Spiritual successor to SunDog: Frozen Legacy?

[bfollowell]

Are there any other, shall we say mature, gamers on here that think this game looks somewhat familiar? When I saw the screenshots in a recent issue of PC Gamer, the first thought that came to mind was an old game from 1985 I used to play on my Atari ST back in college called SunDog: Frozen Legacy. It was produced by FTL Games who also produced the better known Dungeon Master back in the day.

Seeing as there is more than just a passing resemblance, at least to my aged eyes, to the main ship in that game, and seeing that there is the FTL link, I have to wonder if at least some of those individuals responsible for those classics are in on this, or if, at the very least, this might be some sort of tribute.

Check out the attached link and tell me what you think.

I can't wait to check this baby out!

- Byron Followell

http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-st/sundog-frozen-legacy

[Justin]

I don't know if I'm ruining any mystery, but the first time we heard about SunDog was when we were researching the name FTL (and came across the studio name FTL Games). I watched a let's play and it was quite interesting. A lot of our gameplay inspirations came from boardgames as much as computer games.

Of course our game concept is a pretty common shared fantasy among people, not surprising when there's lots of similarities. We all draw from a shared pool of inspirations I guess.

[bfollowell]

Well, the more I look into FTL, read about it and watch the videos, it does look like it's only similar to Sundog in one tiny aspect of its gameplay and FTL seems to take that much further than was even capable at the time Sundog was published. I guess the top-down view and the title FTL are really the main things that bring back the memories.

Either way, it looks great and I am definitely anxious to give it a try.

Great work and good luck guys.

- Byron

[aviphysics]

Looking at youtube videos, it seems like Sundog has more in common with the X series of space sims.

[martintheced]

It's not "Sundog: The Frozen Legacy" that has things in common with other video games... It's other video games which have things in common with Sundog

You bet "Sundog: The Frozen Legacy", which came out in 1984, looked "interesting"...

People don't realize how advanced Sundog was when it came out more than 25 years ago . It had a complete trading engine where you'd buy / sell goods / commodities. The author of the game --from the company called FTL-- went as far as writing a (computer) language interpreter inside Sundog so they could code Sundog in a powerful language.

When I just discovered "FTL" and saw the screenshot + video I immediately thought about Sundog. That's a lot of coincidence: the name, the "open view" of the ships from above, the "levels" of charge, the space pirates, the "warp engine", the way you apparently drop items in slots (btw FTL invented this inventory/slot thing back in the early eighties and that concept is still used today in WoW / Diablo 3 / Warcraft 3 (for the hero items) and basically a gigantic number of games) and whatnots.

The heritage is there. It may be "subconscious", it may be part of "shared fantaisies"... But they then would be "shared fantaisies" that Sundog did help spread inside our subconscious throughout time.

One of the original author of Sundog (Bruce Webster) is still getting fan mails / emails... Today!

Can you imagine how advanced such a game was 25 years ago!? It was easily the most addictive game of the mid-eighties and I can tell you that I couldn't stop playing it: I was Han Solo, the space pirate/trader

Of course a quarter century later games are "more advanced" and it's a good thing.

Keep on the good work: FTL looks gorgeous and I wish you lots and lots of success!

And thanks for bringing back memories (even if it's "involuntary"),

an "oldster" who remembers playing "Sundog: The Frozen Legacy" a quarter-century ago as if it was yesterday ...

[Sundog]

FUNNY! I thought the exact same thing! I started playing FTL yesterday and it flooded me with memories of many fun times playing Sundog Frozen Legacy!
I even started naming my first ships Sundog 1-11

Thank you for making such a great game!

[Dinistreniad]

Wow!

I saw this game for the first time today, Steam has it in a promotion. I immediately thought OMG Sundog!, then I Googled it and ended up here

FTL made my three of my favorite games from that era (Sundog, Oids and Dungeon Master), makes me with there really was a connection.

Danielle x

[Vindaloo]

FTL is also very similar to the boardgame Battlestations! The boardgame is hoots of fun to play, and is one of the reasons I love FTL so much.

[Gulinborsti]

I am totally startled.

When I heard that there is a game out there called FTL I immediately jumped back in time for about 28 years and saw the hours I spent playing Sundog: The Frozen Legacy back when I got my first comupter (Atari ST 1040).

I am not sure if any of the makers of this game are related to the guys how brought up Sundog "some years" ago.

As somebody already mentioned above, Sundog was the mother of all (space) RPGs, a milestone in gaming industries.
I actually played it 2 years ago (DosBox FTW) and despite the graphics, SunDog has still more depth than most modern games.

Well, I will give FTL a try, just for the memories.

[UltraMantis]

Justin confirmed in the 2nd post that there is no relation between devs, and that they didn't know the game before.

Though i did own a 512STM "some years" ago, Sundog wasn't a game i knew. I did love the hell out of Elite and Space Rouge, if that redeems me somewhat. Space Crusade was also pretty cool. Anyway...

Welcome to the forum, i hope FTL finds the right spot and hits it. Hard.