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[Gaz_RB]

Byond stands for "Build Your Own Net Dream" and is a website that lets you either play games created using it's development tools or try to develop and develop your own games. The key thing about this is that these were all online multiplayer games, and at the time, there was some pretty amazing and innovative stuff out there. I remember playing online Minecraft-esque city builders, open world zombie games, and (my personal favorite) a robust space station simulator with fully destructible environments called Space Station 13, all the way back 8 or 9 years ago.

BYOND had Final Fantasy MMO's before it was cool. I remember one called Final Fantasy The Hunting Ground which basically let you play classic Final Fantasy games online with others. You could choose a class, form parties, solve puzzles and mysteries, level up, and fight through the Final Fantasy inspired story as a group.

The website also had open world Resident Evil games, letting you barricade yourself in houses, fight or befriend other players, destroy and build, scavenge for food, etc. Think top down, sprite based Day-Z before Day-Z was a thing.

There was also a Dragonball Z MMO that I remember, which was a dream come true for 13 year old me haha

Now these games obviously weren't original in setting/story or characters, and they certainly weren't much to look at graphically (most are top down, sprite based graphics), but they made up for it in offering unique multiplayer experiences that just couldn't be found anywhere else at the time. Now, with mainstream multiplayer games becoming more and more robust and complex, most BYOND games have lost their shine and relevance. All except for Space Station 13, that is.

Space Station 13 is basically the reason that BYOND still exists today. Nothing like it that I know of has come out of the mainstream gaming industry or the indie scene, making it one of the most unique and thought provoking games I've ever played.

The game described by it's wiki:

What is it?

The game takes place on a fully destructable space station which is in orbit of a nearby gas giant.

The primary purpose of the station is to research a newly discovered material called Plasma. Unfortunately Nanotrasen, the megacorp which owns Space Station 13 is not the only corporation interested in this mysterious new substance. Dealing with the threats posed by the many enemies of Nanotrasen becomes an important part of the daily lives of the crew.

The game begins in the game lobby where you can customize your character and select which job you would like him to have. Jobs range from the captain, to the heads of staff, to engineers, medical doctors, scientists, security officers, atmospheric technicians, the chef, bartender as well as the occasional clown to lighten the mood.

What do you do?

When the round begins you spawn with a job title. Now it is up to you to play with that job, doing all sorts of tasks. Each job has endless replay value. The game has an incredibly large number of systems, subsystems, and mechanics for limitless amounts of fun.

While you spawned with your fancy job title, someone else spawned as something much more special. Each of the game modes, excluding Extended, has some sort of antagonist whose job it is to cause you problems. These antagonists usually have objectives which range from stealing a specific item to the assassination of a crew member or even the complete overthrowing of the ship. Different antagonist types have different ways of doing this.

- Traitors are the most common antagonist type. Usually several spawn on board the station. They spawn with a Syndicate uplink which they use to get special items and weapons to aid them in their goal.

- Revolution leaders are another antagonist type. They spawn with conversion flashes which they then use to convert crew members to their glorious cause so they can aid them in overthrowing and killing the Heads of Staff.

- Changelings have special powers. They can absorb the DNA of crew members and transform themselves to look and sound like them.

- Wizards can use magic spells to aid them in their quest.

- Cultists use their own blood to make runes and talismans, which give them special powers and abilities.

And the best part of this is that you, with your fancy job title, have absolutely no idea who the antagonists are - if any even exist.

Rounds usually last for an hour or so and they end when the escape shuttle gets called. Once it arrives it becomes your job to get on board the shuttle or an Escape pod and escape alive - if you even survived this long.

Source

At it's core it's a role playing game, with you trying to play your role, and make it off the Space Station in one piece. Or, if you're the traitor, try to outsmart security and personnel in an attempt to sabotage the Station.

What comes out of it is emergent gameplay that's hard to find anywhere else. I remember situations where the security guards would abuse their power, handcuffing people and stuffing them in closets, and sometimes they'd forget to take the victim's radio off and they would end up radioing the whole crew, exposing the security guard's corruption (who might just turn out to be the traitor). I remember scientists kidnapping people and changing them into monkeys. Or repair crewman using their tools to pop open the hull and kill everyone through exposure, causing the captain to have to call the emergency shuttle. The possibilities were ridiculous. I played the hell out of this game. This game is incredible, and what a lot of people may be itching for. There are still servers up, so if this sounds interesting to you, check it out!

If anyone wants to see a Let's Play of it: Here.

Ultimately I just wanted to see if anyone else played BYOND or Space Station 13, and what they think of it today. Thanks for reading!

 

[DMiz]

I actually used to develop on BYOND. I still remember reading the tutorials to figure out how to get server and local-side saving of character files, too...

There was a Dragon Quest clone on there that was a pretty successful mimic of the series and had an interesting story, to boot! Haven't gone back since, but it was a great little system for people who were interested in trying out what it would be like to build MMORPGs in an 8-bit style. (Of course, some games were incredibly detailed and had amazing graphics, for what the compiler permitted...)

 

[Alienous]

Oh ya.

Used to play a Dragonball Online game, back in the day. The Dragonball Online game.

Good times. The sequel never released.

 

[Malajax]

That was THE place for anime based online games, and I loved it. Spent so much time on Naruto, Bleach and DBZ games. Pretty much stopped after realizing that I spent more time grinding than actually playing the games. And ultimately, there was barely any content to those games.

Last time I checked, most of the anime based games were either purged or abandoned, so that's that.

 

[Gaz_RB]

That was THE place for anime based online games, and I loved it. Spent so much time on Naruto, Bleach and DBZ games. Pretty much stopped after realizing that I spent more time grinding than actually playing the games. And ultimately, there was barely any content to those games.

Last time I checked, most of the anime based games were either purged or abandoned, so that's that.

Yeah, I think there's only like sub 4000 people still playing BYOND, and most of those anime types of games are dead. Which is probably for these best at this point.

 

[tensuke]

Oh ya.

Used to play a Dragonball Online game, back in the day. The Dragonball Online game.

Good times. The sequel never released.

I played a Dragonball Z one too, I wonder if it was the same one! BYOND games were kinda awesome, in that they were just a bunch of random free MMOs that were pretty easy to make yourself. Had lots of fun on those. I think there was a Yugioh one, and I remember a Naruto one, and a JRPG (Final Fantasy maybe?) based one.

So this thing is still around? I'll have to check it out sometime and see what's happening. SS13 intrigues me, too. Actually, it looks kind of familiar--I think I may have played it back in the day, too.