Life On The Frontier - 3030 Lore & References

Guide to Characters, Story and Lore, Secrets and in-game References.

Introduction

Music - The Kyoto Connection

For the Redux version, and with kind permission of the band, space travel in the game is accompanied by selected tracks of The Kyoto Connection, particularly from their album No Headphones Required 京都. (Link to Full Album):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKS08GSJ3ow&list=PLoBi9S4En2T7DrISxxN5Xp_n-krZPdV7f
You can check out their other works and upcoming projects at: ⛩ http://www.thekyotoconnection.com

Youtubers found that some of their tracks generate copyright notifications. Although 3030 has permission, the band had listed some tracks with a 3rd party organisation as some were being claimed to be by other people. The game option Youtube Safe Mode was added to exclude some tracks.

The Kyoto Connection is a musical voyage. A step into the inner universe through a mixture of electronic ambients, melodies, and japanese sounds. Inspired by the emotions, colors and feelings of the traditional japanese culture, the music of The Kyoto Connection explores different ways and musical genres to reach a unique experience.

11 years of musical development have turned into ten albums with more than 2 millon downloads world-wide. 📀 Bandcamp: https://kyotoconnection.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=O6ev3l0eYIc&feature=emb_logo

Lore #1 - The Backstory

The story begins in the year 3029 in a region of the Milky Way galaxy. Rumours are growing that another Deathwar is looming, maybe next year, so...

The term "deathwar" came to mean wars of planetary-scale erasure of organic life. The last was around 300 years ago. Though called a war by the general public, it was a series of planetary attacks from unknown forces spreading as a wave across the galaxy.

Attacks used self-replicating Nanobots, following the theoretical danger of Ecophagy.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_goo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azuZgT07IOk During this catastrophic period, spacefaring civilisations of the galaxy migrated away from infected planets. Leaving mega cities abandoned and gathering dust.

The remaing peoples settled on available planets in the sectors that where unaffected and converted many of the larger ships into space stations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NzuJAYPRZw
There's been no communications from the rest of the galaxy since the last Deathwar. Hense it's widely believed that this "Safe Zone" contains the only habitable planets and all surving organic life. Strong raditation damage affects ships that attempt to leave the Safe Zone, also disrupting communications. This leaves open the possibility of some life having survived elsewhere.
As the story begins the organic and synthetic life have settled into a partitioned society for a few hundred years. The vast majority of people living on the habitable planets and habitat zones on improvised stations, whilst construction workers, traders and miners freely travel the systems but are quarantined from the main populations due to the threat of Nanobot contagion.

If you asked someone in 3029 what was the situation of life outside the Safe Zone, it would probably play out like the opening episode of Red Dwarf, just on a galactic scale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shs7VQhVvxA

Lore #3 - John Falcon, man of mystery

Official records in 3029 are particularly easy to hack, expunge and alter. Therefore, his official age, birth name, and current hat-size are not certain. Early in the story he states that "John Falcon" is "the name I go by these days", implying he's changed it at least once or it's an alias.

To some extent he's an everyman character, but we can ascertain several aspects of his personality. This analysis of "Slacker Noir" seems applicable to the story and style of John:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD4f9Z-TuNE Our protagonist never uses available geneitc or tech-augmented body parts. He likely follows a more modest version of the incredible secret regimen of One Punch Man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7rBDKrWprU Falcon indicates several times he partakes of alcoholic drinks. He wears loose fitting rugged clothing, suitable for a bar drinking session, a bar fight, and running away from a bar fight.

John likes travelling the cosmos in high quality vehicles, built to good engineering standards, to music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-NvQ6VJYtE

Lore #22 - The Ships of 3030

There are lots of ships to test out and purchase in the 3030 universe. Page under construction.

Lore #5 - Taxi!

A noble profession. Taxing people and things from A to B. In 3030 it's a nice enough career with good pay if you can keep your accomodation costs down. At the start of the story Falcon is given an old shuttle and needs to rebuild his finances.

