Oolite is a free and open source 3D space trading and combat simulator "in the spirit of" Elite, a similar game published in the 1980s. The name is a contraction of object oriented Elite, because it was written in Objective-C, an object-oriented programming language. Among Oolite's several similarities to its source, the gaming experience is enhanced by the context set in Elites original manual, and the accompanying novella, The Dark Wheel. Oolite is licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later for the source code, while resources (pictures, music, textures, models) are dual-licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later and CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0.
History
Giles Williams began work on Oolite for Mac OS X in 2003. In July 2004, Oolite v1.0 was released but remained in active development for a long time afterwards.
By September 2005, Mac Oolite had reached v1.52, and a Linux port was released, closely following the Mac OS X developments since.
In March 2006, the Windows GNUstep port was released. Ports are also available for SGI IRIX and FreeBSD on Intel architectures. Most ports include the same functionality except for the Mac OS X version which includes additional support of native Mac OS X features (such as integration with iTunes, Spotlight and Growl support).
In October 2006, after releasing the stable 1.65 version, Williams announced he would stop developing Oolite after implementing updated OpenGL shader functionality. However, the project stalled.
On 27 February 2007, the project was relicensed under the GPL-2.0-or-later. Jens Ayton was nominated as maintainer, and after a lag, active development continued by the community. Subsequently, there were a number of test releases, with most notably the addition of JavaScripting capabilities to write missions and shader support.
On 16 December 2011, a new stable version, v1.76, to replace 2006's v1.65, was released.
On 27 May 2012, a new stable version, v1.76.1, was released. This is a bug-fix update to Oolite 1.76. It does not add new features.
On 16 August 2012, a trial deployment version of v1.76.1 was released. The purpose of the release is to evaluate Oolite's Deployment configuration, which is the way upcoming stable releases are expected to be made.
On 8 January 2013, a new test deployment version, v1.77, was released. This version comes with new features and improvements over previous releases.
On 1 October 2013 a new test deployment version, v1.77.1 was released. This is a bug-fix update to Oolite 1.77. It does not add new features.
On 30 June 2014 a new stable version, v1.80 was released, to replace 2012's v1.76.1. It adds many new features, including greatly improved AI, an updated core shipset and an Expansion Pack management system.
On 27 May 2015 a new stable version, v1.82 was released. AI and the Expansion Pack Management System were further improved, and combat reworked to make the early game a bit easier for beginners, while still allowing plenty of challenges in the later game. Graphics and interfaces were upgraded, with the main improvement being the fully zoomable and scrollable galaxy map, which replaces the separate short-range and long-range charts. Improvements were made to multi-monitor support, explosion graphics, and planet textures, and a "field of view" setting introduced to Game Options. A Scenario Support System was introduced, essentially allowing people to rewrite the galaxies, ships, equipment and rules to make their own new space game using the Oolite engine.
On 21 July 2016, version 1.84 was released. The main additions are listed as : Mobile external view camera, multiple lasers now available to all ships, improvements to the Galactic Chart interface, improvements to overall presentation and UI.
On 25 October 2017, version 1.86 was released. It features a new terrain generation algorithm for more realistic looking land sections, adds cloud layers and adjusts ambient lighting for an overall more aesthetically pleasing result. The maximum resolution the game can support has been increased to 8K UHD levels. Other additions are high-DPI support on Windows, the ability to load expansion packs over HTTPS, the ability to use the mouse wheel for speed control when piloting ships using a mouse (Windows / Linux), and an Easy Start scenario for commanders who struggle to get their Lave-based MkIII combat-ready.