The game sounds interesting. Is there a new version of this? I've read some negative comments dated more than a year. So maybe there has been improvements to this date. Please let me know. Thanks!


Sean

Hey great game loven the story mode cant wait to beat it

bad game. No instructions, no control configuration, crashes every five minutes. dont waste your bandwidth.

Perhaps this belongs in the forums, but I have 2 cents & want to share. I found this site through the giveawayoftheday site, and I love trying out many of the games posted here. I'm not a real gamer; however, I have family members who love games, puzzles, and matching time eaters. I get to try out games here and know what to look for when I start looking for a present. This is a wonderful idea. Thank you for everything and thank you to WR for the usually comprehensive rundown on what the offer is, other places to look and bugs that he has found with the occasional workaround.

And yes, if you are going to comment on the give away make it constructive. For example, kudos on designing a game which is evoking such nostalgia. Die hard gamers that spend a lot of money on gaming collections will like something that reminds them of their youth. Those who have downloaded this are talking about a range of motion problem with aiming. The early games had the range of the joystick. You should at least be there. Frankly if I were appealing to the audience of serious gamers that I have know. You need the graphics where they are now as a skin over a much more sophisticated game. That is what will appeal unless you are merely selling the software and hardware components to allow me to play lemonade stand from my old Comodore64 on my new 4 core processor.

Thank you to the developers, Game Giveaway & moderators.

Not good, installed fine on XP 2, but crashes within a few seconds into the battles. As everyone says, the controls are terrible and there is no option to change it.

not a knock on a free game to try, but I wish this game had more... scope. more levels, solar systems, asteroid belts....

I grant that it's been rather a long time since the Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_(arcade_game)] was here and gone (maybe I'll try to get one of mine running again, got 2) and it was later than that when the star trek win 3.1 game came out- and both had more than 2 solar systems. If I recall aright. I'll have to dig out the win3x game, just for fun.

The arcade game was a terror to keep running, the X-Y monitors were disasters waiting to happen- but that went for Star Wars, too... though those could be retrofitted with a better high voltage supply.

the windows game was limited in controls, but pretty satisfactory in play. I'd like to see a remake of that one on the NT platform.

In the meantime, once I get through this one, (being in orbit is a lot like being a sitting duck, so that's pretty accurate) I think I'll dig MAME up and annoy myself over not having built a spinner yet, catching up on the old game. Maybe I'll get off the stick and make on so I can play tempest again.

What a horrible little game. Never mind that you can only go left right in orbit and the ship has a serious lag-time for aiming, but the graphics are abysmal with horrible triangular planes of space floating across your screen.
As soon as the action got heavy, the game hung, and that was it for me.

Sorry, can not recommend at all.

NICE ONE !!!

Thanx from Gouda, Holland.

Keep 'm coming, the goodies !

Have a nice sunday.

porchlite

Thanks for the offer too. Not bothering after the comments about buggy & crash (sounds like a freeware game). Words like that are off putting in extreme. Did d/l Tradewinds 2 for later. That site does get some nice games along with so weak ones.

Not the game for me ( I'm more of a puzzle & match 3 type person) but I am glad to see GGOTD back giving a way games... :) I very much like GOTD too. I always seem to find something to download & try at least a couple times during the week. Thanks much!

My apologies that this is in regards to several posts and not the game (though did post earlier my opinion.

Everyone needs to think about this (as well as the software side)sight in the way that it actually is and is meant to be. They are not giving away the software out of the kindness of their hearts. They are allowing GOTD to give it out in return for real reviews from people that use their product to see how it compares to others out there. Think of us as more of a Beta trial thing than as such wonderful people that they just want to give us their product. Once you start thinking of this that way you can perhaps see how to get better (as WAY to many keep complaining about).

When we start being more professional and offering proper reviews that benefit the companies on here then the word will get out how invaluable this can be. Then (and only then imo) bigger/better companies will see this and begin to offer better. No, I do not believe we will ever receive the first run, big names because those companies can afford trial groups of their own. This is perfect for those smaller to mid range companies trying to make a run for becoming a competitor to those companies. I believe that they will remember us as well if we help them.

So, instead of a one sentence (usually "This sucks." or "Thanks" so not even a sentence.) Take a few second to post a comment saying what you really think. WHY didn't/did you like the game? What were it's strong points? What were some weak points? How does it compare to others that were similar? You don't need to have several pages or go on and on, but at least say WHY you feel the way you feel about the game. Thank you for reading and sorry if I was to lecturing about it.

