Flatspace is a very open ended game. The player is allowed to select their profession and go out into the universe to make their own fortune. The two main forms of income are trading goods and performing missions. Unfortunately, the missions are often impossible to complete, as by the time you get anywhere near where the mission objective lies, some other computer-controlled player ends up doing the mission first or destroying whoever it was you were supposed to capture or rescue.
The player is allowed a very interesting method of interaction with the other computer-controlled citizens of Flatspace through the radio. Besides being used for things like distress calls and calling for the police, you can target specific ships or bases and ask for their ship designation, or demand any number of threats. Be careful who you threaten though as many people won’t take kindly to the aggressive behavior and may decide to turn around and blow you up before you even know what’s going on. Likewise, if you chose a less legal profession, like space pirate, you must also avoid areas with high law enforcement as they will come after you as soon as they see you.
The universe of Flatspace exists as a 2-D grid divided up into square sectors. Your normal engines allow you to travel around in a specific sector of space, while your hyper-drive allows you to move from one sector to another. Unfortunately, you can’t move very far in one hyper-jump and the drive requires a lengthy cool off period, which makes cross-universe travel a very slow process.
The player is given a healthy offering of ways to customize their ship, including crews, weapons systems, tractor beams, scanners, and escape pods. If you have a larger vessel, you can even stockpile your own little band of fighters to come out and assist you in combat.
