You must have heard the phrase space western used to describe our game setting. You even might have wondered what the difference between our game and the classic representatives of the genre is, in other words, what makes our game unique. To shed light on this issue we should first stop at the canonic features of the genre and the history of its development.
Space western is an oldest subgenre of such Sci-Fi genre as space opera, meeting the top of its popularity in the early years when such books were not considered worthwhile literature. Space western is by its definition a subgenre of science fiction where the western elements are transferred to other far away platens and futuristic environments. Here we face an important issue: what is more significant – clinging to the canons of the genre or recreating the very spirit of space western in a renovated form? The answer lies in the history of the genre.
Cowboys versus aliens?
In 1930 the quick-minded fiction authors very soon noticed the potential the space opened for their creation and very often simply transported their scripts to the promising new environment of the unexplored planets. In other words, they found a simple way to refresh the old genre with the new decorations. Their characters very much resembled the typical reckless cowboys and gangsters, the local aborigines reminding Native-Americans. The colonists were having a ride in their not horsed but alien creatured cart along the dusty roads of the poorly explored and untamed planet; they built one street settlements with a cosmodrome nearby and wore the same outfits as their earth prototypes in the twenties or thirties.
The brightest representative of the genre is a grand grandpa of all the space cowboys Buck Rogers, 1928: comic books about him were lately developed into radio plays, films and series. Buck Rogers popularity at that time could only be compared to the dedication of Star Wars fans.
Buck didn’t wear a typical cowboy outfit, but was acting like one, successfully kicking asses of the bad guys and saving some beauties from all kind of troubles in the process. His character contributed much to the popularisation of the setting, and without Rogers hardly we would have seen the world known titles of science fiction.
Rogers, however, was rather an exception from the rules: the audience got bored quickly with the simplistic tricks of genres merging. The later writings in the genre were not so impressive.
The new hope
The space western got revitalized with the development of TV series and Hollywood science fiction. The famous Star Track stands out from the space soap operas, being at first described by its authors as a kind of Wagon Wheels to the Stars – the Wild West spirited story of space exploration.
This conception later evolved, yet the idea of meeting the unknown remained, together with the bright protagonists and antagonists typical for a western.
Star Wars can no way be left out when speaking about the setting. The far away galaxy hosted the dusty deserted planets, the saloons, the headhunters, blaster shoot outs, free traders and the charismatic Han Solo with its loyal companion Chewbacca somewhat resembling a wild Wild West Indian. The epic saga gave rise to the numerous ideological followers, who were borrowing some features for their characters from Lucas’ masterpeace.
The good, the bad, the ugly
The new cutting edge technologies created new opportunities for the cinemas. These opportunities demanded the new realistic environments, which would be more cruel and futuristic and borrowed from the classical western only its very basic features and the milestones of script writing. Thus, in the first part of Alien, 1979, it’s pretty hard to point out the canonical features of the western which are, however, present in the movie. This is, first of all, the enmity of the space world, the living of the miners – frontiersmen, locked up between the severe conditions and the greedy capitalistic corporation. In the second film (Aliens,1986) the features of the space western get even more apparent: the frontiersmen got into trouble and the “cavalry” represented as a spaсe landing troops hurries to help. The bold guys end up getting in a scrape, and the protagonist Ellen Ripley resolves the problems in a very aggressive way, finishing the film by the duel with the alien queen.
Another bright example of the “realistic” space western is Outland, 1981, starring Sean Connery as Federal Marshal O’Neill sent to finish with the problems at the mine located on the cold Io, an orbiting body of the Jupiter. The film is considered to be Classic Sci-Fi spin on High Noon, 1952, one of the best representatives of western having once dramatically changed the audience vision of the Wild Wild West characters by showing them from the perspective free from idealising.