Best Regards,
ibwebb

It's nice to see the game site back. Thanks guys for all of your efforts.

Just want to thank you guys for posting this game I'm sure it is getting harder to find publishers in this down economy. Thanks again.

I rarely comment here, just because I find many of the comments to be tiresome. Let's put this in perspective:

The developer is offering you a free game. You may like it, or you may not. No game is going to appeal to everyone. My feeling regarding commenting here is that if you have something positive to say, say it and say why. If you have something negative to say, then by all means say it and say why. If you can't give a concrete reason why you don't like a game (it installs badly, play is jerky, it takes up too many resources)then consider the possibility that while it may not be a game YOU like, this does not mean that others will agree so have the decency to say so and then SHUT UP!

And no, I don't work for GAOTD, GGAOTD, or any software manufacturer or distributor. I am just tired of the incessant whining because something that is offered free isn't something you want. It's kind of like grazing your way through the grocery store by sampling one product after another to the point that you are so full that you no longer want to buy groceries but rather want to go home and take a nap like a puppy with an overstuffed tummy. If it looks good, sample it. If it doesn't, go to the next sample station. No one is forcing you to keep, or even try, every offering.

I dont care for today's genre of game so wont be downloading it, but I do stop regularly to check if there any games available, its just one of many sources to me.
I dont agree that big is always bad, and I wont feel guilty for using a site that brings me a lot of what Im looking for in one place, or for using a large store that also is more convenient for me.
That's what a free market is about, you offer the best you can, and people have the choice to either partake (buy) or they dont.
Chiding someone for shoppng at one place because the another guy "cant compete" with them just goes against the free market system.
No one is stopping the little guy from getting together with friends or other companies or whatever and making their own place bigger.
It isnt any "better" just because its smaller, sometimes Mom & Pop shops (and websites) are so junky its not worth the time to enter. Ive been to lots of them and wont go back.
Support QUALITY wherever it is, not whatever business model you think is better, and it will result in more overall high quality offerings. I also dont buy/not buy products based on the owner's (or company's or whatever) personal viewpoints.
I buy products based on personal preference, quality, usefulness & price. The designer/creator/manufacturer/marketer's personal life/lives (& opinions) are between them & God, not them & me.
My business is the quality and effectiveness of the product.

If I feel like I have to agree that one style of development or marketing or distributing is better than another based on the size of the company alone in order to participate here, then I will stop bothering.
Its been a long time since I saw a game offered here I happened to be interested in anyway. (The one I wanted most, a mahjong game, I happened to miss that day! Maybe it will repeat) :)
The point of giveaways, per the site info, is to interest consumers in the company as a whole & their other products, so its not a "loss" at all to them- its a bonefide advertising expense. Cheaper than buying Superbowl time, for sure.
If even the moderator has that "loss" opinion now, no wonder prospective contributing companies have been dwindling.

Hey... ugh how the hell do you move this thing? Like left and right keys worked perfectly, but up and down didn't work at all! This kinda sucks... but I do like how the shields last very long... and for the fact you can escape any time you want! :D

~Joji~

OK... Got enemy to show, but game crashes shortly after engaging them. Happens every time. Haven't tried it on my WinXP laptop yet. Maybe it'll work better there. Thanks for the input.

GOTD/GGOTD Teams, thank you for the games on the weekend and software during the week. I appreciate your efforts and the constructive comments of the community. Thank you also for the reminders of purchasing the games from the developers. I've decided to purchase my favorite games that I d/l from this site. You can't buy trust and the GGOTD/GOTD team have my trust.

Small company cant really make a profit or adv out of this Website..The game giveaway is more for well-known company that it's game could be found global(In my opinion)
99% of the Games giveaway is not available in my country(Singapore)
Still,thx for the game!

@ Jurgi

Danke für den Tipp

cu
Lawwe

Don't bother trying to run on Win7 64-bit, even in any of the compatibility modes. No enemy ships ever show up, you can't descend to the planet surface to attack cities, and the game eventually crashes. Too bad... I was hoping it would work.


..............................Moderator Comment........................


You have to either watch out for messages in the top right box then go to the map page wherte you will see enemies marked in red. If you warp over to the second galaxy you will meet enemy ships very quickly, but if you wait circling your home planet you'll be waiting for some time as I did initially when I first played the game.