Lore #4 - Kent Robot

Kent Robot is an old but capable droid. At least over 500 years old.

In 3030, Droids and Robots are generally assumed to be autonomous legal entities unless people are sure they're not. It's disclosed at several points in the story that Kent chooses what it does and is not owned by Falcon or subordinate unless formally as crew.

When in a Ship's crew, Kent normally opts for a Navigation Officer position. It's implied Kent frequently wants to start investigations. During the game intro when it wants to investigate the dead body Falcon's response is, "in your own time".

Kent's face appears sideways as it's generated by ASCII type, in the same way as " :) " and " :D ". It has and antenna for an unknown purpose. In a conversation where Falcon teases Kent about being short, it's revealed that Kent could easily have longer legs fitted but chooses not to. Diminutive size being helpful when undertaking investigations.

Murder scenes are present on some stations. It's possible these are Kent's private investigations as police focus is combating spacecraft piracy and smuggling.

In an image from a 3030 Steam Trading Card (shown below), a tiny Kent can be seen walking on a derelict ship indicating it can space-walk if needed. It can likely activate magnetism in its feet, but it has no known propulsion other than legs. Can you spot it?

Similar to Star Trek TNG's Commander Data, Kent is never shown as making errors or poor judgements. If it chose to do so it presumably would be a more effective Ship Captain than Falcon.
Visual Influence: Kent's design was probably influenced by Adventure Time, an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network. Combing a shorter yellow sidekick and robot similar to BMO.
The personality grew organically but is very similar to Root Beer Guy of the same show, and TNG's Data, in loving the pastime of being a detective. Kent's chunky feet mimicked a random robot somewhere on the internet. If it can be found a reference will be added. Having a sidekick robot must have had some inspiration from Beneath A Steel Sky (left), mentioned further in Guide section, Influences - Games.

Lore #21 - Professions in 3030

In 3030, core professions are represented by uniforms, helping ship captains identify qualified staff when visiting the stations. It likewise helps professionals show their qualification for certain roles. Below is minor character, Cool K, wearing his engineer overalls.

Engineers - Light Blue overalls
Mechanics - Orange overalls
Miners - Red space suits (High Radiation PPE)
Police - Dark blue uniforms. Helmets unless senior.
Ship Captains - No uniform

Falcon is a Captain and doesn't specialise.
Early prototypes of the game included crew management with code for benefits to ship handling and repair rates from the quality and type of crew mixture.

Lore #5 - Vasquez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsuSpei9cf8 Vasquez works as an engineer, always with spanner in hand. When drunk she claims to be able to deliver a knock out head-shot at a distance of 15 metres. After Falcon's ship gets impounded she's shown at various points in the main story taking an independent path through the events to Falcon and Kent. Ideally, Players would be able to play some sections of the game as Vasquez. No game budget, etc.

Lore #2 - Lockdowns in 3030

As mentioned in The Backstory, in 3029 space workers are restricted to the equivalent of airport arrivals and departures, thankfully including a bar area. Being an adventurous type, also known as being under-employed, you are willing to live and work in this highly mobile class of self-reliant freelancers.

In the previous decades most stations had a ticket machine allowing Pilots and Workers access into the staton's habitat zones and travel down to the habitable planets. The story begins in a period where this access has been denied again after recent discovery of illicitly manufactured Nano Technology.

The governing body, known as The Council, allow passage from quarantine for specific purposes including landing on uninhabited planets and moons, which is also formally prohibited.

