History VideoGame / SubSpace

* GameMod: Players developed many, ''many'' custom zones that have their own rulesets over the years. Some even have their own completely different graphics and sounds. The longest-running custom zones include Trench Wars, Extreme Games, Hockey Zone and Death Star Battle--the former three an example of zones that mostly customize the ruleset, while the latter-most gradually turned into a ''Franchise/StarWars''-themed total conversion. Other zones come and go--for a time there was 17th Parallel, a custom ruleset zone inspired by UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. Many "total conversion" zones also existed over the years, dedicated to ''Franchise/DragonBall'', ''Franchise/MetalGear'', and ''Franchise/WingCommander''--just to name a few.

* Expy: If [[http://beginner.getcontinuum.com/guide/ships/javelin_top_angle_large.gif the Javelin's appearance]] reminds you of [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/US_Navy_051105-F-5480T-005_An_F-14D_Tomcat_conducts_a_mission_over_the_Persian_Gulf-region.jpg/1200px-US_Navy_051105-F-5480T-005_An_F-14D_Tomcat_conducts_a_mission_over_the_Persian_Gulf-region.jpg the F-14 Tomcat]] that's not by accident. After all, Grumman was the Tomcat's manufacturer, and the Javelin's manufacturer is [[BlandNameProduct Crummand]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: Following VIE's bankruptcy, some of ''[=SubSpace=]'''s developers went on to create similar games for other companies--
** Rod, Jeff, and Juan went to work for Creator/OriginSystems on a ''[=SubSpace=]''-like MMO called ''Crusader Online''. However, that game never left alpha.
** After that, Rod, Jeff, and Juan joined Harmless eGames LLC and turned the ''Crusader Online'' concept into ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infantry_(video_game) Infantry]]'' which launched in 1999. Originally published by Brainscan Interactive, Creator/SonyOnlineEntertainment bought it in 2000 and then eventually shut the game down in 2012.
** Jeff went on to develop ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Rift Cosmic Rift]]'' as a more direct successor/competitor to ''[=SubSpace=]''. Sony Online Entertainment published this game in 2001, and in 2002 implemented a subscription service model along with other Station Pass games, like ''Infantry''--and like ''Infantry'', SOE eventually shut down ''Cosmic Rift'' in 2012.

''[=SubSpace=]'' (also known as ''[=SubSpace=]: The Internet Game'') is a MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineGame in the style of top-down Newtonian [[ShootEmUp Shoot 'Em Ups]] like ''VideoGame/{{Spacewar}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Asteroids}}''. Created by Virgin Interactive Entertainment's Burst Studios--particularly through the efforts of Jeff "[=JeffP=]" Petersen, Rod "rodvik" Humble, and Juan Sanchez--the project first took shape as ''Sniper'', intended to test the viability of such an online game in the face of network latency. Initial feedback--especially the outcry when they decided to end alpha testing--convinced Burst and Virgin Interactive Entertainment (VIE) to keep developing the game.

''Sniper'' became ''[=SubSpace=]'' upon its return as a beta test in February 1996, fully becoming a public beta test later that year. During this time, Burst Studios added more ships and content. Rumors that VIE would make ''[=SubSpace=]'' a subscription model service like other [=MMOs=] never substantiated, and in fact the game received sponsorship from companies like Pepsi for its Pro League scene. At this time, ''[=SubSpace=]'' boasted 1,500 peak active players and over 850,000 registered players--not too shabby for TheNineties.

VIE implemented a retail model by October 1997, with box copies hitting shelves in December--the earlier demo clients now acting as {{Shareware}} and only allowing a limited play time. VIE also provided the server software to the playerbase free of charge, allowing for players to make their own zones with custom rulesets. This led to a flourishing GameMod scene, with a plethora of custom zones using their own unique rulesets and (later on down the line) graphics and sounds. However, things were not well behind the scenes at VIE. The company went bankrupt around November 1998, and with its closure the central billing server also shut down. Although alternative hosts stepped in to keep the game going, the loss of VIE's servers exposed the playerbase to a pandemic of hacking and cheating.

