I am a big, big fan of space combat games. Galcon? All up in that. Homeworld 1 and 2? Absolutely. Escape Velocity Nova? The only decade-old game I’m still willing to fork out $30 to buy. But now I have seen Arthur Nishimoto’s Fleet Commander project at the University of Illinois at Chicago and I am absolutely drooling. The game, which uses the ships and factions from the Star Wars universe, has been under development by Nishimoto for about two years now. But recently, he opted to adapt the game for play on the Electronic Visualization Laboratory’s 20 foot wide touchscreen wall.
In the game, players take the role of either the Empire or the Rebels, natch. They sort their fleets, which include the capital ships and fighters Star Wars fans are familiar with (including the Death Star), and attempt to destroy their foe’s base to win. Besides looking like a barrel of fun, the game is being developed to learn about player interactions on a large, shared screen.
Though Nishimoto developed the game as a school project, Wired reports that he has been in touch with LucasArts who have expressed interest in the game. I’m already warming up my credit card. Be sure to take a look at a recent gameplay video, which follows below.
