Space Station 13 is a top-down tile based role-playingmultiplayer video game running on the freeware BYOND game engine, originally released in 2003. The game is generally set on a futuristic space station, although certain player communities feature different settings, including spacecraft and exoplanets. The game is defined by its emphasis on player roles: at the start of every round, players choose from various roles and attempt to either help or hinder others' progress.
Gameplay
Space Station 13 is generally played in rounds that are isolated from each other: actions do not persist canonically between rounds. At the beginning of each round, players are given time to either create a customized character or begin playing with a randomly generated one. Players can choose different jobs, such as janitor or engineer, which dictate their role and responsibilities. The game is akin to a roleplayingsandbox game, with events in each round largely being player-dictated. The player can examine and use almost any object or being on the station, and is almost always context-sensitive. Different results will occur depending on many variables in any given interaction. Additionally, the player can change their 'intent' between four different states which will further influence actions taken. For example, using an empty hand on another player with help intent would cause you to hug them, but would cause you to punch them on Harm intent. The game engine fully simulates power, biology, atmosphere, chemistry, and other complex object and environmental interactions beyond the vast majority of video games, which, to many people, compensates for its lack of visual quality and speed. While different servers may have their unique station constructs, generally there are eight departments aboard the station. Supply and Service are also often grouped in the Civilian category.
Command.
Security.
Engineering.
Science.
Medical.
Supply.
Service.
Synthetics/Silicons.
Optimally, all players spawn at the beginning of each round and perform their jobs. However, randomly selected players are chosen to spawn as 'antagonists' aboard the station. Antagonists can range from mostly normal characters with certain malicious intentions, rogue artificial intelligences, and a wide assortment of monsters and enemies, such as changelings, aliens, Lovecraftian horrors, assassins, and death squads armed with nuclear weapons. It can be difficult for normal crew members to identify antagonists, and even harder to determine their objectives. Due to the presence of antagonists, many rounds escalate into chaos and disorder. While some communities have pre-set match timings, often rounds are concluded when the situation becomes critical and evacuation procedures are initiated.
Plot
Due to each server's lack of an agreed canonical storyline, most if not all servers have individualized lores and backstories. Generally, Space Station 13 takes place in the 26th century on a research station owned by the megacorporation known as Nanotrasen. The station exists to research the recently discovered mineral 'plasma', whose uses and properties Nanotrasen lacks knowledge of. Nanotrasen's influence and power have effectively made them a government entity, but is often left ambiguous as to whether they are good, evil or a neutral party. Due to Nanotrasen's immense stature and massive monopoly on plasma, it is targeted by an array of third-party aggressors. This includes, but is not limited to: the Syndicate, the Space Wizard Federation, Changelings etc.
Development
Space Station 13 was originally developed as an atmospherics simulator by Exadv1 in 2003. Its closed source codebase was allegedly stolen and leaked onto the internet in 2006, giving rise to SS13's current popularity. However, in a 2017 interview, Exadv1 claimed no theft actually took place, as he had voluntarily given the code to fellow programmers after ceasing work on the game due to personal circumstances. A large number of promising community efforts to remake SS13 have been started over the years due to longstanding frustration with SS13's closed-source engine and low quality of code. Most of these attempts have since been abandoned, and a community mythos has jokingly built up around "The Curse", a supposed force that is responsible for the failure of all attempts to remake the game. Regardless, three major SS13 remakes are currently in development: Space Station 14, Unitystation, and Re:SS3D.
