Information

Space Trader for Windows

Space Trader for Windows is based closely on Space Trader for Palm, by Pieter Spronk. Much of the information on this site was taken from Pieter's Space Trader site, with permission. Visit the Download page to download the game. The game requires the .NET framework 3.5, which is available from Microsoft.

News

2008-08-14 - SpaceTrader for Windows 2.01 released. Numerous (ok, 6) bugs were fixed in this release, some of which had been around for quite a while. The installer has been removed, since I am using Visual C# Express now (I plan to release a ClickOnce install at a later date). The zip for the executable also includes several sets of custom ship images. Thanks to William W. Connors for providing those! Head to the Download page to get the new version. One thing to note. This version now requires .NET 3.5.

2006-06-06 - Site back up! After being down for a while now (months?) due to Sourceforge switching database servers and me not catching it, the site is back up and running. Thanks to Travis Crincoli for helping me get the missing data!

2005-03-22 - SpaceTrader for Windows 2.00 released. Check out the History page for a description of the changes and/or head to the Download page to get the new version. Please report any bugs by using the bug tracking feature on SourceForge.net or by sending an email to spacetrader@frenchfryz.com. A huge thanks to David Pierron for helping code this release!

2005-03-21 - Ok, you got me. It's past 3/19, and I still haven't released version 2.0. I still have a few features that I haven't implemented, but I've decided not to wait for those, since a few people have already emailed asking where the new version is. I need to create some very basic documentation, then I'll upload it. Check back in another day or two! Then I'll release a 2.1 version in another month or two with the features that didn't make it into 2.0.

2005-02-02 - I'm still working on SpaceTrader 2.0. I hope to release it before 3/19 - I don't want it to have been over a year since the last release! Check back on 3/01. There will be a lot of new additions to 2.0: a few new quests, new "very rare" encounters, and probably the biggest change - the ability to design your own ship!

2004-04-06 - Home page moves to SourceForge.net. I've moved the website to SourceForge.net since the project source is now hosted here. Check out the project area.

2004-03-19 - Space Trader 1.3 has been released. It includes a few bug fixes. See the History page for the list of fixes. Visit the Download page to download the latest install.

2004-02-09 - Space Trader 1.2 has been released. It includes 2 bug fixes. See the History page for the list of fixes.

2003-12-23 - Space Trader 1.1 has been released. It includes several bug fixes. See the History page for the list of fixes.

2003-12-08 - Space Trader for Windows 1.0 is released! Thanks to all my beta testers, including (but not limited to):

• David Besselievre
• David Dousay
• Ames Grawert
• Andrew Kuehler
• Jack Lindsay
• Tim Schaab
• Jean-Paul Turcotte
• Eric Zippe

Support/Donations

While a lot of work went into developing the Palm version of the game, I put a good bit of time into the Windows version. If you'd like to show your appreciation with a donation it would be greatly appreciated. A portion of each donation goes to SourceForge.net and the OpenSource community. You can make donations using PayPal:

Email

You can email me at spacetrader@frenchfryz.com. Please check the FAQ, Tips, and Strategies pages before sending an email.

Overview (from the Palm version site)

Space Trader is a complex game, in which the player's aim is to amass enough money to be able to buy a moon to retire to. The player starts out with a small space ship, armed with one simple laser, and 1000 credits in cash. The safest and easiest way to earn money is to trade goods between neighbouring solar systems. If the player chooses the goods to trade wisely, it isn't too difficult to sell them with a profit. There are other ways to get rich, though. You might become a bounty hunter and hunt down pirates. It is also possible to become a pirate yourself and rob honest traders of their cargo. Beware, though: pirating is a way to get rich quickly, but the police force will go after you.

Features (from the Palm version site)

Some of the features of Space Trader are:

• Ten different trade goods are available, two of which are considered to be illegal but can bring great profits.
• Ten different ship types are available, some of which are especially suitable for trading, some for pirating, and others for both. Ships differ in size, the distance they can travel, their hull strength, the number of weapons, shields and gadgets they can carry, the number of cargo bays and the number of crew quarters that are available.
• Ships can be equipped with different selections of equipment, among which are several types of lasers, several types of shields, an escape pod and certain special gadgets like a cloaking device.
• You can distribute skill points over your character at the start of the game, to allow you to function well in your chosen role. For the skills your character lacks, mercenaries can be hired which may have different skills.
• There are more than a hundred solar systems in the galaxy, with different sizes, tech levels, governments, resources and special situations. These are not just for background color, but play a vital role in the game.
• While travelling to another solar system, you might encounter police ships, pirates and other traders. There are several ways to handle such encounters. You can even force a trader to allow you to plunder his ship.
• There are about a dozen unique missions and offers available, some of which may bring great special rewards.
• The ships are displayed graphically during an encounter. There are also large pictures during key moments of the game.