Though diminishing, the playerbase was determined to keep ''[=SubSpace=]'' alive. A Euro League player named [=BaudChaser=] formed the [=SubSpace Council=] (SSC) which went on to create a new and upgraded central billing server that mitigated some of the cheating. Then, Priit "[=PriitK=]" Kasesalu (who incidentally helped develop Kazaa and Skype) and Mr Ekted reverse-engineered the original [=SubSpace=] client without any access to the source code. This allowed the release of a new client, ''Continuum'', which helped immensely in combating cheating and hacking. Since then, the SSC network only permits ''Continuum'' to connect to its shared login servers.

As a result, many in the community now refer to ''[=SubSpace=]'' as ''[=SubSpace=] Continuum'' instead--in fact, that's the name it's gone by ever since [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/352700/Subspace_Continuum/ the game came to Steam]] in 2015. (''Continuum'' doesn't require Steam, though, [[https://subspace-continuum.com/ and can be downloaded separately]] if desired. You can even still run it on a Windows 95 or 98 machine!)

* AnimalThemeNaming: Many of the ships are named in part for a creature or animal--Warbird, Spider, Leviathan, Terrier, Weasel, Shark. The Nightwasp also fit this pattern. The Javelin and Lancaster are the [[OddNameOut Odd Names Out]].

** Although ships which appeared in the early ''Sniper'' builds (Warbird, Javelin, Spider and Leviathan) would return in ''[=SubSpace=]'' proper, they had ''drastically'' different appearances in ''Sniper''. The Warbird looked closer to a F-35, for example, while the Javelin looked like something [[Film/FlashGordon1980 Flash Gordon]] would've flown and the Spider looked more like a fuzzy pear. The Leviathan looked most similar to its ''[=SubSpace=]'' incarnation, but still visibly very different. Many other graphics, tilesets, and sounds also received overhauls with the release of ''[=SubSpace=]''.
** The icon for the Superpower timer was originally the graphic ''Sniper'' used for prizes--and speaking of prizes, what became the "engine shutdown" PoisonMushroom was originally called "sticky glue."

** ''[=SubSpace=]'s'' client received a graphical overhaul during development, changing from a simple Windows-based user interface to one that was more immersive. The ''Continuum'' client, while less impressive visually, allows for custom user interface skins.

* BattleRoyaleGame: The basic premise of ''[=SubSpace=]'' is very close to the modern Battle Royale genre. When you enter a zone (or respawn) your ship is very weak and underpowered, and you must quickly power up your ship by collecting prizes ("greening") lest you get picked off by other players. Zones can have up to 250 players fighting at once. The major difference is that, at least in this default mode, there's no matches--gameplay is continuous and players who die simply respawn. Bounty and kills accumulated are added to a player's running total for that zone.

** Flagging: This is where you'd be most likely to find portable flags that must be held onto until they drop. Flagging zones typically had multiple base-like structures teams could fortify to hoard their flags. These modes either have defined matches, or provide point bonuses to the team who manages to collect and hold onto all the flags.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Bullets and bombs have four strength levels denoted by their color. From weakest to strongest--red, yellow, blue, purple. Zones with custom graphics, of course, can and do vary.

* CosmeticAward: During the pre-release beta, if you had the highest score in the zone, no matter what ship you flew [[http://web.archive.org/web/20230524040347/https://www.angelfire.com/nj3/shb/Night.html it would appear as the "Nightwasp."]] This didn't confer any special advantages. In fact, veterans complained that becoming the Nightwasp encouraged other players to hunt them down exclusively, killing them over and over even if they were still in a weakened "neg" state.

** Early on in the game, it ''used'' to be possible to destroy your own ship if your bombs detonated right nearby, but this was changed. You can't make your own energy reserve drop below zero with point-blank detonations.

