 Screenshot (from SSCX Star Warzone), click on the picture for more information. Continuum is a two-dimensional space shooter computer game. This freeware game incorporates quasi-realistic zero-friction physics into a massively multiplayer online game. The action is viewed from above, which presents challenges very different from those of a three-dimensional game. The game has no built-in story or set of goals; players may enter a variety of servers, each of which have differing objectives, skins, sounds, and graphics.
Game dynamics
Gameplay
 The standard ships of Continuum. Continuum is divided into different "zones", or servers, to which the player can connect. A zone usually has a main "arena", in which a certain game is played. Many, such as SSCX Star Warzone and SSCX Extreme Games, are Capture the flag zones, in which one team (called a "frequency") must capture and hold all the flags, which resemble small spheres, in the zone for a predetermined amount of time to win. A variation of this (played in the most populated zone, SSCU Trench Wars) is "basing" (or "turf"), in which the flags are stationary. Other zones involve Powerball, which resembles soccer; a team must attempt to get one or more Powerballs, which appear in the default graphics set as small red balls, into an enemy goal. Some zones are free-for-all (or "melee") zones, such as SSCX Alpha West SVS. In this type of zone, the only objective is to kill enemy players.
Zones are organized into arenas, with certain arenas designated as public arenas being the main areas of gameplay. However, sub-arenas exist in most zones. Many sub-arenas are used for hosting events where different maps and settings than those present in the main arena(s) are needed. There are frequently arenas for players to fight and practice without interference from other players. Many squads have their own private arenas as well.
Ships
The different servers that one can connect to with the Continuum client are called "zones". Within a zone, a player can usually choose between eight different ships: Warbird, Javelin, Spider, Leviathan, Terrier, Weasel, Lancaster, and Shark. Many zones restrict the available ships. A player can also choose to spectate the game.
Weapons
 This screenshot from SSCX Omega Fire shows the game's various items and weapons. A player can fire a number of different weapons at enemy players. The basic weapons, bullets, bombs and mines, require energy to use. This energy is also used to power a craft's shields; if a player's energy reaches zero, he or she dies. In most zones, a player's energy constantly recharges. This forces a player to carefully evaluate his or her ability to attack based upon how much damage the player's ship can absorb. The maximum energy levels of ships and other settings, such as maximum ship thrust and speed, can be upgraded with "greens" or "bounty", which are small green boxes that can upgrade a ship that runs over them. Greens can also give the player special items such as "Thor's hammer" (a weapon that flies through walls and explodes if an enemy is nearby), "repel" (pushes nearby enemies, mines etc. away from the player), "rocket" (gives the player greater speed for a short time period) and others. Again, the available weapons vary greatly by zone.
Competitive play
Many Continuum players are organized into squads. These squads allow players to cooperate and improve their skills, as well as to become more familiar with fellow players. In addition, many squads compete in competitive leagues hosted by various zones. These leagues are typically run like professional sport leagues, with a preseason, regular season, and playoffs for the highest-ranked squads. Dueling is another favorite pastime of many Continuum players, and many zones have separate arenas for such.
History
Continuum was originally known as Subspace when public beta testing began in 1996. It was released commercially in 1998 with a list price of US$30 for unlimited play. It required no monthly or hourly fees. The game was developed by the United States branch of now-defunct Virgin Interactive (abbreviated VIE, for Virgin Interactive Entertainment). The very early versions of Subspace were called Sniper. While in the beginning the game only offered four playable ships, a couple of servers, and limited numbers of maps, during a costly and extensive testing period the game developed depth and replay ability unrivaled by many games before and since. When the game was eventually officially released, it was not a commercial success due to poor marketing and the relative newness of the massively multiplayer online genre. In addition, after two years of playing for free, many core players were so addicted that when the beta ended, they refused to pay for a game that they had beta tested for two years and instead developed software cracks to bypass the CD check. The server software had been distributed with the commercial release, so a few independent servers not run by VIE appeared and gathered a small following. With the demise of VIE, commercially hosted servers were gone, and independent servers were the only choices. The community lost a lot of players, but continued to survive.
Within a short amount of time, cheats such as the Twister hack appeared, forcing a player named PriitK (who also happens to be one of the creators of Kazaa) to reverse-engineer and clone the client while adding lots of anti-cheating features. The client he created, named Continuum, is now the only client allowed to connect to most servers. In addition to the security improvements, Continuum added increased visual and gameplay capabilities. Continuum is not open source; PriitK will not release its source code for security reasons.
