Game Description
Pilot a gun ship and battle aliens, pirates, and other villainous enemies, to gain levels, skills, and most importantly, discover unique and potentially more powerful weapons. Through the unique cgNEAT content-generation technology, new weapons are constantly created by the game automatically.
Experiment
A key objective of this game is to explore the potential for automated content generation technology to intelligently create content for games. In GAR, all player weapons are generated by the cgNEAT algorithm based on weapon usage statistics. However, cgNEAT does not simply respawn weapons that people like. Rather, it creates new weapons that elaborate on those that have been popular in the past.
Game Mechanics
GAR combines elements of old-school space shooters like Star Control, action-RPGs like Diablo, and open-world space adventure games like Freelancer. The graphics are fully 3D but in top-down or "2.5D" mode. The chase camera and movement interface is similar to many online RPGs such as WoW. Earn ranks and credits by completing missions and destroying enemies. Use the credits earned to upgrade and customize your gun ship.
Galaxy
The game progresses through different and increasingly challenging solar systems. Throughout the galaxy are various factions, both friendly and hostile.
Game Modes
GAR game modes include (1) single player campaign mode, (2) instant-action system defense mode, and (3) multiplayer mode for up to 32 players with both coop and PVP. You can run your own Galactic Arms Race galaxy by downloading the standalone server. A simple windows GUI makes it easy to administrate your galaxy.
No. of Reviews: 13
Review 1
Purchased!
Can't stop playing. Got to kill all the bad guys......ALL!!!!!!!
Review 2
Purchased!
Tags: Tactical - Sci Fi Sandbox
Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from library
TLDR: Would rather be playing Everspace. No Xbox360 pad support. Art assets get
distorted when manually selecting a widescreen resolution.
Wave based game has balance issues with foes either not doing enough damage to
penetrate shields while kiting or large bulletsponges that do ton of damage. A
lot of sprites are just untextured black space with untextured neon 3D geomtric
shapes floating in them which was odd. The campaign mode does a good job of
gradually introducing you to the user interface but it is not really tempting to
grind missions and do the tedious travelling from place to place on such a
limited ambitions title when you could sink the hours in an experience that is
actually worthwhile.
Review 3
Purchased!
Yesterday, I purchased this game on a whim; I have not been disappointed since.
Upon installing Galactic Arms Race, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect; the
streamlined menu and 'options' were convincing enough, but I've been fooled
before. A few seconds into viewing my future crush, I thought to myself, "This
game is gorgeous and intelligent. If I was considerably younger, I would date
this game."
While I've only known Galactic Arms Race for a few hours, I feel it necessary to
opine:
-Responsive controls
-Smooth graphics when turning and strafing (even my old machine doesn't "clip")
-Cost-effective
-Gorgeous colors
-Low/undedicated playerbase at 1AM/during my vacation/non-working days
Tl;dr......BEAUTIFUL AND EXCELLENT GAME
Review 4
Purchased!
this is a game most people dont seem to recognize as a game of good fun and
potential addiction
as i've played this game i cannot seem to stop playing it.. i hope a good sized
community grows off this game
good luck to its developers please dont stop improving and expanding on this
game
you get my thumbs up!
Review 5
Purchased!
Read all the reviews. This game is a waste of time because there is no narrative
to follow. Its just a toy.
If you are ok with that and it is on sale, totally buy it. I'd say 50% off is
the fair price point.
Review 6
Purchased!
It is the exact same game in pretty much the exact same state that was free 4 or
so years ago.
The only thing that they seem to have improved in any way is the UI.
All the outstanding issues, such as enemy bases spontaneously spawning behind
you exist.
They just took what was version 1.1 alpha back then, added some buttons for
facebook and whatnot, and slapped a pricetag after changing the versionnumber to
1.0 release.
