Hard Nova was the only game spaceship game I think I played back then, but I doubt it's the one you're looking for and it didn't have multi-player options to my knowledge.

But it was a cute little game though.
.

Unfortunately, none of those.


Yup, from what I see it's a different game.

Sadly, not.

Disclaimer - game I'm looking for was not on one screen, as asteroids - camera was following our ship and the level was bigger than just one screen (have hope it will help a bit). And it had multiplayer on single PC (competetive).

Hello MartiusR!

Do you have an idea, if you travelled only through space or were there also caves involved?

And was it more action-focussed, or mining- and trade-orientated, or did it include lots of roleplaying elements?


For I vaguely remember two similar games which I played roughly in that time period.


The first one is simply called "Starcom" and was available for free to play in the Browser or to download, it was made in flash. Unfortunately, the original site is down -- it is not available anymore.

The last version which I could still find on my old hard drives is "starcom_1_11.zip".
Due to its direct naming parity with an old animated TV series and corresponding toys from the nineties, it is really hard to find any information on it.
Here is a youtube video showcasing a little bit of gameplay (uploaded in 2016):
Starcom 1.11 (flashgame)

"Starcom" (the flashgame, neither the old DOS game nor the 2016 remake "Starcom Nexus") is a top-down space shooter with thrust-based flight mechanics. Each level represents a sector which you mainly have to "clear" by either doing some missions or by defeating the enemy base and then continue through a wormhole (jump point) to the next sector.
I do not remember, whether it had a multiplayer or not--but propably not, since it was made in flash.


The second game in that vein that I played a lot in the past was more like the cave-diving "Thrust"-clones (more similar to "Solar Jetman: Hunt for the golden Warpship" on the NES), but currently I can not figure out what its name was...


Other than that, there was a quite famous game series on Mac computers, which I always wanted to try out... I think, something with "Nova..." in the title.

Sorry, for having only vague memories. It is a lot of time ago that I was seeking out such type of games. However, many of them had too much roleplaying elements or too few actual missions in their gameplay, so that I lost interest in them.

Kind regards,
foxgog

FINALLY! I've found it!

The game's name is Tappo II. I've even found the gameplay on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK-_Wx1w8EI

But thanks a lot for everybody, who tried to help. I appreciate your effort!

P.S. If by any chance someone wishes to try this game, but can't find working download, let me know and I'll share it.

It's really fun title, especially if you play with someone :)

Hello again MartiusR!

Great that you managed to find it. So, it was a cave-flyer afterall.

By the way, I did remember the other top-down space flight game (originally only available on Mac).
It is "Escape Velocity Nova" by Ambrosia--the third in its game series of "Escape Velocity" (1) and "Escape Velocity Overdrive" (2).

mobygames on Escape Velocity Nova

And I was surprised to see that there even is a Windows version of it!

Furthermore, this lead to the (re-)discovery of a couple more (free) Escape Velocity clones besides "Transcendence" which was mentioned by someone already:

- "Endless Sky"
on mobygames

- "NAEV"
on github

- "Unending Galaxy"
on mobygames

Currently, I am too occupied and am not sure if I can handle those types of games right now. But some time later I am going to give them a try.

Kind regards,
foxgog

Indeed foxgog, this category in mobygames also caught my attention, but unfortunately, Tappo II had no entry in mobygames, hence my searching took a bit longer.

I didn't heard earlier about Escape Velocity, seems like it's more sophisticated game than Tappo II (which is action game only). Looks interesting though.

Glad you found your game. :)

Btw, if you end up liking Escape Velocity: Nova, you may like Endless Sky and maybe even a game called starsector.

Official site for starsector

Love all 3 games.

Tappo II looks interesting, reminds of of the old Atari 2600 games.
.