Say hi!

DragonMaus

Hello all, DragonMaus here (and everywhere). I played the EVN demo back in the inscrutable mists of the past (mid-late '00s, I think?), and have been an Ambrosia fan ever since. I've mostly lurked around the various ASW communities that have popped up over the years, and will likely continue to do so. You may also spot me lurking around some of the EV/EVO/EVN derivative communities and projects.

vIsitor

Rooster Oh yeah, I remember those animated GIF comics of yours. Only ever watched a few on the ASW forums because my dial-up internet at the time was kind of shit (and I didn't tend to frequent Banter & Brawl), but I distinctly recall a few things. IIRC, something about an antagonist called 'The Fermentor' who buried character in olives? And a ship powered by a 'cat matrix reactor'? IDK, my memory is fuzzy.

Actually, now I'm kind of wondering if you've still got the comic saved in an archive somewhere. Would certainly be a nostalgic glimpse into peak 90s internet humor, if nothing else.

kauthor

Ah good memories! Hello all! My name is Kirk Staley! I was originally pulled into testing games... remember Moki? I also had the opportunity to tour ASW Headquarters with @mrxak when I was at RIT/NTID. And it is good to see you, @Meowx !

battledoctor

Glad to see there's still some sort of an ASW community around. I joined the forums in... early 2001? Something like that. Maybe some of you remember me.

Do we have a Discord or anything like that?

nathan67003

battledoctor We sure do!

CaptainSkyblade

Like many here, I stumbled on Escape Velocity in the late 90's off a MacAddict CD as a young kid (I was probably 12 or so). My life was never the same-EV became my drug. I lost count of all the fights I had with my brothers over whose turn it was to play EV. While I spent many of the coming years playing or creating mods for Override, Nova and Ares, I think EV Classic was the game I credit for permanently instilling a love for space gaming and science fiction. The outstanding community of the old UBB forums was also inspirational in developing a passion for 3D art and design (good times on the old art gallery... Weepul, Admiral Zombat, Ragashingo etc). Looking back, I think I was often overwhelmed with all the plug / mod ideas I had for Ambrosia games, since few of those projects ever reached completion... I was constantly bouncing between projects, never quite giving my full attention to a single one. While EVO: Cold Fusion did reach release status, I never got around to finishing the EV Classic version of it, along with the total conversion for Override: Dreden War, and Ares: Override etc. While I certainly regret not wrapping up some of those projects, I definitely don't regret all the great times I had with fellow mod developers and writers. We had some good teams and a lot of fun.

The demise of Ambrosia Software was unfortunate, but seeing elements of the community still around is great to see. It's fantastic that some of that fan following continue to work on reviving and continuing work on some of their classic games.

jeffbyrnes

Hi folks! Found this gem of a community thanks to a Bluesky post. I can’t recall how I originally came across Escape Velocity, but I was already an Ambrosia SW fan at the time, having played Maelstrom courtesy of a MacAddict CD or something like that.

I put in hundreds of hours playing EV, EVO, and EVN, and I’m delighted to be able to replay them thanks to hard work from lots of folks here.

And I had totally forgotten about Ares, so I’m delighted to rediscover that delight of a game!

I never posted much on the old Ambrosia forums, but when I did, it was under the handle “Asckar” or “Gogo” (my choices back in those days), so if you remember may, feel free to say hello 🙂

Jazvolt

Heya!

I was a fairly frequent poster on the old Ambrosia SW site probably around 2002 or 2003. I genuinely can't remember what username I used back then. I remember getting the shareware version of the original EV... I think from a friend, rather than from a demo CD. I definitely ran it on a truly ancient Macintosh LC. I eventually got a G3 iMac for a christmas present, and, since that could run Nova, I had to beg my mom to allow me to put a money order of all things through to New York.

I've kind of hung around the periphery of the community since then. I think it's truly amazing that there's such a nice group that's still in love with Ambrosia's games, and the EV series in particular. I still boot up Nova and do a playthrough every so often, and I'm looking forward to (one day) playing Cosmic Frontier.

captcovfefe515

Hey, everyone.

I never had the opportunity to participate in the original Ambrosia forums back in the day because I was a child at the time, but I grew up on these games and they mean the world to me. I was first introduced to them through a demo disc that my mother found at a sales conference somewhere while she was working for Apple around the time Steve Jobs came back. We had several of those original iMacs and lots of other Mac models that they released around that time, and she got one of the original iPods as well. None of that mattered as much to me as the Ambrosia demo disc though. Those games, particularly EV Override and Nova, Mars Rising, Chiral, Barrack and Harry the Handsome Executive rank as some of my favorites from the disc. After we got high-speed Internet, I went and played the Introversion games Ambrosia released for Mac.

I'm hoping some people in this community have had the opportunity to keep in touch with some of the developers, like Andrew Welch, David Wareing, Ben Spees, Matt Burch, Peter Cartwright or the ATMOS guys. I'd love to chat with them and hear their stories about the business.

Geek

Welcome!

I’m happy to say that one of ATMOS’ dev team is very active in the community. While he’s not often in these forums, you’d find him easily on the Discord server.

songemot

I originally joined the ASW boards as Sponge Tom when I was in my early teens. Several years prior, EVO, Maelstrom, Swoop, and Mars Rising had become some of the first video games I ever played, followed by EVN and Deimos Rising later on.
I was on and off in the forums from the mid- or late-2000s until they went offline, often taking a hiatus whenever I got busier in real life or realized I was losing a debate in JC.
Ambrosia hasn't really been on my radar lately. My gaming regimen these days consists of an occasional couple rounds of TF2, playing Mario Party on the N64 with my oldest daughter, and speedrunning MDK. If my kids are anything like me, it'll be fun taking them through the EV series when they're old enough.
I'm getting off track, but anyway, happy to see a few old familiar names.

nathan67003

songemot Holy shit, SpongeTom? My favourite utility/cheat mod author?!

songemot

nathan67003 Ha, I'm surprised anyone remembers those. I barely do myself.

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