Interesting Fact, and a Sad Fact. Having a title starting with numerals, 3030 Deathwar is listed first in the Wikipedia section Self-replicating_machines_in_fiction. Just above the one of the most famous developments of Artificial Intelligence, Conway's Game of Life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machines_in_fiction

Sadly, John Conway died of complications from COVID-19. The English mathematician was active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory.
We recommend this interview by Numberphile where the acclaimed mathematician speaks about his career, life and death, and the mystery he'd most like to solve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOCe5HUObD4

Lore #12 - Law and Policing

Cops in 3030 follow mainstream 1980's buddy movie tropes. Police forces are under pressure from low budgets, constantly adapting gangs and organised crime of various types.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1980s_buddy_cop_films

Beverly Hills Cop was a great example of the 1980's tone of action comedies that 3030 Deathwar sought to capture. It's trailer was used as the template for the games Early Access trailer, however no funding was available for voice over so you'll have to imagine it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aYmBrXyISA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13avxa6wEoU Officer Grah is the local Chief of Police for the region where Falcon starts the story. He appears at a few points in the main story. The Force in this region opperates from a converted Frigate Ship called H.B.E.. It's not disclosed what H.B.E stands for but it's clearly the Police Headquarters.

At the Headquarters the bar is named the Thirsty Pig. The OED cites an 1811 reference to a "pig" as a Bow Street Runner– the early police force in the United Kingdom, named after the location of their headquarters, before Sir Robert Peel and the Metropolitan Police Force.

In the 3030, Red Letter Media's - Space Cop movie became a series and its latest sequel is advertised on the bar T.V.s.

Lore #12 - Frank the Mechanic

Frank is a well-meaning character who gets in trouble trying to make quick money. If Falcon talks to Gebbo (shown below far left), he can discover that Frank used to be a cage-fighter, and that he is forced back into action by Gebbo in lieu of compensation, therefore appearing on station T.V. adverts for upcoming fights.

It's not clear if Falcon knew this when he spoke to him in a curt manner regarding the Stolen Ships fiasco. However Falcon does have a history of being a bounty hunter respected by local police, so it may have made little difference to Falcon.
Various additional cutscences where made with Frank, playing on the idea that many other ship crews where also chasing him for refunds after their ships were impounded, for comedic effect.

Lore #7 - Jimmy Chou

Jimmy is an intermediary between parties, a fixer and grifter. Always holding his communicator. In the movie adaptation that doesn't exist he was played by Jackie Chan.

Zhōu is the Hanyu Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese family name 周. It is derived from the Zhou dynasty. In Taiwan, Zhou is usually spelled as "Chou" (ㄓㄡ), and it may also be spelled "Chiau", "Chau", "Chao", "Chew", "Chow", "Chiu", "Cho", "Chu", "Jhou", "Jou", "Djou", "Jue", or "Jow". In 2019 Zhou was again the tenth most common surname in Mainland China.

Lore #24 - Aggressive Guys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNMkADpvO4w
What's with all the Pirates carrying crates of Delavian Chocolate?
If you become a bounty hunter or are unfortunate enough to have to defend yourself from Pirates you might start to notice something. When Pirate ships explode their cargo often contained Delvian Chocolate. It's not a high value trade good, so what's up? Only career Pirates know for sure. Traders speculate it's a simple token allowing, via a cargo scanner, Pirates to identify each other versus unmarked police ships.

Some suspect Delvian Chocolate itself masks some contraband trade good against molecular scanners. The name references Star Trek DS9, where Delavian Chocolates were a rare confection that both Julian Bashir and Elim Garak were fond of.

Lore #23 - Captain Liu

Captain Liu is the freind Vasquez mentions to Falcon if he talks to her about the missing Largo spacehip. She attempted to find and salvage the gold cargo from the Largo before other crews in the area.

Liu had a character image with long red hair, always with a cup of Tea in hand, and was developed to be added in the Redux Version but never appears. She and her crew also got caught up in the Stolen Ships scenario that occurs to Falcon. The Liu character was an option to flesh out the introductory events of the Story and introduce romantic comedy elements with Falcon. She had some some scripted cutscenes where she was present with her crew. In one she was repremanding Frank the mechanic.

Lore #44 - The Squidman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4vxoP-IF2M Highly arrogant and self-obsessed, Squidman is a master of nano-technology, designing and reconfiguring it for any conceivable purpose.

