Intro #
Welcome back to my devlog for Trade Anchor, my upcoming sci-fi game where humans are the underdogs. In the last devlog, we talked about the galaxy generator. Now, let’s dive into the stars and planets that fill that universe.
Basics #
A space sci-fi game needs to get the space stuff at least believably right. To achieve this, I’ve based my procedural galaxy generator on real astronomy. This means you won’t just see “stars”—you’ll see specific types of stars based on actual science. The generator even uses the approximate frequency of each star type, though I’ve slightly increased the occurrence of very rare stars so you’ll actually encounter them.
In a quick recap, we have main-sequence stars and a few outliers like Brown Dwarfs, Supergiants, and even Black Holes. These different star types influence everything from the star’s sheer size to the number of planets it’s likely to have.
At the moment, the game simulates star size and the number of planets based on current scientific approximations. The science on this is constantly evolving with new discoveries, so the generator is built to reflect our best current guesses.
This brings us to planets. While a star type determines how many planets a system might have, the planets themselves determine habitability and resources. This is where the game’s core gameplay comes in. Just like with stars, I’ve based planet types on current scientific understanding, which is why you’ll find types like Super Earths. I’ve skipped some of the more theoretical, fantastical worlds you might read about, as they often oversimplify real science.
In the game, a planet’s type determines its resources, and its habitability influences population size and industrial production. For example, factories are more likely to be built on planets with less hostile environments.
To keep the game manageable for both you and me, I’ve decided to handle all trading and economics on a solar system scale, not a planetary one. While it was tempting to simulate every single planet’s economy, I don’t believe it would have added much to the gameplay. This system-wide approach also helps smooth out some of the rough edges where the procedural generator isn’t perfectly realistic or balanced.