** Ships don't need to "green" to power up before entering the fray. (Though that might help explain why the trio of Warbirds [[CannonFodder got effortlessly mowed down]] by incoming fire.) In fact, prizes don't appear at all, not even as a background event.
** The ships have much faster-firing guns, comparable to how fast Arwings fire in the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' series. The shots also have much more velocity of their own, again, similar to Arwing shots. Who knows--this discrepancy might have even inspired the earliest custom zones. Also, the shots appear as white bursts of energy.
** The trio of Leviathans pummel a Weasel with their salvo of Level 3 bombs, sending it spinning out control ... and smashing into a Terrier, destroying both of them. The game doesn't allow for collisions between ships, nor can ships take damage from hitting anything that's not a weapon.

* EasterEgg: There's a few, such as the "?sheep" command which displays a message that's customizable for the zone. There's also "bong" sounds which include a number of joke clips that zone sysops can broadcast. Among them: fart noises, an angry redneck ("Listen to me, you pebble-fartin' snot licker!"), a sheep bleating, a soundbyte from a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5uWMbTGoRM&t=87 1960s Justice League]] record, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CACYW9SQMo another soundbyte]] from a famous early 90's AT&T commercial, and the sound of gamers frantically panicking.

* EnemyDetectingRadar: Every ship has one, but they won't detect ships that are actively using the Stealth powerup. However, if a ship has the X-Radar powerup active, it'll detect stealthed ships. On top of this, in SVS zones the Weasel can detect mines on the radar, while the Shark can detect bombs.
* {{EMP}}: The Weasel's bread and butter, its bombs and mines cause less damage than other ships, but temporarily disables energy regeneration.

* GameMod: Over the years there have been many, ''many'' custom zones that have their own rulesets, even their own completely different graphics and sounds. Some of the longest-running custom zones include Trench Wars, Extreme Games, Hockey Zone and Death Star Battle--the former three an example of zone that only really customizes the settings, while the latter-most has (over the years) become a more total conversion to a ''Franchise/StarWars''-themed zone. Other zones have come and gone--for a time there was 17th Parallel, a custom ruleset zone inspired by UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. There've been many "total conversion" zones as well, dedicated to ''Franchise/DragonBall'', ''Franchise/MetalGear'', and ''Franchise/WingCommander''--just to name a few.

* {{Griefer}}: Originally in SVS zones, ships that had just respawned would have a ''negative'' bounty score until they collected enough prizes. This was a mechanic designed to discourage bullying players by repeatedly killing them before they could defend themselves. Regardless, some players still did such things, a practice that was known in the community as "negging."

* InvincibilityPowerUp: Downplayed with the Shields powerup. In SVS zones, the shields last for a hundred seconds, and the amount of time remaining is directly proportional to the amount of damage they'll prevent. If you have 95 seconds left on the timer, it'll block 95% of the damage. 50 seconds left, and you take half damage. With good coordination and communication from teammates, a ship with Shields can bust through killzones and carry their team. In more free-for-all situations, you have a short window of opportunity to fearlessly take on the ships with the highest bounty.
* JokeNameTag: [[https://www.retromags.com/rmg_fs/gallery_imgs/monthly_2022_06/large.1346240310_SubSpace-TheInternetGame(December1997).jpg.0dfd9db003008ba703bb7cbced6dadff.jpg One flyer for the game]] is a simple nametag with the name "dead meat" on it.
* LeadTheTarget: Bullets and bombs don't have too much speed of their own in SVS zones, largely inheriting the speed and direction of the ship firing them. Learning how to catch a target with leading shots is a vitally important skill--even in many non-SVS zones where custom rulesets allow for way faster-moving shots.
* InvisibilityCloak: The Spider's specialty in SVS zones--and, at least in some zones originally, also the Shark's. The X-Radar powerup, when active, reveals cloaked ships.

** The Lancaster's full make and model designation is Avro 4F/2 HMS Lancaster. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lancaster Which makes it an Avro Lancaster.]] The Lancasters of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII were famous for their role in Operation Chastise, [[Film/TheDamBusters in which they destroyed the dams of the Ruhr Valley with bouncing bombs]].

** The Terrier has double the guns of other ships. If it picks up a Multifre powerup, it can shoot four bullets instead of three. Its firing rate is subtly slower, though.