Normally this purpose was the dissassembly of organic matter with maximal replication and interplanetary self-dispersal. Left image shows a primative early nanobot from Earth picking up a cell and delivering it to a larger cell type.

Visual References - Sci Fi Movies

The Last Starfighter Machine

Reference: The Last Starfighter is a 1984 American space opera film directed by Nick Castle. The film tells the story of Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a teenager recruited by playing an arcade machine to an alien defense force to fight in an interstellar war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnJCn6lXrXg

E.V.A. JetSuit Painter outside station at 1st Docking

Reference: Original opening credits to Red Dwarf, a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEeCFnKkL5s

Hoverboard and Shoes combo

Reference: Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science-fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Bob Gale. It is the sequel to the 1985 film Back to the Future and the second installment in the Back to the Future trilogy. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Thomas F. Wilson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkyLnWm1iCs

Climbing For Dollars Broken Machine

Reference: The Running Man, 1987 American dystopian action film directed by Paul Michael Glaser and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, and Jesse Ventura. Specific Reference: An in-movie satirical game show advert, Climbing For Dollars, modified to show crocodiles rather than dogs and being a dated arcade game by 3029.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntz0_besT04

Floating Noodle Bar

Reference: Noodle Bars. Still popular in 3029, a favourite snack of half the population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcwOApqmJMQ

Visual References - Games & Cartoons

YSA Station Graffiti

Reference: Sam & Max Hit the Road is a graphic adventure video game released by LucasArts during the company's adventure games era. The game was originally released for MS-DOS in 1993, Mac OS in 1995, and 2002 re-release on Windows. Directors‎: ‎Sean Clark‎; ‎Mike Stemmle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekrs3vMkcus

Roy 2 Machine

Reference: Rick and Morty: Season 2, Episode 2, Mortynight Run. Trying to use the manchine in 3029 gives a small message.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN9hNAkjPOk

Pirate on Spikes

Reference: Prince of Persia, 1989 fantasy cinematic platformer originally developed and published by Brøderbund and designed by Jordan Mechner for the Apple II.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NZuDe9_mas

Master Shake Pinball Machine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy6v0okAbMQ Reference: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 7episode , "Eggball". Written by Dave Willis & Matt Maiellaro, originally aired February 21, 2010.

Space Quest Spacecraft

Reference: Space Quest: Chapter I – The Sarien Encounter, commonly known as Space Quest I, is a graphic adventure game released in October 1986 by Sierra On-Line. Designers: Scott Murphy, Mark Crowe. Specific Reference: Tiny's Used Spacecraft, Spaceship on forecourt.

https://youtu.be/_j44z0JIVh0?t=1337

PAA-MAA Machine

Reference: Clearly a PAC-MAN Machine. Trying to use the manchine in 3029 gives a small message.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoVvgSwPDYk

Street Fighter II

Reference: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior also known simply as Street Fighter II, is a competitive fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcade systems in 1991. Designers: Akira Nishitani, Akira Yasuda.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UtjWp2WPLI

The Dig E.V.A chairs

Reference: The Dig - Sci-fi adventure game, used in 3030 as surviving or expired crew in derelict spaceships.
https://youtu.be/27yzCbv4v74

Road Warrior 2 Machine

Reference: Daytona USA, a racing video game developed by Sega AM2 and released by Sega, with a limited release in 1993 followed by a full release in 1994. It was the first Sega game to debut on the Sega Model 2 arcade system board. Sega claims it is one of the highest-grossing arcade games of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAcMqFTkAs8

Visual References - TV and Billboards

Coming soon... maybe.