The game disappeared off radar about 4 years ago, with no signs of updates or
whatsoever after 1.23 hit (which changed next to nothing, by only adding a
pointless arena mode, but took down the official servers). There were talks also
of the university where they developed this game actually actively denying them
the possibility to go on Steam, or offer the game away, but i can't find the
archived version of that.
Here's proof of it being just that old, and being offered for free:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090719201120/http://gar.eecs.ucf.edu/
As far as the procedural weapon generation, it's in its alpha state still, and
nothing has changed for that. There are just a few different subtypes of weapons
you can get, of which one in a hundred are plausibly usable. The hands down best
weapon types for everything still are the starting weapons, or weapons with even
tighter grouping of bullets than that.
Review 7
Purchased!
A cheap game with a very, very interesting weapon generation system. Weapons are
assigned a "fitness" rating depending on how much you use them, with "fitter"
weapons being used more as the base for the weapons dropped by enemies. The
generation system is used to great effect in the weapons lab, where you can
mutate your weapons, randomly switching which values are used in generating the
shots and how they are altered. What's so great about this game is that you can
devise devious tactics using the features of one weapon and improve it as time
goes on as you get more weapons dropped which complement that strategy.
Review 8
Purchased!
Nope just that one fun gimmicky game mechanic like the weapon system is not
enough to save this shallow as can be shooter with such cookie cutter mission
design. You know when you have to play those boring tutorial modes just to learn
the basics of most games, right? Well the whole of this game feels just like one
big repetitive never ending boring tutorial mode for sure.
Review 9
Purchased!
The game is quite fun and very colourful. It is like pretty fireworks in space!
It can be quite a challenge to find the right weapon for the job and some skill
and tactics are required-
the game is certainly not too easy.
Compared to similar games- it is more colourful than both The Last Federation
and Drox Operative,
but without any of the depth that both games provide. There is also not too much
of a story to it.
But for the price it is a nice challenging and colourful space shooter, if you
need a break from more
serious games like TLF and Drox Operative.
Review 10
Purchased!
not recommended!!!
Review 11
Purchased!
7/10
The fact that weapons are randomly generated isn't as exciting as it seems.
There isn't as much variety as other games that offer random weapon generation.
It is similar to Drox Operative, but not as good.
That being said, this is still a fun game and 32 player multiplayer would make
this game really fun if I had the connection to enjoy it so I won't include that
feature in my consideration for recommendation.
Review 12
Purchased!
Great game that has a lot going for it already and a bunch of future potential.
Not only does it implement procedural generation, it utilizes evolving content
generation that is influenced by the players preferences. This game is as much
for the computer art connoisseur as it is for those looking for a unique,
evolving game to play.
Anyone who enjoys games like borderlands and minecraft for their content
generation would enjoy this game.
Overall, I have bought it for multiple friends already, and would recommend it
to art lovers and hipsters in addition to gamers who love finding new novel
things on a regular basis.
Review 13
Purchased!
I've bought this game three times to support the developer. It's a university
based project and the research into procedural generation alone could have
significant impact on the gaming industry and it seems that with games like
Limit Theory and No Man's Sky on the horizon along with the mainstreaming of
procgen rogue-likes, GAR is in the metagame at the right time.
Games have become very predictable in virtually all genres and while GAR seems
like a simple space shooter, there's a lot more going on but you have seek the
treasures. Back in the ancient days, developers created astounding games on the
legendary Amiga computer. They took chances with games like Mindwalker, Vyrus,
Archipelago, Sentinel, and many more. GAR would have been nothing short of
revolutionary even in those heady days and there is astounding potential still
for this game to grow into something insanely explorative and if the developers
would provide some modding support, a mission editor, and a few more game modes,
this game could easily compete with any AAA game out there in ANY genre.
If you are the type of gamer that NEEDS GPU melting graphics then look
elsewhere. But, if you like a clean aesthetic with graphics that for this type
of game ARE rather nice, then give GAR a go! The most important component of any
game is the core gameplay and the developers of years past understood this. The
proliferation of older games being updated for modern systems and their success
thus far proves this.