Unfortunately, my review isn't going to be that far from the one that WhiteRabbit gave. I found that the mechanics of the game were buggy in my opinion. I felt like when I thought I was getting 'use' to the controls; something would change in the engine and leave me slightly 'off' again. Either I was lagging or ahead in my controls most of the time. The shooting part mentioned by WR wasn't completely clear until I got into the game. I cannot explain it much different, but it was beyond annoying to me. It reminded me of the end scenes of Star Wars... I was getting blasted at all around me and couldn't fire and was limited on my maneuverability leaving me scrambling for some safety. It left me with the feeling of those half thought out games that would pop up in the arcades in the 80's where you could never really win you just kept feeding it quarters because you thought you were about to 'crack' the moves to beat it. Yet, it was a game that if you did win it you were left bewildered at the quarters you spent on such a ... low budget game.
Luckily, no quarters spent. With a little time and effort this could be a good game. The graphics were 'old school' looking in the good way that were appealing to me. If found the warp system nice and reminiscent of 'Star Raiders' (Atari 2600-sorry, I liked that game and wish I had the pad still to play mine) but changed enough to be different still. The information screens were clean, readable, and gave the nice feel of a heads up display (80-90's style).
Although there were some very nice parts to the game; I felt the bad far outweighed the good in this case. There are to many other competitors out there for the same or lower cost that can/do bury this game with extreme prejudice (sorry, just had to use it). As a freebie even there are offered games that rival this game. It's limited maneuvering and times that shooting is allowed are some of the biggest points that hurt this game in my opinion. Though, fixing that alone wouldn't be enough to compete in the purchasing game area, BUT would bring it very far up the ranks in the free or extremely low budget games.

Sorry 'Some Company'. I tried to find more to bring up the score, but in my opinion Star Interceptor is a 3 of 10 in the $ games and a 5 of 10 in free games.

Regards
ibwebb

@Whiterabbit: In case you haven't already noticed, I have sent you a PM with today's questions. Are you going to make the post or I?


--------------------------------moderator comment-------------------------

You make the post GMMan, I've got too much on at the moment. Thanks. I'll do any revisions etc and when I've got time will add some games . Sorry for the late reply, I've got a house full of my childrens friendand they are taking all the computers at the moment. I've had to throw one of them off so that I could check for posts. :)

@Moderator of GOTD and all the independent game makers thinking they lose money if they gift something...

"When you consider there are well over a thousand downloads whenever a game is given away, that’s a lot of money the developer is losing."

Totally hot air; from what money the developer is losing are you speaking of? The money for games never be sold to anybody?
Come down to earth. Reality is that some try a game and then buy it - if it is good quality and makes fun.
There is no reason for any producer to gift any game if it is only good enough (mainly that´s the point..) Poor quality = no sells !!!
For example look at "Mount&Blade", a very good independent game from turkey, they did it right, and they are making money with it. Or look at "Plants&Zombies", or "Crayon Physics"... that´s the mark others should reach before asking for money...
Some game developers should simply go back to school before bringing scrap to the people.

In reality most users will never buy any of this "cheap made" games without originality, and if they did, they would be frustrated and won´t make the same mistake a second time.


..........................Moderator Comment......................

My commet is actually generalization. We have had some great games given away over the last year. Not many I grant you, but it is to those I point my commnet. I was trying to answer someones complaint about why the project is still being called Giveaway of the Day. Also I try to support the giveaway project as much as I can. However I do agree with what you say above, though some of the games we've had recently have not been that bad. I purchase virtually all of the indie games that are available. All of the ones you mention included. I think Mount & Blade is a great game and look forwards to a sequel in the near future. Others that I think are exceptional (not an exhaustive list, but just the ones I've played recently) include Crayon Physics, Aquaria, World of Goo, Multiwinia, Machinarium, Larvae Mortus (A previous giveaway), And Yet it Moves, Gumboy Crazy Adventures, Gish, Madballs in Babo: Invasion, Nation Red, Obulis, Audiosurf, Zombie Driver and Zombie Shooter 2 to name just a few. As ibwebb point out the game giveaway has become a great place for young or evelopers to show there wares. Hopefully the more constructive negative comments will help them to ijmprove their games. I do think todays game has potential, but it's not quite there yet. I certainly wouldn't buy it in its present incarnation.

And as I already said earlier, I'm talking about potential earnings.

I wasn't expecting much, but got even less... I know it's free and I'd play it for some mind numbing passage of time... but it keeps crashing on me too. This game is no longer wasting space on my hard drive.

thankyou jens for that constructive comment and I wish more people would realize this. I have also wondered why free alternatives were being allowed.

