Happy 10th Birthday, Escape Velocity

I remember my license code simply because I wrote it on a sticky note and it was placed in a fairly prominent spot in my room near my computer.

For better or for worse, EV has had a tremendous impact on my life, in the paths I've taken. The tinkering around I used to do with it was a lot of fun. It taught me a lot about computers, and other things. But given it's been almost 10 years here for me, I wonder if I should just move on... (or not).

Cham

I remember downloading EVC off something called a BBS(?) during summer vacation in 7th grade, after my brother showed me how to use the Mac he borrowed for his project from school. I still have very fond memories of sneaking into his room after he leaves the house, plunking myself down in front of the computer (which for some reason was always sitting on the floor) and spending the entire afternoon doing Fedex misions, trying to scrape enough cash to buy a new Courier (for some reason combat just wasn't very interesting to me.)

Later on, when I got into high school, I secretly installed EV on one of the computers in the school lab to pass the time during lunch hours. Some of the other guys who used to hang out at the lab quickly followed suit and pretty soon it became a daily ritual for us until the teachers finally shut down the lab, though it was eventually reopened. (Incidentally, the computer lab in the library, which ran on Windows, was shut down the previous year when 10-20 guys would show up every day to play Starcraft on LAN. Good times.)

Eventually, EVN came out and I was able to play it at home. I was both surprised by how little had changed with the new game and how much my feelings towards the genre had cooled over the years. What was once new and exciting now felt tired and repetitive. I stopped playing after quickly finshing most the major mission threads, only recently picking it up again to play the EVO port, which I had dropped back 2001 (the ship designs were a big turn off.)

This post has been edited by Iodine : 27 May 2006 - 05:38 PM

Wow... your story is much more exciting than mine.

Back in '97, when I was 8 years old, I began playing EV. As said in my earlier post, I got it off of a MacAddict Gaming MegaPac, which was actually mailed to my brother. He told me he wanted to show me this "great game" that was on the disc. So we head down to use my parents' Performa, and he gives me the basics. I was initially not really interested, but it caught on.

Now, back in those days, my parents would only let me go on their computer for a half hour in a day. I would always stretch that as much as I could. It was really a lot of fun.

I first read about Escape Vleoicty on a web site devoted to Rescue! , a somewhat similar, though to the dismay of lawyers everywhere, Star Trek -based game/ I got it through the tried-and-true method of downloading it on my 14.4 Kbps modem very early in the morning, while most users in the U.S. were still asleep and the Internet was therefore theoretically faster.

I can't remember which I played first, EV or EVO. It was probably EVO. Back in the late 90s (I think), I got it from a MacAddict CD and started playing it. I still have EVO, but I never registered EV. When EVN came out, I couldn't get it to install on my old Mac, so I waited until a year (?) later when my dad got an iMac. And here I am today.

I found EV 1.0.0 in '96 on a CD called 'PC/CD' or something which had thousands of games over 2 disks.

I believe I was 10, ah the memories. Installed it on the LC-630 against Dad's permission, however we both quickly fell in love with the game. I was absolutely stoked when I realised you could buy the ships in the shipyard and my first 'uber' ship (in my opinion at the time) was a light freighter with a Hawk Bay, which I then took into the next system and lost the Hawks to pirates, escaping into the next system I angered an Argosy and failed to outrun it With a mate we saved up and bought a Lightning, figuring it was the safest way to explore the galaxy.

OHhhh, and best of all. The fighter bay bug. Jumping into a system with 50+ Lightnings and 50+ Hawks. Yet somehow I was still afraid to take on Confed Cruisers, lol. I eventually got over that phobia, cause yeah back then Confed Cruisers were like "OMG OMG death, save me, OMG!! eject <radio static> BBBBBBOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM"

This post has been edited by Soul Reaver : 30 May 2006 - 05:53 PM

Super belated happy tenth birthday, Escape Velocity! Yay! I found Escape Velocity in a random visit to the Ambrosia SW page, and what do you know, a banner for EVN on the front page! I downloaded it, 'cause the starbridge looked cool, and I eventually registered it, after begging my mom for a year(a slight exaggeration)!

Wow. Happy birthday, EV.

I actually have a story similar to EVula's. I started playing EV and EVO years upon years ago at my junior high school, often with cheats and other plugs. (woo Quantumire!) I think it originally came from a MacAddict CD there, but I had a friend who played it and told me how good it was, too. It even influenced me to get a Mac as my first computer of my own.

(EDIT: I just realized this was an old thread, not sure how I stumbled onto it. My apologies for necromancy.)

This post has been edited by SteveVo8a : 27 June 2006 - 07:31 AM

I joined up late in the game with EV:O. This must have been 1998 or '99, either junior high or high school for me. My Dad pointed out its review in a Macworld magazine, which we probably still have. A mention that your role was reminiscent of Han Solo, and I had to give it a try. I actually have yet to play EV, only Override and Nova.