Visual references - Ships & Robots

Brown Space Car

Reference: 1978 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400 from The Rockford Files, an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired between 1974 and 1980. Garner portrays Los Angeles–based private investigator Jim Rockford. Many of the Rockford writers would go on to very big things, including The Empire Strikes Back screenwriter Leigh Brackett, The Sopranos creator David Chase, and NCIS showrunner Chas. Floyd Johnson. Mike Post and Pete Carpenter’s created the iconic theme music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1zYNrsx9Pw

E.V.A. JetSuits

Reference: On Feb. 12, 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless, ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut had ever been. This space first was made possible by a nitrogen jet propelled backpack, previously known at NASA as the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m11IjUODi-c

E.V.A. Spacebike

Reference: Earth Bikes. In 3029, Spacebikes are micro spacecraft for limited local travel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjbCgqnodg8

Visual References - Items on Stations

Ukiyo-e wall hanging

Reference: Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica. Specific Reference: A Utagawa Kuniyoshi work (TBD).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lX6xT4efQs

Floating Insect Grub Bar

Reference: Eating Insects. By 3029, genetically engineered huge grubs are a favourite snack of half the population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvQTmTPZix4

Floating Sleeping Hamocks

Reference: Hamocks. "Going back into history to discover the future".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMD3XiTBc94
If people kick at those sleeping in hammocks they wake them up. There's no reason for it, but the Devs thought it important enough to code for and add extra image frames for bolting up and looking around in discombobulation.

Madai Fish on a Hook

Reference: Probably a Tai / Madai (Pagrus major). Also known as Red Sea Bream and Japanese Sea Perch, the Madai ( " True Tai fish" in Japanese) is extremely popular in Japan and is prized for its flavor. It is one of the best choices for sushi and Japanese dishes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyIXkdgVC58

Origami Cranes

Reference: One thousand origami cranes (千羽鶴, senbazuru; literally “1000 cranes”) is a group of one thousand origami paper cranes (折鶴, orizuru) held together by strings. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by the gods.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifp3q3viPGs

Don't Spread Plague posters

Reference: Plague Pandemics, still an ever present risk even in the far future. Easily treatable unless out on a long voyage without Antibiotics such as streptomycin, gentamicin, doxycycline, or ciprofloxacin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYnMXEcHI7U

Sleeping Space Miner

Reference: People sleeping in public.
https://youtu.be/3mufsteNrTI?t=22

Algae Bioreactors

Reference: An algae bioreactor is used for cultivating micro or macro algae. bioreactors can be used to produce fuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol, to generate animal feed, or to reduce pollutants such as NOx and CO2 in flue gases of power plants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5laQZbJ2mg

Algae Biofuel Bioreactors

Reference: Large Algae Bioreactors on earth. Catalytic alcohothermal liquefaction of wet microalgae with supercritical methanol: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.supflu.2019.104704

Floating Station Bollards

Reference: A bollard is a sturdy, short, vertical post. The term originally referred to a post on a ship or quay used principally for mooring boats, but is now also used to refer to posts installed to control traffic and posts designed to prevent ram-raiding and vehicle-ramming attacks. In 3029 they are used to reserve parking spaces for delivery vehicles, police and emergency vehicles. Occasionally they can still be seen used as a hitching post for Jetsuits to prevent theft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S5kKoefyqQ

Lore #51 - Docking & Station Gravity

Stations in 3030 mostly utilise artificial gravity by rotation, either by spinning the entire station or an internal subsystem. One system was standardised after the migration to the Safe Zone discussed in The Backstory, when large colony ships where converted into stations and stripped of materials for smaller ships and planetary bases.

Stations were intended to have a seperate entrance and exit ports, but due to budget cuts Ships must rotate 180 degrees and exit the same way. The below image is a station under construction.

It shows the typical docking system for large ships. Ships dock from the front, into an assigned virtual docking bay at the rotational axis of the station. They are met by a docking arm which locks the relative spin of the spacecraft and then retracts it 'outwards' giving it some simulated gravity.

Once secured in the physical docking bay, ships are scanned and cargo loaded/unloaded.