* MultiDirectionalBarrage: The Burst powerup gives your ship a one-time use ability to fire bullets in every direction at once. They're as strong as Level 4 bullets, too. The catch is, they have to ricochet off a surface ''before'' they become active and therefore actually hit something. Naturally, this means they're ideal for unleashing in a cramped environment where the enemy has nowhere to run.

* NoPlotNoProblem: ''[=SubSpace=]'' unabashedly marketed itself without any setting or plot--just an Internet game to play against other real life folks. And yet, the game had hints here and there of a coherent setting. Perhaps Rod and Jeff would have expanded on this with the plans they had for ''[=SubSpace 2=]'', but we may never know.
* PinballProjectile: In SVS zones, the Lancaster is the only ship type with bouncing bombs. In addition, all ships can pick up a "Bounce" powerup which causes their bullets to bounce indefinitely.

* PoisonMushroom: Prizes can randomly, but rarely, inflict your ship with a debilitating effect. Such as a complete engine shutdown, leaving you a helpless pinball for a precious few seconds.
* PowerUp: A major part of the gameplay--any ship that's just entered the zone or respawned will have very weak stats. Ships have to collect prizes (called "greens" because they look like glowing green cubes) to improve their stats and firepower, as well as collect special weapons and abilities.
* PreRenderedGraphics: The ships and tilesets are mostly pre-rendered 3D models. And of course, there's the introductory video.
* PriceOnTheirHead: As you collect prizes ("greens") and kill opponents, your Bounty increases. And the higher the bounty, the more other players will come gunning for you.
** Over time, player etiquette in SVS zones evolved so that it was frowned upon for players to target ships below a certain bounty, depending on one's skill level. The game allows players to set a "target bounty" number so that ships below or above that target appear as different colors on their radar--and thus, they can avoid picking on the weak.
* PromotedToPlayable: When VIE converted ''[=SubSpace=]'' to retail, they also made the Shark part of the playable roster. Before then, the Shark was nicknamed the UFO and was a special ship available only to sysops and VIE staff. (This is also probably why the Shark doesn't appear in the pre-rendered intro movie, unlike the other seven ships.) Owing to the fact that it was made playable toward the end of VIE's existence, the Shark doesn't have established SVS settings--in some zones it could cloak like the Spider and had the most energy of any ship, but in Chaos Zone SVS it just has the fastest firing rate.
* RegeneratingHealth: All ships gradually replenish energy reserves provided they're not draining them somehow, getting hit by something, or have had regeneration disabled by EMP. You can increase the regeneration rate by picking up prizes.
* SecondaryFire: Bombs can instead be deployed as completely stationary mines. (And of course, the Weasel's mines are EMP mines.)

* {{Superweapon}}: The Thor's Hammer special weapon qualifies. Looking like an oversized atom, it's nastiest projectile in the game. It completely ignores walls and obstacles and has a higher proximity detonation radius compared to regular proximity bombs. As one common guide notes, a group of ships synchronizing their Thor shots can completely clear out a team holed up within a base.

* TechDemoGame: ''Sniper'' was this, in the sense the whole point of it was to feel out the effects of lag in online gaming as well as the gauge interest in a full-blown game on the top-down ''VideoGame/{{Spacewar}}'' premise.
* TeleportInterdiction: The Anti-Warp powerup prevents enemy ships from warping or attaching to other ships while active.

* VanillaEdition: Technically, this is what the surviving SVS (Standard VIE Settings) zones are with respect to custom zones. SVS zones approximate ''[=SubSpace=]'' as it was in 1997, though there have been changes here and there. Although Chaos Zone (which [[http://chaos.svssubspace.com/?page=zonesettings lists its settings]] on its site) is largely the last major zone remaining from those days, when VIE still ran the show there were zones like Warzone (for squad-versus-squad combat), Alpha Zone (intended for new players), Turf Zone, Running Zone, and Philosophy Zone (a private zone for special events).
* VideoGameLongRunners: ''[=SubSpace=]'' has managed to outlast its creator company for ''decades'' and continues to receive support from its community.

** Bullets looked very different. They resembled [[https://wiki.zzt.org/wiki/Star stars]] from ''VideoGame/{{ZZT}}'' in their animation cycle, with yellow bullets being Level 1, red being Level 2, and both superimposed one each other as Level 3. Bouncing bullets had a blue pixel in the center.