Oh dear. It's been ten years, then?

Ah, yes, I believe it was back in '96 when I first started out from Levo.. playin'on my parents' machine. A performa at the time? Not sure.. we've had many types. Mac Plus, Mac Classic, LC, LCII, Performa, Powermac..

An' it's still a great game. raises an imaginary glass

Wow. 10 years. I must be nuts.

I never got far in the game until 2 years ago, as I never discovered trade routes or went into Rebel systems. I was so ecstatic when I reached 1 million credits doing rush missions. Then I discovered the storylines when I wanted to screw up a pilot. Now he has 67 Million and has almost dominated the whole galaxy.

My first favorite game was Harry the Handsome Executive. Shooting Robots with the Bi-Angular Directional Advanced Stapling System is hilarious.

Um 10 years eh! Makes ya feel old
Been playin it all that time + still play it sometimes. Got it off a Mac Format cd. I first played it in 1996 on my trusty Performa 6320 running os 7.5.3 (Apple's buggiest ever release!). when it didn't crash on startup it was a good game. Conquered the entire galaxy
The 6320 still works too...

Very, very belated Happy Birthday, EV.

Recently I downloaded the EV conversion for EVN. When I started up the load screen, read the text and then saw my tiny little white shuttle orbiting the neutral planet of Levo. That, and then just beginning on EV - going around doing Rush Delivery missions while all the system were yet to be on my map - boy, was that a nostalgia trip back a few years.

I can remeber getting Escape Velocity way back when on a MacAddict (or was it MacWorld?) CD back in '96 or so (not sure when). I remember the old escape-velocity.com website, the early downloads page and all that stuff. Heck, I remember getting EVO back in '98 and thinking it initially to be a prequel to EV.

Man, these newbies don't know what they missed, their first EV experience being with Nova and all. (No offense.)

God bless,

UE Patriot

Yeah, I got EV on a MacFormat CD in 1996. Actually, that's a lie. It was a floppy.

Anyway, my brother and I played that game for about 3 years solid, downloading plugs (including my favourite, which was called Imperial something, and added two ships, one of which was green and called a scorpion. It rocked) and making our own with EVedit, which sucked.

Then I played EVO, and didn't like it, so went back to the original. Then it was 2002 and EVN came out, which I loved. Unfortunately I went to uni, and lost it again.

Cue being bought a PC and EVN for PC coming out, and I was happy once again. Around that time I joined here, and that was it.

Then I went to uni, lost my mac, and EVN

I tried EV while going through shareware games on old MacFormat CD's. '97 sounds about right, but the game was horrible. All you could do was drive around this planet called "Levo". A year later I rediscovered the game like it was supposed to be played, with hyperspace and everything. I even understood what was being said as I had studied English at school (I was... 10 years old?). Override was out, but from the start I had, and still do, preferred the original EV.

The game kept me entertained for many years, and eventually I registered Override and Nova as well. But they never had that same feeling. Living in New Zealand I discovered the web board and became active, but after moving back to Finland I updated my e-mail address wrongly and could not access my account. After that I became inactive, got a Windows machine ("oh no") and EV began to disappear from my life. The TC for EVN just can't beat the original. Perhaps I should buy an old mac just for that?

Now I want my EV back! And honestly, it doesn't feel like it's been that long. Most hit games cost a lot and are played through in only hours. But EV... 6 years of playing only EV and demos of random games (MacFormat<3) I never felt bored. Now, after a few years of hiatus, I'd be willing to get back to the cockpit of that puny white box. Gotta thank those people who made this possible!

Fall '96: I inserted my BMUG CD (came in the Mac Bible goodies pack) into our Performa 550, and found EV 1.0.2. I saw it was from Ambrosia, and thought "man, another arcade remake? Oh well, I'll give it a try." So I started it up. The startup screen held a lot of promise. Then I created my pilot "a lot of work for a game." I flew around Levo for a while. And then I figured out how to hyperspace. I jumped to the Rigel system, and sat there, stunned for almost 30 seconds as the implications sank into my 12 year old head. And I was hooked from that moment. I think Clavus was my favorite plugin. I didn't get too many, we didn't have internet in those days.

When EV:O came out, I ordered it on floppies from a mac user group. That was a happy day when my 4 floppies showed up in the mail.

I was pretty active on the old EV:O boards, but when they shut down I drifted on to other things. I still play EV:N every once in a while. I made a list of "You Know You've Been Playing EV:Nova Too Long When..." My favorite: #4. As soon as you get a new car, you immediately start stripping off extra parts to make more room for “weapons”, and try to sell them back to the dealer.

Happy (belated) 10th birthday Escape Velocity, and here's to 10 more years!

Wow, has it been ten years? Time flies when you're having fun. I can't remember when I first started playing EV, I've kinda grown up with it ^_^