13 March 2006

A series of security updates have been deployed on the Digital Gamers, Inc. website. Older versions of the Starfire Online test code are incompatible with these security updates, so the Starfire Online servers are temporarily disabled. This includes version 0.3.5001 build 174, deployed in February of 2006. Version 0.3.5002, scheduled for release in the first week of April, will include compatibility fixes for the security updates.

01 February 2004

While preparing the Starfire Online Tactical game and portions of the Starfire Online Space Master Aides, we at Digital Gamers, Inc. have also been developing content for the Academy and for Space War Review. However, we cannot do it alone.

The Academy and Space War Review can be an exciting way to share your knowledge of and experiences in Starfire, and a great tool to help new players learn the game.

So share your expertise. We need articles of all kinds for publication. You can find guidelines for articles here.

29 January 2004

Work continues on the Starfire Online Tactical Space Combat game. Version 0.3.0000 of the Starfire Online Tactical Space Combat game is going through internal quality assurance prior to being released to the play testing community. Version 0.3.0000 allows players to select from a pre-defined catalog of ship designs and scenarios, specify the starting placement of their forces, and move their units on the map.

Version 0.4.0000 is in development, and will add the capability to fire a few weapon systems (currently E, F, and G) at enemy units. With the completion of version 0.4.0000, the major functionality for the game will have been completed. At that point we will begin extending individual functional areas of the game to reach a complete implementation of the Elite tactical space combat ruleset.

With the release of version 0.5.0000, we will begin opening testing to the entire player community (testing is currently limited to Digital Gamers, Inc. staff and certain non-staff designated by the Starfire Design Studio). Watch here for a future announcement regarding open playtesting.

29 January 2004

We will shortly begin testing of several Space Master Aides. The initial tools will include system and scenario editors, a map tool for viewing a collection of systems connected by a network of warp points, and a contact generator allowing Space Masters to enter movement orders for player units and fleets and determine when and where detection events occur.

We will also be releasing a tool supporting Space Masters who have system data in GSFUtil format (and possibly also in Galaxy43 format), allowing them to import their pre-generated systems and use them with the Space Master Aides.