Space, the final frontier, your mission, to seek out new life… and likely kill it.
Artemis: The Starship Bridge Simulator, resembles a certain science fiction franchise from the 1960s, though not close enough to touch that third rail of publication and starship adventure everywhere, copyright. It is close enough that you and five friends can pretty quickly sort out what you should be doing. Decades of TV and cinema have served as your starship bootcamp and the roles in the game are familiar: Helm, Weapons, Science, Communications, Engineering, and oh yes, Captain. This makes the game a highly geeky and social activity.
Now zoom out. The online community for Artemis, the forums, and the gatherings including an Artemis convention, Armada, all combine to form a community. This community gathers to play, mods their systems, builds bridges, forms clubs, competes online, competes in person, it even cosplays and participates Artemis larps, live-action role playing games.
Now zoom back in. Over there in the corner tinkering with the new Artemis engine. That’s Thom Robertson, the creator of Artemis, but he is humble enough to realize the game is no longer his. It’s a community project. It is a work in progress. It is a hell of a lot of fun.
That’s today’s podcast, and interview with the Cleveland-based game designer Thom Robertson, creator of Artemis and other things. It starts now.
