmosphere, chemistry, and other complex object and environmental interactions beyond the vast majority of video games, which, to many people, compensates for its lack of visual quality and speed.

While different servers may have their unique station constructs, generally there are eight departments aboard the station. Supply and Service are also often grouped in the Civilian category.

  • Command (taking leadership roles aboard the station).
  • Security (enforcing the law, keeping peace and responding to emergencies aboard the station).
  • Engineering (generating power and keeping utilities maintained aboard the station, such as keeping doors functional and ensuring Oxygen is present around the station).
  • Science (researching technologies and genetic mutations, breeding slimes, and developing 'Synthetics' aboard the station).
  • Medical (keeping the crew healthy, performing most surgeries, researching diseases and creating clones for deceased players aboard the station).
  • Supply (mining for minerals on a nearby planet, and taking charge of the cargo, such as purchasing goods for crew-members and sorting through all disposed items).
  • Service (keeping the station clean and providing food, drinks, and entertainment for the crew.).
  • Synthetics/Silicons (consisting of the station's A.I and cyborgs, who are often bound by the Three Laws of Robotics, which restrict AI from committing illegal acts, such as assaulting a crew member, unless someone changes said laws).

Optimally, all players spawn at the beginning of each round and perform their jobs. However, randomly selected players are chosen to spawn as 'antagonists' aboard the station. Antagonists can range from mostly normal characters with certain malicious intentions, rogue artificial intelligences, and a wide assortment of monsters and enemies, such as changelings, aliens, Lovecraftian horrors, assassins, and death squads armed with nuclear weapons. It can be difficult for normal crew members to identify antagonists, and even harder to determine their objectives.

Due to the presence of antagonists (and, sometimes, due to players failing at their jobs), many rounds escalate into chaos and disorder. While some communities have pre-set match timings, often rounds are concluded when the situation becomes critical and evacuation procedures are initiated.

Plot

Due to each server's lack of an agreed canonical storyline, most if not all servers have individualized lores and backstories. Generally, Space Station 13 takes place in the 26th century on a research station owned by the megacorporation known as Nanotrasen. The station exists to research the recently discovered mineral 'plasma' (or 'phoron' on some servers), whose uses and properties Nanotrasen lacks knowledge of. Nanotrasen's influence and power have effectively made them a government entity, but is often left ambiguous as to whether they are good, evil or a neutral party (depending on the server).

Due to Nanotrasen's immense stature and massive monopoly on plasma, it is targeted by an array of third-party aggressors. This includes, but is not limited to: the Syndicate (a coalition of smaller companies and planetary governments), the Space Wizard Federation (a federal group of thaumaturgical aggressors), Changelings (an extraterrestrial species with the ability to take on the form of any organic life-form they've 'absorbed') etc.

Development

Space Station 13 was originally developed as an atmospherics simulator by Exadv1 in 2003.[4] Its closed source codebase was allegedly stolen and leaked onto the internet in 2006, giving rise to SS13's current popularity.[5] However, in a 2017 interview, Exadv1 claimed no theft actually took place, as he had voluntarily given the code to fellow programmers after ceasing work on the game due to personal circumstances.[6]

A large number of promising community efforts to remake SS13 have been started over the years due to longstanding frustration with SS13's closed-source engine and low quality of code. Most of these attempts have since been abandoned, and a community mythos has jokingly built up around "The Curse", a supposed force that is responsible for the failure of all attempts to remake the game.[7]

Regardless, three major SS13 remakes are currently in development: Space Station 14[8][9], Unitystation[10], and Re:SS3D[11].

Reception

Space Station 13 garnered attention from various video game journalism websites over the years.[12][13][14] The game has experienced an increasing player count reaching above 1000 players regularly as of June 2020[15] It has gained its popularity from communities on websites such as 4chan, Reddit,[16] the Facepunch Studios forums and Something Awful. The game was also mentioned by Eurogamer as an inspiration for the now-cancelled[17] game ION by DayZ creator Dean "Rocket" Hall.[18] Rock, Paper, Shotgun named Space Station 13 on place 37 of its list of "The 50 Best Free games on PC" (of all time) in 2016[19] and 2019.[20]

gollark: ++delete <@319753218592866315>
gollark: I am not here. You are hallucinating, hævpot.
gollark: Is there some sound in the background of heavpoot's µphone?
gollark: Greetings, a swiss spy. We know what you did.
gollark: IIRC this has issues if the shared thing contains further GCed things.

See also
  • List of open source games

References
  1. "Space Station 13 by Exadv1 at BYOND Games". Byond.com. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
  2. "SEV Torch - Baystation 12". wiki.baystation12.net. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  3. "Guide to Exploration - Baystation 12". wiki.baystation12.net. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  4. "Exadv1 - Creations". Byond.com. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
  5. "The history of SS13 - /tg/station 13 Wiki". Tgstation13.org. 2015-01-14. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
  6. BlackPantsLegion (2017-10-21), Space Station 13 Interview: Exadv1 (Yes, HIM)!, retrieved 2017-11-09
  7. "The curse of Space Station 13". Eurogamer.net. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  8. Evac Shuttle: Space Station 13 Remake Open-Sourced by Alice O'Connor on Rock, Paper, Shotgun (January 20, 2015)
  9. "About Space Station 14". Space Station 14. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  10. "Unitystation on Steam". Steam. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  11. "About Re:SS3D". Re:SS3D. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  12. "Space Station 13: a multiplayer space station simulator about monkeys, insane AI, cultists and paperwork". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
  13. Smith, Quintin (2010-07-21). "Space Station 13: Galactic Bartender Ep. 1". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
  14. "Space Station 13 (Game)". Giant Bomb. 2015-05-22. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
  15. "BYOND Games - Make & Play Online Multiplayer Games". www.byond.com. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  16. "Space Station 13". Reddit.com. Retrieved 2015-05-29.
  17. Purchese, Robert (2017-03-07). "Ion, the space survival game by Dean Hall and Improbable, is dead". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
  18. PULLAR-STRECKER, Tom. "Kiwi DayZ creator Dean Hall moves from zombies to space stations with Ion". Stuff.co.nz. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2015-06-22.
  19. 36. Space Station 13 [Official site) (2003) - Developer: Robust Games on Rock, Paper, Shotgun (2016)
  20. "Best Free PC Games for 2019". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 2020-02-09.
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