** Although ships which appeared in the early ''Sniper'' builds (Warbird, Javelin, Spider and Leviathan) would return in ''[=SubSpace=]'' proper, they had ''drastically'' different appearances in ''Sniper''. The Warbird looked closer to a F-35, for example, while the Javelin looked like something Series/FlashGordon would've flown and the Spider looked more like a fuzzy pear. The Leviathan looked most similar to its ''[=SubSpace=]'' incarnation, but still visibly very different. Many other graphics, tilesets, and sounds also received overhauls with the release of ''[=SubSpace=]''.

** Bullets looked very different. They resembled [[https://wiki.zzt.org/wiki/Star stars]] from ''VideoGame/ZZT'' in their animation cycle, with yellow bullets being Level 1, red being Level 2, and both superimposed one each other as Level 3. Bouncing bullets had a blue pixel in the center.

** The icon for the Superpower timer was originally the graphic ''Sniper'' used for prizes.
** Similarly, ''[=SubSpace=]'s'' client received a graphical overhaul during development. The ''Continuum'' client, while less impressive visually, allows for custom user interface skins.

* EnemyDetectingRadar: Every ship has one, but they won't detect ships that are actively using the Stealth powerup--unless you yourself are using the X-Radar powerup, which detects stealthed ships. On top of this, in SVS zones the Weasel can detect mines on the radar, while the Shark can detect bombs.

''[=SubSpace=]'' (also known as ''Subspace: The Internet Game'') is a MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineGame in the style of top-down Newtonian [[ShootEmUp Shoot 'Em Ups]] like ''VideoGame/{{Spacewar}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Asteroids}}''. Created by Virgin Interactive Entertainment's Burst Studios--particularly through the efforts of Jeff "[=JeffP=]" Petersen, Rod "rodvik" Humble, and Juan Sanchez--the project first took shape as ''Sniper'', intended to test the viability of such an online game in the face of network latency. Initial feedback--especially the outcry when they decided to end alpha testing--convinced Burst and Virgin Interactive Entertainment (VIE) to keep developing the game.

VIE implemented a retail model by October 1997, with box copies hitting shelves in December--the earlier demo clients now acting as {{Shareware}} and only allowing a limited play time. VIE also provided the server software to the playerbase free of charge--allowing for players to make their own zones with custom rulesets. This led to a flourishing GameMod scene, with a plethora of custom zones using their own unique rulesets and (later on down the line) graphics and sounds. However, things were not well behind the scenes at VIE. The company went bankrupt around November 1998. Without the central billing server, the game was exposed to a plethora of hacking and cheating.

Though diminishing, the playerbase was determined to keep ''[=SubSpace=]'' alive. A Euro League player named [=BaudChaser=] formed the [=SubSpace Council=] (SSC) which went on to create a new and upgraded central billing server that mitigated some of the cheating. Then Priit "[=PriitK=]" Kasesalu (who, incidentally, helped develop Kazaa and Skype) and Mr Ekted reverse-engineered the original Subspace client without any access to the source code. This allowed the release of a new client, ''Continuum'', which helped immensely in combating cheating and hacking. Since then, the SSC network only permits ''Continuum'' to connect to its shared login servers.

As a result, many in the community now refer to ''[=SubSpace=]'' as ''Subspace Continuum'' instead--in fact, that's the name it's gone by ever since [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/352700/Subspace_Continuum/ the game came to Steam]] in 2015. (''Continuum'' doesn't require Steam, though, [[https://subspace-continuum.com/ and can be downloaded separately]] if desired. You can even still run it on a Windows 95 or 98 machine!)

* TwoDSpace: A natural consequence of a top-down space game with no "Z-axis" movement.