Space, the last Frontier
At the edge of millenia, computer games contributed to the genre development. In 1998 Star Craft was released granting to the Sci-Fi fans the story of Jim Raynor and his challenges, which was continued in StarCraft2: Wings of Liberty (2011). I guess, such games as Wing Commander: Privateer, Frontier: Elite II together with the two parts of StarCraft are much more of space western than those which borrow from the genre mostly its visual part, as for example Starhawk, Borderlands and Borderlands 2.
As the Japanese animation and manga were getting more popular, there came a contribution to the genre from the country of the rising son. The anime makes couldn’t help noticing such a promising combination of genres as space western. Such superb works as Captain Harlock, Cowboy Bebop, Galaxy Express 999, Outlaw Star, Trigun and many others include space western elements in different proportions, which also gives them the feel of creative madness typical for the eastern animation.
The warm light of the Firefly
The authors often strived not to copy the idealised features of western but preserve only the general outline of the genre and its very spirit, which was often reflected in separate episodes subtly reminding the spectator of good old space western. At times space western was used as an optional decoration to create the special atmosphere of such series as Battlestar Gallactica, Babylon5, etc. This was followed by rethinking the genre and digging deeper into its origins, in which a significant role was played by Joss Whedon, Аmerican screenwriter, director and comic book author, well known for his work for television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel .
Whedon referred to the origins of the genre, eliminating the ridiculous blasters and, thus, making the films in the setting look more serious. According to its style, the TV series Firefly, (2002) is more like space opera or even highwaymen novel under rich western sauce. The Firefly wouldn’t bother to engage into subliterary adventures on the space Wild Wild Wet which are based on non-stop action and special effects only: the series looks more like drama with the characters who, having lost a war, are trying to put things together in their life or even mind. This is a story of Malcolm Reynolds and his team, in which everyone has one’s own skeleton in the closet and at the same time strives to remain human, fighting the fears and prejudice. This is also a story of a “family” – of the people who might seem just a bunch of chancers at the outskirts of the civilization, however, able to risk their lives for their freedom and ideals.
The series stands out with its unique and detailed world, as well as bright characters who are evolving throughout the whole season. Having seen 14 series of the first and the only released season, you would definitely be interested in what is going to happen to the characters next. Fortunately, encouraged by the high DVD sales, Universal Studios offered Whedon to make a full lengths sequel and so he did. Serenity, 2005, clears up many things in the plot, but still remains many questions. The popularity of the Firefly series also remains unchanged so that the work seems to have potential. The series became cult for many fans as well as a synonym for the word pattern “space western”.
For us, the developers of Exoplanet: First Contact, this game is an example of outstanding style, captivating plot and fully-rounded characters. We, like all the Sci-Fi lovers, hope that the series will be continued.
Canons
We deliberately want to avoid speculation about the weaknesses of the genre and provoking the discussion about possible assumptions in Sci -Fi.
Let’s see what allows us to call a given work а space western.
1. The frontier spirit, crave for explorations, the outskirts of civilizations with the rule of the gun.
2. Believable, fully-rounded characters. The conflict between the “sheriff” the “gangsters”. The war between the locals and the newcomes who aspire to take their land. Very common conflict type for such genre is the one where the antagonist is much more charismatic than the protagonist, and he, despite his mean intentions, appeals to the audience even more.
3. The presence of some legendary booty or artefact (very often protected by the terrible сurse) or vanishing El Dorado. The artefact attracts chancers of all kinds who try to reach it by any means.
4. Spooky towns, inexplicable disappearance of people and other mysteries, in which people usually blame “the Indians”, but in reality everything is much worse.
5. Shoot outs: a character vs a gang or 1vs1 showdown duels.
6. Wild West period look of the weapons, outfits and buildings, which is usually optional.
7. The bold robbery of the train or bank
8. Saloons, vamp beauties, gambling
9. The spirit of danger and adventures, romantic world outlook facing the bitter truth of life, the contradiction between principles and actions.
In Exoplanet: First Contact a gamer will be able to find a smaller or bigger portion of everything from the listed above. However, our priority is the feel of something undiscovered looming ahead, the very spirit of exploring the beautiful, mysterious and untamed world.
