Download StarForge - Sci-fi Strategy version of Minecraft
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Download StarForge and enjoy the natural merge between the sci-fi elements of Halo and the sandbox environments of Minecraft. It's a first person action game with infinite terrain, evolved inventory, combat and awesome graphics. So how does Starforge compare to Minecraft? Better, worse, different?
StarForge was designed by two Canadian guys in their spare time. It's a free to play game (F2P) and they've said that it will continue to be free even after it's released. It's currently in Alpha and you can download the latest version of the game for free from:
www.starforge.comBefore we start, just take a look at the following video and prepare to be amazed!
Video
When you play StarForge, you'll notice that the game has taken a lot of the core elements from Minecraft. Similarities include block building, terrain destruction and inventory management. But it's also thrown in a lot of its own material. The graphics are far superior and more realistic. Combat is way more advanced and guns make a predominate appearance. It's the introduction of weapons that shifts the game towards a different age group and away from the younger generation.
StarForge is also a game with a purpose. Yes, by all means, gather resources and build a nice base but at the end of the day it's you vs your opponent(s). Only one person wins.
Unlike in Minecraft where constructions have a more aesthetic appeal to them, in StarForge your base should be part of your strategy. Just like in C&C, gather resources and build your base to provide defence and attack opportunities. Opponents will look for weaknesses and you'll need to fight on several fronts to win.
The developers have described the game as a cross between Halo, World of Warcraft 3 and Minecraft which gives a nice RTS, FPS, RPG and physics sandbox genre. The developers prefer to simply call it a Fort Wars genre.
Early days and bugs
As with all alpha's, StarForge contains a number of bugs. This is all part of the development process and the developers are looking for feedback to make it better. The more feedback they get, the better the game will become.
Black screen problemThe black screen problem was one of the worst issues for us. The black screen appears randomly in the middle of a game and memory usage goes insane after 10-20 mins of gameplay (+2GB). Probably a memory leak somewhere. We found that by pressing alt+enter we could escape out of full screen and go back to windowed mode which seemed to solve the problem (temporarily).
Not loadingAlthough they've said that you should wait for the game to load properly, if you find that the white loading screen takes too long then it probably won't load at all. Try changing to XP compatibility mode and see if that helps.
You can help the developers out by reporting your problems to the official StarForge forum at:
StarForge forumTo sum it up
Alphas usually come with very little, but StarForge is a real exception. The game is already showing real promise, if they can just sort out those bugs and keep the community engaged they could be on to a winner. It's by no means unique, but for two guys working alone, it's pretty good.
Download the game and if you get the alpha to work, even for 10 mins, you'll get a real treat of what StarForge has got to offer. It's definitely one to keep in your top draw!