Zones
 Some examples of sub-arenas in SSCU Trench Wars. Click on the picture for more information. Customization
As mentioned above, a zone is a server to which players can connect using the Continuum client. Perhaps the most attractive feature of Continuum is the extremely high degree of customization that zone sysops can implement. Almost every element of the game can be replaced, from the ship graphics to colors and sounds. Apart from a few basic settings, the game settings, such as ship speeds, energy levels, and such, can also be changed. This allows a vast variety of zones to exist.
Zone administration
Zones are administered by a hierarchy of staff members. Typically, a server host pays for and maintains the zone server. In addition, there are several levels of access within zones:
- Sysop (System Operator)
This is the highest level of access available. Sysops can modify all zone settings and access lists, as well as control players in the zone.
- Smod (Super Moderator)
Smods have a very high degree of access. They can modify most access lists and have access to user commands. However, they have little control over zone settings.
- Mod (Moderator)
Mod is the lowest official level of access in zones. Mods can ban users, although they have limited control over access lists. They have some ability to discipline, control, and reward users in the zone
- Other
Many zones have other, non-official levels of access. For example, zones that host leagues often grant referees a limited degree of access to moderator commands and abilities.
Almost all zones also utilize bots to remove players with excessive lag and to perform mundane tasks such as storing prized items, giving game results, and maintaining equal teams.
Server
The Subspace server application is a computer program named subgame2.exe, downloadable from the Server Help site (http://www.shanky.com/server/download.html). It runs as a Windows console application.
The server takes its settings from numerous files. Server.ini and server.cfg are the two most important. These configuration files store the startup configurations and main arena settings for the zone, respectively. The main .lvl and .lvz files are important as well. Lvl files are Continuum map files created with an editor such as Subspace Map Editor (http://subspacedownloads.com/index.php?act=file&fid=182) (SSME). Lvz files are compressed files that contain graphics or sounds to replace or add to the client's default media. Large servers may have dozens or even hundreds of these files, as most subarenas use settings and graphics different from those of the main arena(s), and so require different .lvl, .cfg, and .lvz files. News.txt is another important file that contains news and information regarding the zone. Other files are necessary for server operation, such as sysop.txt, smod.txt, moderate.txt, and vip.txt, which store the lists of players with server access, obscene.txt, which stores a list of obscene words to be blocked by the game's chat filter, and restricted.txt, which keeps a list of playernames not allowed in the zone.
A new, open source server software called ASSS (A Small Subspace Server) is currently being developed [1] (http://www.sscx.net/asss/). Once mature, zone sysops will be able to customize the server software itself, eliminating the need for bots.
Billing
The counterpart to the server application is the billing server. This server, which stores player data and scores and links zones together, is named for its original function as a server that stored records of who had paid for the game and, therefore, was allowed to play it. Obviously, once VIE went out of business, this function was no longer necessary. Billing servers now serve many additional functions, such as proving a network-wide ban service superior to the one built into Subgame and allowing players in different arenas or zones to chat with each other over chat channels. There are several large biller networks in Continuum. By far, the largest is SSC, which is the de facto official biller. It is owned by PriitK, the creator of the Continuum client. However, space on this network is limited, and many have criticized it for alleged favoritism and a lack of updates. Consequently, several large alternative billers exist, including SSN, SSP, and SSZ.
Directory servers
Directory servers comprise the final piece of the server "puzzle". These servers are much like Domain Name System servers; they maintain lists of zones and their IP addresses and port numbers, allowing clients to connect.
Software compatibility
The Subgame server software and Continuum client are both Microsoft Windows-only programs. This is partially due to the game's heavy reliance on DirectDraw. A Linux version of the Subspace client, called Snrrrubspace, was developed, but by the time it was completed, the new private encryption written for the since-released Continuum client rendered the Linux client useless in most zones. ASSS is compatible with all major operating systems, but there are no plans as of now to write a new Linux client, which would require the release of the Continuum encryption.
See also
External links
- Server Help (http://www.shanky.com/server/), a resource for zone staff.
- SSQDB (http://quotes.ssforum.net/index.php), a bash.org-like database of in-game quotes.
- Subspace Central (http://sscentral.com/c/), a site providing game news and resources.
- Subspace Continuum (http://beginners.subspace.net), a beginner's guide to Subspace, complete with the latest version for download.
- Subspace/Continuum Resource (http://www.subspaceresource.com/index.php), a site reporting Continuum news and providing alternate graphics, sounds, etc. A list of Continuum zones and their websites can be found here.
- Subspace Downloads (http://subspacedownloads.com/), a massive collection of game-related files.
- SubspaceHQ (http://www.subspacehq.com), news, links to zone homepages, downloads and other information about Continuum. The Continuum client can be downloaded here for free.
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