Alexandru Duta

Romanii In Spatiu or Romanians In Space is a video game developed, published and released in 2006. It is a 3D space shoot-em-up game with a light simulation flavour. The game was heavily influenced by Freelancer and Freespace.

You will be able to buy the current (and final) version of the game on Valve Corporation‘s platform Steam — eventually.

Disclaimer: It does work on Windows 10.

The game utilizes the Fmod sound library and technology licensed from Frozenbyte.

The game sparked controversy in Romania when its story (which was a satire on Romanian-Hungarian relations) made news headlines and appeared on TV. During that news-cycle, a number of talk shows discussed the story and its impact. Even a Romanian Government Minister at the time took umbrage. You can find excerpts from news stories and talk shows at the bottom of this page. Upon further inspection, it all proved to be a joke, and everyone understood that it was satire. But it did end up drawing a lot of attention both to myself and the game. And as such, the game’s development was rushed so that it could capitalize on this new-found fame.

The game was released, to relatively poor acclaim, in 2006. It was severely lacking in content, with players usually finishing the single-player only missions in about two hours. The graphics proved to be dated, even for the time. The release was done through Rodipet (now defunct), a nation-wide distributor of press items (newspapers, magazines). Romanii In Spatiu was on shelves for about three months, selling roughly 1000 copies (exact numbers are, sadly, missing), out of the 8000 sent to stores. The extra copies are collecting dust in my basement right now.

There were two SKUs made of the game. Both featured the base game, as well as a number of extra bonus content (the full Cotropitorii game, the soundtrack, wallpapers, and such), all on professionally produced CDs (the content came in around 500 MB so there was no need for a DVD to be made). These were done by ODS – Optical Disc Solutions in Bucharest, Romania. The first SKU was just the game CD with a cardboard printing of the box art. Roughly 8000 of these were made and sent to stores through our distributor partner. A second SKU was made, as a collector’s edition, which featured the CD in a DVD case. A sleeve was added with marketing clippings, screenshots and some quotes from reviewers. The DVD case was shrink-wrapped and sold through mail-order only, through the games’ website.

The controversial background story element of the game, as it was written on the games’ website in 2006.

  In 1988, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu set out to conquer the
  United States Of America. Ten years later, he is the emperor of Earth, and
  Romanians are his people. He rules with an iron fist, keeping over four
  billion people (he killed two billion already) fed and oppressed. Romanians
  are now the chosen people, and they have inherited the Earth.

  After a hundred years of Romanian domination over the planet, things look
  bleak. Romanians have no one to conquer and oppress anymore. The new emperor,
  Traian Basescu, has promised that in thirty years we would conquer the
  galaxy and hope was restored. His promise came through, but with it, came war
  and suffering, for the galaxy is also inhabited by extraterrestrial creatures
  (hereby called alien scum), some peaceful, some not.

  The intergalactic war raged on as Romanians quickly subdued every alien race
  they had encountered. Now, the threat comes from within. Remnants of the
  former republic of Hungary have formed a new nation on a recently-conquered
  planet. They claim independence and a chance to live freely. This cannot stand.

  Traian Basescu ordered several squadrons to destroy the Hungarian separatists,
  but they failed to achieve victory. They were killed. However much it may
  strain supply lines, the war is now fought on both fronts.

  You have been assigned to join the 88th fighter squadron, of the 3rd Romanian
  Fleet, designated Cacanarii. You will be providing cover for larger, less
  maneuverable cruiser-class vessels in their attempt to overpower the Hungarian
  forces. If you do well on your assignments, a letter of commendation and a
  promotion to covert-operations could be yours.

  Follow your destiny. Viciously murder millions of non-Romanian alien scum.  

There was an official soundtrack released at the same time as the game. You can listen to it now.

 
There were a number of trailers released for the game. Two teasers that featured animations made specifically for promotional purposes and a few full trailers that showcased in-game footage only.

Teaser Trailer 1

Teaser Trailer 2

In-game Trailer 1

In-game Trailer 2

In-game Trailer 3

This is the readme.txt file that was included with the original release of the game.