Crew passengers can then disembark, still in low gravity, to lifts. These transport them farther outwards from the rotational axis into the higher gravity quarantine and habitat zones. Personnel enter the lifts with feet pointing away from the central axis, and when arriving in the higher gravity outer rim, can walk freely in the quarantine areas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_gravity

Lore #99 - Compatability with other Sci-fi

It can be fun for Sci-fi enthusiasts to consider if different Sci-fi universes are compatible, based on timelines, technology or even just the tone of the fiction. Some movie franchises are explicitly in cannon with each other, and sometimes a retcon.

Let's take a look at the 3030 universe and check what fits after summarising the rules of the world.

3030 generally attempts to be Hard Sci-fi,
• respecting the laws of physics, planetary system dynamics, and theoretically plausable technology excepting gravity technology and faster than light travel.
  
• it's not explicitly mentioned, but it's presumed that by 3029 humans can live indefinitely.
  
• it's not stated that non-humans are Aliens. Potentially all life forms stem from Earth; Humans and Humans genetically engineered into other species over last 1000 years.
  
• Neon lighting

Sports and Entertainments. In 3030 people probably play the awesome Speedball 2.
Produced by the Bitmap Brothers, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe is a 1990 video game based on a violent futuristic cyberpunk sport that draws on elements of handball and ice hockey, and rewards violent play as well as goals. The concept of the game is very reminiscent of the 1975 film Rollerball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyX4BPU-Bao
Lifespans, Replicants and Sleeves. 3030 presumes humans now have indefinite lifespans (excluding accidents) and is compatable with Replicants of Blade Runner, and Sleeves of Altered Carbon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40T49kllPCM These franchises often focus on the negative psychological and societal implications, but in the culture of 3030 it's not considered noteworthy.

Organised Crime. In 3030 the main antagonists are effectively a crime Syndicate.
So down on planets crime is like 1993's Bullfrog Productions Game, Syndicate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0PP9Q7i94g

Influences - Detective Fiction

Tex Murphy: This franchise was a much loved by the 3030 Team, particularly Under a Killing Moon, 1994.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNO06h6-4x8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tooF40ktbdM The Maltese Falcon: The game contains several references to the film, and probably influenced the protagonist name choice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a9YU1SVbSE Blade Runner: CookeOpticsTV have a good video of Geoff Boyle and Nic Knowland taking a look back at Blade Runner cinematography. Deconstructing the film and some of their favourite shots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMHj3nUS3F0

Influences - Games

It's worth clarifying that the majority of the content and themes of 3030 Deathwar were designed before it being self-published in the 1st instance around 2007. It was primarily influenced by Frontier: First Encounters and early Lucas Arts adventure games.
Frontier: First Encounters was a space trading and combat simulator video game for the IBM PC, released on April 16, 1995. It's the sequel to Frontier: Elite II, the prequel of Elite Dangerous and the third game in the Elite series.
The game was created by David Braben's company, Frontier Developments, and distributed by GameTek.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcdnVmTb__g The title of this very guide is itself a reference to Frontier, which came with an accompanying book (above left). A collection eight short stories which came free with the 1993 Frontier: Elite II game. Written by David Massey, Moira Sheehan and Kathy Dickinson, these stories are set in the Elite/Frontier Universe.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992) Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcSQWYSOL70 Particularly in terms of style. Flashback: The Quest for Identity, was a big influence. A 1992 science fiction cinematic platform game developed by Delphine Software of France. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5cu5h_150Y Sid Meier's Pirates!: A 2004 strategy, action, and adventure video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by Atari, and later on 2K Games. The game is a remake of Sid Meier's earlier 1987 game. It was inspirational game for invoking feelings of freedom, navigational choice and functional yet atmospheric nature when disembarking at ports.

In several aspects like tone and having a sassy robot sidekick, Beneath A Steel Sky needs a mention, as does Simon The Socerer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2M4hndQ9pY Guide under construction, more to follow.

Influences & features of Redux

redux adjective [ after noun ] uk /ˈriː.dʌks/ us /ˈriː.dʌks/
(often used in the titles of films and video games) brought back

The Redux version included several fresh game features and some expanded Story. In general, improvements to the story and game mechanics where difficult due to the old code base of the game, written before 2007 and never being re-coded.
Here's a few new things...