* BraggingRightsReward: During the pre-release beta, if you had the highest score in the zone, no matter what ship you flew [[http://web.archive.org/web/20230524040347/https://www.angelfire.com/nj3/shb/Night.html it would appear as the "Nightwasp."]] This didn't confer any special advantages. In fact, veterans complained that becoming the Nightwasp encouraged other players to hunt them down exclusively, killing them over and over even if they were still in a weakened "neg" state.
** The retail launch removed the Nightwasp, but added a small spinning ''[=SubSpace=]'' logo that appears next to the name of the highest-scoring player to make it a little less obvious.

* ConcussionFrags: Ships can upgrade their bombs with shrapnel, increasing the amount of shrapnel released per bomb with every upgrade. The shrapnel "bullets" have their own levels of strength, color coded just like bullets and bombs, and can even be upgraded to bounce off of obstacles.

* CutscenePowerToTheMax: The original VIE client had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njyL3SaJVkE a pre-rendered introductory video]] showcasing most of the ships (except for the Shark) in a vicious (and three-dimensional) free-for-all near Earth orbit. Some of the ships (like the Spider, the trio of Leviathans, and the Terrier) get to show off their special abilities while others (two of the trio of Warbirds and the Weasel) [[CannonFodder get unceremoniously blown up]].

* EasterEgg: There's a few, such as the "?sheep" command which displays a message that's customizable for the zone. There's also "bong" sounds which include a number of joke clips that zone sysops can broadcast. Among them: fart noises, an angry redneck ("Listen to me, you pebble-fartin' snot licker!"), a sheep bleating, a soundbyte from a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5uWMbTGoRM&t=87 1960s Justice League]] record, a clip from a famous 1992 AT&T commercial ("You're not dealing with AT&T!") and the sound of gamers frantically panicking.
-->'''Gamer #1:''' I CAN'T LOG IN!
-->'''Gamer #2 (interposing):''' My machine can't download the update!

-->'''Gamer #4:''' Oh the humanity ...
-->'''Gamer #5:''' ''IT'S ON FIRE!''

** The Shark has the fastest firing rate of all the ships--two-thirds faster than the average ship--and also has the second-best rotation speed.

* PowerUp: A major part of the gameplay--any ship that's just entered the zone or respawned will have very weak stats. Ships have to collect prizes (called "greens" because they look like glowing green cubes) to improve their stats, collect special weapons and abilities, and improve their firepower.

** Over time player etiquette in SVS zones evolved so that it was frowned upon for players to target ships below a certain bounty, depending on one's skill level. The ''Continuum'' client allows for players to set a "target bounty" number, which allows them to, on their radar, differentiate ships below or above that target and thus avoid picking on the weak.
* PromotedToPlayable: When VIE converted ''[=SubSpace=]'' to retail, they also made the Shark part of the playable roster. Before then, the Shark was nicknamed the UFO and was a special ship available only to sysops and VIE staff. (This is also probably why the Shark doesn't appear in the pre-rendered intro movie, unlike the other seven ships.) Owing to the fact that it was made playable after Burst departed VIE, the Shark doesn't have established SVS settings--in some zones it could cloak like the Spider and had the most energy of any ship, but in Chaos Zone SVS, it just has the fastest firing rate.

* SpaceIsNoisy: Evident both from gameplay and the pre-rendered intro movie--but hey, RuleOfCool is in effect here. (Custom zones can and do play this other ways, or avert it by virtue of not being set in space.)

* StealthInSpace: While the Cloak powerup renders a ship invisible, it'll still appear on radar. The Stealth powerup, on the other hand, hides a ship on radar even though it'll still be visible to other ships. A ship that gets both the Stealth and Cloak powerups can become truly invisible ships ... unless, of course, they have an X-Radar powerup, which can detect both stealhed and cloaked ships.

** Attaching to another ship as a turret and then detaching also doubles as a means to warp across the zone, but doing so requires a full tank of energy and leaves you extremely vulnerable. Obviously, not recommended if the destination is hot.

* VideoGameLongRunners: ''[=SubSpace=]'' has managed to outlast its creator company for ''decades'' and continues to receive support from its community.

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/subspace-1997-330px.png]]

Not to be confused with "The Subspace Emmissary" from ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', ''Film/StargateContinuum'', the Canadian TV series ''Series/{{Continuum}}'', or the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Continuum}}''.