Frontier Explorer

I've been thinking about, tinkering with and procrastinating over making a game for years. I have untold gigs worth of Unity projects clogging up, not only my desktop & laptop hard drives, but also our network storage drives! I sat down to do some serious thinking at the start of this decade and realised, the main reason I so often don't follow through (or get anywhere near even alpha stage) is because there is no actual story or driving idea behind my projects. Every few months I sit down to make a game. Once my prototype goes beyond the most bare bones mechanic, I eject like a boulder from a trebuchet. That or I spend several great night's working on getting a level designed, only to realise I have absolutely no clue what I'm going to do with it!

This time it's different! This time, I have an idea. An idea based on a game that has already been made and works really well. Yes that's right, I want to make a game very similar to and inspired by one that already exists! I want to make a space exploration game where each world you visit is unique, each solar system different from the next, a game where there is basically no end as it all gets generated on the fly as the player moves through the universe (except for maybe when the data needed to run the game gets so massive I/the game can't keep paying for hosting that much data). I am of course talking about a game very close to No Man's Sky.

If you've read this far, you're no doubt thinking, "But that game already exists?!", and that is a very valid thought! The best rebuttal would be, one is not enough. Call of Duty isn't the only military fps, Fortnite isn't the only battle royale, Destiny isn't the only looter shooter. More of a good thing, especially in gaming, is never a bad thing.

To be completely honest though, exploring space is the coolest damn thing ever, plus it's one hell of a challenge! The shear technical backend that will be needed to even get a tenth of the way to NMS would be a major feat for a single dev game! My goal is actually to do mobile first, because I want to cruise around space exploring new worlds on my phone when I'm on the porcelain throne. Obviously with the ability to port your account to PC at some point, and who knows maybe one day even console 🤣

For now, watch this space 😉

Comments

Random Generation That's Not So Random

While I do want the Galliventurer universe to be procedurally & randomly generated, I don't want it to be truly random. There needs to be a modicum of probability involved. Some weighting so that some things are rarer than others. After all we can have too many diamond covered planets or uranium based suns - as you can see I haven't actually started thinking too much about the composition of the planets, stars, etc. Keeping this probability based random selection in mind, I'm going to be using a dynamically weighted series of arrays to randomly select properties for entities in the Galliventurer universe. Using something very similar to (or based on) this article by Michael Czechowski https://observablehq.com/@nextlevelshit/rejection-sampling-in-javascript . The main bit of complexity here will be the values of a randomly selected property will affect the weights of the next selection. For example the size of a star will greatly change the weight of the probabi

No Language

I worry there isn't words to describe the depth of my feelings. One four letter word isn't enough. It feels too small, too fragile, to contain such an ache. A strand that cuts through to the very core of my soul and anchors me to you. The breadth of comfort with you, the depth of my entwinement cannot be limited to such a word. Sitting at the center of my life, you ground me when the rigors of everyday life threaten to throw me asunder to the void. I am yours always, you are my forever.

Where's the Fun?

When Galliventurer was first conceived in the bowels of my brain it was during a particularly good session of playing No Man's Sky. I had just traversed several different planets finding old ruins and exploring as I went. The exhilaration I felt zipping around in space and then landing to explore - it was this feeling and the want to continue that on my phone, which persisted for days & weeks, was the main reason I even considered starting development on Galliventurer. No Man's Sky is possibly one of the most ambitious, fully realised games in history - yes it took them a while to get there, but I don't see Star Citizen releasing anytime soon - so it goes without saying Galliventurer will not be anywhere near that ambitious. A small glimmer of space flight amongst the stars with endless exploration. But then what? Subin Kim's freighter concept This has been a constant thorn in my frontal lobe since my first flight through the current build of the game. Sure you ca

Inkie Beard

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