No Gravity is a space flight simulation and space shooter[2] developed by realtech VR,[3] a Montreal based, French Canadian independent computer games company. The game was ported to many platforms over the years as it was open sourced in 2005. No Gravity drew comparisons with the Wing Commander series.[4]
| No Gravity | |
|---|---|
 No Gravity PC title screen | |
| Developer(s) | RealTech VR |
| Publisher(s) | RealTech VR / Anozor (PSN) |
| Producer(s) | Vincent Black / S. Rubens (PSN) |
| Designer(s) | R. Genevois |
| Programmer(s) | Vincent Black |
| Artist(s) | R.Genevois |
| Composer(s) | Alexandre Livernaux |
| Engine | V3X |
| Platform(s) | iOS, HP webOS, Android, PSP, Mac OS X |
| Release | 1990s, February 2005[1] (open source) |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gameplay
editNo Gravity is a 3D space shooter that allows players to pilot a spaceship from either a first-person or third-person perspective. The game features pre-designed missions that are divided into multiple sectors. Each sector has specific objectives, such as destroying enemy ships or bases, escorting allied ships, or clearing minefields.
Upon completing the objectives within a sector, the player must navigate their ship to an object called a "navpoint," similar to the navigation system in the Wing Commander series. Reaching the navpoint transitions the player to the next sector. In the final sector of a mission, a wormhole appears, signaling the end of the level. After completing a mission, a debrief screen displays the mission duration, score, shooting accuracy, and a ranking based on the player's hit-to-shot ratio.
The mobile versions of No Gravity include additional control options, leveraging touch and accelerometer gyroscope functionality for ship maneuvering. On-screen controls are also provided, offering an alternative way to navigate and control the ship.
History
editThe game originates from a late 1990s realtech VR BeOS game called SpaceGirl, which was later renamed to No Gravity.[5][6]
Open source
editIn February 2005 realtech VR open sourced No Gravity with the creation of a SourceForge repository.[5] The source code and assets of the classic No Gravity are released under the terms of the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later,[7][8] making the game freeware and free and open source software. The game was made available for Windows XP, AmigaOS, Linux, macOS, and BeOS.
The game was ported by the community to the PSP.[9] In 2014 a port of the classic version on the OpenPandora handheld followed.[10]
Extended mobile versions
editIn 2009 an extended official PSP port, named No Gravity: The Plague of Mind to differentiate from the "classic" older version, was released.[11] In 2011 an iOS port followed, and later for Windows mobile and OUYA in 2013.
Reception
editThe game was offered by multiple websites as freeware download and reviewed several times over the years.[9][12][11][3][2][13]
The classic No Gravity was downloaded alone via SourceForge between 2005 and May 2017 over 270,000 times.[14]
Metacritic rated the PSP version with 65% from eight reviews.[15]
References
edit- ^ history on nogravitythegame.com/
- ^ a b No Gravity (PSP) Floats to the PS Store (archived)
- ^ a b IMDb. Retrieved 2012-30-01.
- ^ No Gravity? No Problem. on wcnews.com (March 2007)
- ^ a b NoGravity Game Open Sourced by Eugenia Loli on osnews.com (16th Feb 2005)
- ^ spacegirl on realtech-vr.com
- ^ No Gravity (Classic) on sourceforge.net
- ^ download on nogravitythegame.com "Source code and game data are both covered under GPL." (2006)
- ^ a b No Gravity: The Plague of the Mind Review on ign.com by Sam Bishop "Anozor's homebrew shooter is finally a retail product. Can it run with the big boys?" (4 Mar 2009)
- ^ No Gravity (Classic) by ptitSeb on pyra-handheld.com (Apr 30, 2014)
- ^ a b IGN: Anozor & Realtech Q&A. Interview between editor-in-chief of IGN and Realtech VR about its Realtech' company history. Retrieved 2012-30-01 (5 Mar 2009).
- ^ IGN: No Gravity orbits PSN. Retrieved 2012-30-01.
- ^ No Gravity Clean award on softpedia.com (archived)
- ^ download stats 2005-01-08 to 2017-05-14 on sourceforge.net
- ^ no-gravity-the-plague-of-mind on metacritic.com
External links
edit
- RealTech VR official website
- No Gravity official website
- nogravity official source code repository on sourceforge.net
- No Gravity at MobyGames