#procedural space sim

Diaspora Star Cluster Generator

Diaspora is a roleplaying game designed by Brad Murray and others at VSCA publishing.

Like many roleplaying games, Diaspora uses some generative elements to create content. In this case, an expressive method of generating a cluster of star systems that fit with the hard-sci-fi setting. It’s a clever little system that quickly produces a lot of story seeds. It’s also a handy base for building other, similar generators by using different sets of stats.

This online generator by Jeffery Miller automates it and produces a nice diagram of the cluster, plus suggests Aspects for each planet. I like the mix of aspects. It takes a lot of work to get a large enough collection to give good juxtapositions. But it pays off: When I encounter a bronze-age system with a thriving planet but poor resources, with “Byzantine Intrigue” and “Shapeshifters walk among us” that immediately gives me several story ideas, especially when I notice that their system is at the crossroads of the cluster.  

I’m fond of Brad Murray’s designs: one of his other games is the play-by-email Callisto, which I’ve run several times. (And I’m starting a new game soon!)

Norman’s Sky

While we’re waiting to see if No Man’s Sky lives up to our expectations, Ivan Notaros (who also made Library of Babbler) went and made Norman’s Sky for LOWREZJAM. 

Exploring a universe in 64x64 pixels feels very Noctis-like. Every dot you see in the tiny, pixelated sky is a place you can visit, with seamless planetary landings. 

That explorability is one of the things I like about procedural generation. You can make a space where there’s no backdrop, where even distant things are real objects. 

It’s not the only way to get the effect, and you still have to take into account that there are going to be metaphysical limits to your interactions even if there are no physical limits. But the low-fi aesthetic here helps that: you don’t expect ultra-realism in a teeny window.

Ivan’s been talking about a possible continuation of the low-fi procedural space exploration, with maybe a few more pixels. Sounds like a good idea to me.