Anyway, In regards to today. Thank you GOATD

fun little game, thankyou some company for posting it

-------------------------------

Posters that keep posting you can get big fish games or game house games for free, why dont you go there and stay there.

Nobody wants your negative your negative posts here. These games are by personal programmers spending hours writing code trying to make a fun game. Those places are you are referring to are a conglomerate that doesnt care about people trying to build something, they want to crush the little guy so that they are it.
Anyone that has ever wanted to start a business should be ASHAMED to give your money to big fish or gamehouse, not only that their games suck anyway.

I know you'll probably edit this rabbit, Sorry, I went on a rampage.


.......................Moderator Comment..........................................

As a moderator maybe I should edit your comment , but to be honest I agree with you. These large conglomerates are making millions out of peddaling what I consider mainly ***p, but each to their own. These big distributors give developers a reasonable sum of money so that they can then sell the games at a massive discount. I do think the cheapness of the games is destroying a large part of the gaming industry, and its one of the reasons I no longer purchase from places like Big Fish games and will always try and buy directly from the developer. (Eg Alawar, who are still creating reasonably decent games still, though recently they have started to jump on the band wagon) We should confine this discussion to the forums, lol.

I remember something that looks like this game, given away as Callsign: HUNTER. Man, the engine was buggy back then, and it took forever to load. It seems the engine should evolve to be much better now, so I'm hoping it won't crash as much. Looking forward to trying this.



-------------------Moderator comment--------------------

I didn't realize you were going to start it today. Though it's a good idea seeing as there's no giveaway tomorrow. :)

--don't post below line--
@Whiterabbit: Have you seen my PM? If we're starting the giveaway today, I'll go make up some questions.

Wow, it's been a while since we last had a game.

@Moderator

Kudos to you for acknowledging and desribing the other game sites with free/reduced content. I'll point out that this site has a spin that the other sites can't match: GGotD is not tied to a specific publisher. This translates to a wider range of game types and styles. For example, if you have ever played a "Time Management" game off gamehouse, you'll know that they are all, basically, the same. There will be some minor differences and maybe some added minigame/puzzle content, but the characters, scenes, controls, etc. all have the same "feel". GGotD offers games within the same genre that differ greatly from one another.

Thank you very much, GGotD Team! I appreciate what you have done and are doing, and look forward each day to the possibility of a new game to investigate.



............................Moderator comment.............................

That's a very good point and I agree with you wholeheartedly. I cancelled my Big Fish account because I was sick of seeing the same old games being rehashed with very little added. The same is starting to happen with the big bucks games where they sell you the game then next thing you know they are selling add-on packs for example Railworks . The base game costs about £30, but you can spend over ten times that amount if you purchase all of the add-on packs. Borderlands have had three add-on packs, Fallout 3 five add-ons released in three stages, etc etc.... Thankfully as I've already said we have a flourishing Indie movement that are creating some very ingenious games.

When you consider there are well over a thousand downloads whenever a game is given away, that’s a lot of money the developer is losing.

I think you have to consider the fact that the majority of those DLs would never have even find the game, much less be willing to pay for it even if they did. So it's hardly a loss -- but if they make a good game there will probably be some people who'd be willing to spend money on other games from the same developer (which I assume is the whole point of the GOTD endeavor)

As for this game, not really a genre I particularly enjoy so I have no comments.



............................Moderator comment...........................

Okay I'll rephrase.......When you consider there are well over a thousand downloads whenever a game is given away, that’s a lot of money the developer could be losing.

Thanks for the game. I've kinda missed seeing ya'll on Sat and Sun.

Thanks... Once again you've saved me a D/L. I'll just go to "GameHouse" for the free HOG "Legends of the Old West" D/L.
"Happy Spring" everyone !

......................................Moderator comment.................................

To anyone who isn't aware of the daily giveaways from Gamehouse, you can get a free game every day, but they do have a lot of in game advertising. Usually every third or fourth level you'll get a full page advert for up to 20 to 30 seconds. You can also get a fully functioning game for free every week from Sandlot games with no advertising; (see the post in the games discussion forums. I think its still on the front page of the main forums so should be easy to find). The free game offer is always on Sandlots home page. You do require a free account to be able to download the free game and get the free activation code. This weeks free game is Tradewinds II. A new game will be posted monday morning (GMT). Steams weekend deal is 33% of the latest version of aliens vs Predator. I can say that the game has all the atmosphere of the original plus lots more. You can play as a Marine, Alien or Predator.









w

Oh, it's just a remake of old Star Raiders II/The Last Starfighter for Atari XL/XE.