  Romanii In Spatiu
  Read-Me Text

  (c) 2006 2 Bad Design, divizie a KLM Group srl
      http://www.2baddesign.ro
      http://www.romanii-in-spatiu.ro
      All Rights Reserved

  This document was last modified May 2nd, 2006

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

  An absolute minimum configuration to run the game:
   -  Microsoft Windows XP, 2000, Millennium Edition or 98
   -  AMD Athlon 1200MHz or Intel Pentium 4 1500MHz CPU
   -  256 megabytes of memory
   -  NVidia GeForce 4 MX460 or equivalent with 64MB of memory
   -  Microsoft DirectX 9.0 or later
   -  A DirectSound compatible sound card
   -  Microsoft Video1 AVI codec installed (default on any recent Windows)

  In addition, a highly recommended setup would feature:
   - AMD Athlon 64, AMD Athlon XP 2500+, Intel Pentium 4 2400MHz or faster
   - 1 gigabyte of memory
   - ATI Radeon 9700 or nVidia GeForceFX 5900 with 128 megabytes of memory

  As a side note, we have noticed performance problems with the GeForce 6600
  series. The reason is not the game engine, but rather the poor implementing
  of shader technology in cohesion with the latest nVidia drivers. Hopefully
  this will be fixed/changed.

  FLYING THE SHIP
  - The ship is primarily controlled with mouse, but the mouse is also used to
    control a variety of onboard systems on the HUD. 
  - Use the SPACEBAR to toggle between mouse cursor mode and ship flight mode.
  - Use W and S keys to control your throttle, use Z and C keys to roll
  - Whenever you are needed to fly somewhere far away, you should use the
    autopilot-controlled hyperdrive or it'll take years. Access the autopilot
    by pressing the SPACEBAR to enter the cursor mode and clicking on the blue
    icon at the top-left corner of the instrument panel. 
  
  COMBAT
  - You should always lock a target using the targeting system, or you won't 
    hit anything. Use T and Y keys to cycle through targets, U key to target 
    closest object. It's also handy to switch the targeting system to only
    show hostile targets by pressing the M key once.
  - Use G key to toggle your weapon systems on and off
  - Use the RIGHT mouse button to fire lasers and ALT to fire a much bigger 
    gun known as the mass driver   
  - Use the LEFT mouse button to select targets

  ADVANCED
  - Use F8 to enable time acceleration and F7 to disable it. This is especially
    useful on long autopiloted journeys.
  - Use CTRL-A to call wingmen to attack your target
  - Use CTRL-H to call wingmen for help. They'll target the closest craft 
    attacking you at the moment
  - You can ask for status reports using the comm system, which can be 
    activated by pressing the grey "COMM" button in the bottom-right side 
    HUD status window
  - The bottom-left icon in the toolpanel allows you to an overhead tactical 
    view the battlefield. This system can also be used to select targets for
    the autopilot. The whole system is not very useful in this release, though.

  SHIP CONTROLS
	W		Throttle up
	S		Throttle down
	ARROW KEYS	Control ship direction
	C		Roll clockwise
	Z		Roll counter clockwise
	SPACEBAR	Toggle control mode (mouse control / cursor)
	H		Balance shields

  WEAPONS
	MOUSE/RIGHT	Fire primary weapon
	ALT		Fire secondary weapon
	G		Enable/disable weapon systems

  TARGETING
	MOUSE/LEFT	Select target
	T		Next target
	Y		Previous target
	U		Target closest object
	M		Targeting mode (all objects / only hostile)

  MISCELLANEOUS
	F7		Time acceleration off
	F8		Time acceleration x 16
	F10		Console
	F11		Ingame menu
	ENTER		Match speed with target

  CAMERA CONTROLS
	F1		Toggle 1st/3rd person view
	F2, F3, F4	Switch camera view (not available in this version)
	F5		Toggle user camera mode
	F6		Toggle free / player-bound camera

Observatorul Antena 1 – News Story on Romanians In Space

In Gura Presei cu Mircea Badea – Press Clippings Talk Show on Romanians In Space

Jurnalul TVR – News Story on Romanians In Space

6 Vine Presa B1 TV – Press Clippings Talk Show on Romanians In Space