1993 · Adventure · Flight simulation

Nomad

Nomad is a space exploration, trading, and combat game. Its basic gameplay mechanics revolve around trading with various alien races (based on bartering rather than currency), as well as defending the ship against hostile crafts in action-oriented space combat. Compared to other space simulations, the game is more story-driven, featuring scripted conversations with characters and information-gathering. The game world includes several hundreds of planets and eleven alien races. The player-controlled ship can be customized with weapons (such as missiles), loaders, shield generators, engines, scanners, and jamming devices.

Released: 1993
Platforms: MS-DOS
Genres: Adventure Flight simulation Simulation Space trading and combat
Developers: —
Publishers: GameTek
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: First person Third person Text
Themes: Science fiction
Country: United States

About

Nomad is a 1993 space trading and combat game developed by Intense! Interactive and Papyrus Design Group. It was published by GameTek for MS-DOS.

Nomad combines elements of alien diplomacy, trading, exploration, and combat. It has been compared to Starflight and Elite 2.

›Story

A human astronaut is sent by the OESI (the Organization of Earth's Special Intelligence) on an exploration mission, but their ship gets stranded in the orbit shortly following the launch, due to a malfunctioning engine. The protagonist is rescued by Granger Tinker Brin O'Keef, a member of the galactic Alliance, which fights a highly advanced mechanized race known as the Korok set to destroy all life in the galaxy. The protagonist then decides to join the Alliance and help them in their battle against the Korok.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

All gameplay takes place with the player's ship in orbit around one of approximately 270 planets that are available to visit across the galaxy. Activities include general ship functions (engineering upgrades, repairs, navigation, and scanning), conversation with aliens, and combat. Most commands are issued through a menu system with keyboard shortcuts.

When in conversation with an alien, the player may ask questions and receive responses about any planet, item, race, or individual that they have previously encountered. Different alien races will have different information available about certain topics. The player's choice of conversation topics influences the disposition of individual aliens, and other game actions influence the friendliness or animosity between alien races.

Story

The story of Nomad changed between its early design and its ultimate commercial release. Originally, the game was to be titled Space Mountain, and act as a tie-in to the Disneyland roller coaster of the same name. Introductory narration was recorded for the game which described the player's character climbing aboard the model ship at Space Mountain only to discover that it is a real spacecraft. It is then launched unexpectedly into the Earth's orbit with the unwitting protagonist still aboard.

The connection with Disneyland was abandoned for the commercial release of Nomad. The story changed to describe the protagonist as being an agent of a global intelligence organization ("O.E.S.I.") that discovered a crashed alien spacecraft in a snowy region of Earth. They repair and re-launch the craft with the protagonist as its sole crew member.

Reception

Computer Gaming World stated that Nomad "is well balanced between allowing freedom of choice and imparting a feeling of progression toward the conclusion", and approved of its interface and multiple ways of solving the game. The reviewer stated that the game "came dangerously close to" imitating Starflight instead of being an homage, but "comes up short" compared to Wing Commander: Privateer and Elite 2: "It simply isn't as large, doesn't pay off in as many hours of play, and doesn't have the same detailed atmosphere and scope". He recommended Nomad to casual gamers "who actually work for a living and game 'on the side'". PC Player cited the game's simplicity as a positive attribute, while PC Joker was critical of its outdated graphics and repetitive gameplay.

Power Unlimited gave a score of 91% summarizing: "A fantastic mix between adventure, strategy, sim, action and mystery. The story only becomes clear while playing.