.........................Moderator Comment....................................


You can download a remake of the Last starfighter by following the link below. The game is pretty basic but the developer has tried to get the feel of the original. It's totally free to download (just over 21Mb in size). Todays giveaway is much better IMO


http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/last_starfighter.php

Hi when I ran this I was presented with a black hole!

If you get the same press "Alt Tab" to get ouT!

There is no "x" in the top right corner
Kill from Windows Task Manager.
Image name
StarInterceptor.exe

On the front page of this fine web site it says: "Every day we also offer licensed games you'd have to buy otherwise, for free!"
Isn't that a bit exaggerated?


............................Moderator comment...........................


It was always the intention of the game giveaway team to return to daily giveaways, but the economic climate has prevented this from happening. When the giveaway project started late in 2006 you would still have to pay on average $19.99 for all arcade games (apart from real Arcade and Big fish games which require a games manager to run the games). The prices of most arcade games have dropped dramatically over the past four years to the point where you can get them for as little as a few dollars if you know where to look or are willing to wait for the regular offers that come around. Thankfully there is still a flourishing Indie movement that are creating good quality games that cost a little more than your average arcade game, but IMO are well worth it. The giveaway idea has also been taken on by other game developers, so has restricted the number of developers willing to partake of this project. And IMO the regular 'non constructive' negative comments for example "this game is ****" have probably put many developers off bothering. When you consider there are well over a thousand downloads whenever a game is given away, that’s a lot of money the developer is losing. They are only given a small retainer for allowing their games to be given away.

Installation:

There is no desktop or start menu shortcut created when you install the game. Also make a note of where it’s being installed to (or change the path to one you are familiar with such as Program files). The game tried to install itself inside the previously given away game (Space Prince) for me. Clearing out your cookies may stop this from occurring.

The Game:



The game opens up with you orbiting one of the several planets that you can navigate to within two solar systems. The movement controls while orbiting a planet are limited to left and right movements, whereas while in free space you have full movement control. To navigate between planets and the two solar systems press the space bar to go to the planetary map then click on either one of the planets or the other solar system to warp to that place. You can only enter free space when enemy ships are inbound.

Travelling to the other solar system will enable you to enter combat much quicker than waiting for enemy ships to travel from the other solar system. (when I first booted up this game with no idea how it played, I waited in orbit wondering what I was supposed to do - it took several minutes before any enemy ships were sighted on the planetary map, but once I discovered I could warp to the second solar system or to where the enemy ships were on the map I could get into combat within a minute of booting up the game) I would try and avoid orbital conflict because of the lack of movement control. You will soon lose maneuverability if your engines are hit and it’s impossible to hit enemy targets unless they are in the same plane as you. I tried several times and was killed every time, whereas in open space I was able to destroy enemies much easier. You can see any damage taken via the H.U.D.. Just look to the bottom right for the stylized space ship for details of where you have taken damage. Incoming messages such as invasion warnings can be seen via the message box to the top right of the H.U.D. There are two weapons, the Ion Cannon which takes a few seconds to recharge and the lasers which fire at quite a rate initially, but if you keep firing they do slow down a little. Bombs are displayed to the bottom left of the screen, but I’ve not worked out how to disperse them yet. :) There are repair stations scattered around the solar system that will automatically fix any damage and replenish energy reserves so be sure to warp to one of these areas if you are badly damaged. :)

The options menu is very limited with sound and music plus blur toggles. When you first start the game you can select from four difficulty levels, Novice, Experienced, Professional and Veteran.


Controls:

Arrow keys -------Movement
Ctrl-----------------Fire weapons
W-------------------Toggle weapon selection (Ion Cannon/Laser)
S--------------------Shield
Space---------------Planetary Map
Mouse--------------Select area to warp to

Conclusion:

This is a very basic space shooter with limited control over your ship when in planetary orbit, which leaves you vulnerable to enemy attack because you can only shoot in one plane wheras the enemy can move all around you. I like the navigation system where you warp to various places in the two solar systems.

Overall I’d give it a 5 out of 10 because of the maneuverability problems. If you like space shooters I’m sure you’ll get some pleasure out of playing this game, but I do think overall it’s a frustrating game because half of the game play has been spoiled because of the maneuverability issues; lets hope the developer listens to the complaints today. :)


There will be no game giveaway tomorrow, but I have got a few freeware games that i'll be posting so be sure to check over in the game discussion forums for week 78 to 79. There will be another game given away next Saturday, but not on the Sunday.