T.V. Tropes website was a big influence on the writing and expanded story of Redux. Its Tropey analysis of favourite movies of the team where a great clarifier in terms of the Tone and story to homage 1980's movies.Some Tropes described therein were consciously attempted to be written into the story, or deliberately used to be subverted.
For example, John Falcon could be considered: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GuileHero

A new dramatic ending for Redux was inspired by Red Letter Media (RLM), Best Of The Worst when they found the best movie climax of all time. If you watch RLM's Best Of The Worst, you probably know. If not, you probably should. Mike and Jay's film analysis was also useful in improving the writing and plotting.

It had already been decided that whereas the old ending happened in space-mode, it would be worthwhile in Redux to add a new an ending in walking-mode which would give a significantly more visceral and satifying conclusion.

Space Dandy. Though more outlandish in tone and storylines, Space Dandy was inspirational towards the later stages of Redux production in reaffirming the love of comic sci-fi adventure.

Totally new visuals

Parallax scrolling. A large amount of the graphics improvements for Redux was adding to Parallax scrolling foreground and backgrounds stations, and background visual layers under station exteriors, to add depth of field and movement to the graphics.
3D effect animated billboards and animation strips for them.
Advertising Ships around stations.
Docking transition where a camera zooms from outside a window into the station scene.

Totally new mechanics

Gun use was a completely new feature introduced to give more substance to the story.
Planet Landings were a completely new feature introduced to give more substance to the story.
Mini Spilt-jumps were introduced to give enemy ships more movement.

Saving little guys in jeopardy is always fun and satifying. In 3030 Redux space captains with a Tractor Beam can save guys in space earning rewards for delivery back to stations. Perhaps influenced by helicopter games like Chopplifter, and Sega's Desert Strike:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJmsywfSCrI The even earlier Defender on the BBC Micro may have been 1st to try this. Your spaceship can intercept a falling (person?) object and place them safely on the ground. Otherwise they explode on impact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f5Hzm7B4xU

Potential innovations in 3030

Any people involved in creative projects for long enough will know that since people generally have access to similar media and entertainments, there are a lot of independently formed ideas. Since the core of 3030 Deathwar self-published around 2007 this section looks at similar ideas occuring afterwards.

Potential Innovations

Given that it's clear the following are coincidental, and much of 3030 Lore is already referencial and a homage of past works, it is still interesting to note some published works after 3030 that have very similar features to 3030 Deathwar, and some potential 1st time innovations.

Bar Service Droids in 3030 are nearly the exact form of the Bar Service Droid in the 2016 movie Passengers, an American science fiction romance film set in 2343 directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Jon Spaihts. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, with Michael Sheen playing the Droid on the colony ship.

Like Bar Droids in 3030, Arthur has a presentable face and torso and can converse with bar patrons, but possesses a very minimal mechanical lower half, restricted to a smooth left-right motion on a fixed trackway behind the bar which hides his lack of legs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVvGEj84y98
A major robot character in Kent, that is comfortable living independently, does not obsess about wanting to be human, exploring some aspect of its origins, concern about it's lifespan, or wanting to kill all humans. Maybe Bishop from the movie Aliens if it could go it's own way, but that's about it. Right?

More to come, if we can remember them.

Youtuber Safe Mode limiting in-game music tracks for Youtubers (video game reviewers and streamers). As far as the 3030 team is aware of, it's an original invention of the team during working on the Redux version update for Steam Release in 2017.

Lore #33 - Philosophy of Falcon and Kent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBEeFNnV6c0

Conclusion

You have reached the end of this Guide.

Let us know if you have any questions or want more of this 3030 Lore interspersed with semi-relevant video clips. Maybe after reading this guide you might want to give 3030 Deathwar a reference-spotting replay.

We look forward to your return. Good luck and Safe Flying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPkjnRIdQXQ

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