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[skateblind]

I'm so happy right now. I've managed to create a planet generation function which gives each planet a random radius, a random mass and then calculates a plausible gravity for that planet based on those values.

Of course its not realistic, but the gravity calculation is heavily based on the real scientific formulae and adds a nice simulation factor,to a degree . I do plan to keep tweaking the process and adding more attributes like weather and atmosphere, but my first attempt seems to do exactly what I want in a close to realistic fashion, something I did not expect  .

I've also randomly created the coordinates and made sure that they do not stray to close to each other and ruin the 'realism' .

Does anyone know how I could code a decent name and description generator? If so, then hopefully I could create those descriptions based on the values that get generated for each planet.
The name generation is not that important as I can always create/find a list of 500+ decent planet sounding names and use that to pick a name from for each planet, something which I have already done, but I would prefer to have a generation system that is only limited by the computer's memory.

Once all this is done I will be able to add my own custom planets and integrate it into the generation system. This will allow me to have a game that is always unique and fresh, but at the same time have a pre-made story/adventure that will take the player to wonderful places that could not be generated by a computer, if they wished to follow the story that is .

The reason I am taking this route is because games like Frontier would have been even better if there was a set story that you could follow if you chose to do so, otherwise its easy to get a bit bored after the first 1000hrs of play 

Let me know what you guys think and if you have any ideas for the generation system or anything else for that matter.

[Sidewinder]

@skate

I've always wanted to make a space game!  Props to you for making a random planet generator.  How detailed is this generator?  Does it put the planets into solar systems?

As far as names go, that depends on how detailed you want to get.  You could develop several "languages" with rules for nouns and such and have the computer generate names based on those rules, but the easier answer is as you describe, to make a list of names.

As far as the planet description, you'd first have to develop categories of planets based on their mass, structure (rock, metal, liquid, gas), atmosphere, distance from the nearest star, etc.  In our solor system we have small, hot rock planets like Mercury and Venus that are close to the sun and we have medium rock/liquid planets like Earth and Mars that are in the middle and out at the edges we have gas giants like Saturn, Jupiter, and Neptune.  Again, it all really depends on how detiled you want to get.  Will the planets rotate on their axes?  Will they have moons?  Will you detail the minerals found in them or the types of gasses in the atmosphere.  You could go as deep as you wanted to with this.  I think it's very exciting.

Would the storyline continue in this game even if the player didn't participate?

[Hungry Horace]

bloodwych extended levels uses seeded random number to generate names... this way you get the variation, but get the same names every time you play.

on thing you notice, is that the names are kinda based on splitting up the original champion names...

they seem to work simply by breaking names down into 3/4 parts

so you get variants like

sipibo
murtibo
sippi
muppi


but also with a fair few other "parts" of names.

i guess your random generation could generate a "number of parts", and then pick out the parts to consturct that name.... all you need do is split the parts according to vowels.

eg. from breaking up real planet names you get parts like:

ju-pi-ter
sa-tu-rn
ma-rs
me-rcu-ry

just using these might generate such names as:   sepirn, meter, sars   (lol)


re: planet info, sidewinders got it spot on.  you'd need to loko at creating a set number of planet types first, and should also consider allowing for moons, which when orbitting gas giants can be a lot like little planets.



what are you coding this in Skate?

[skateblind]

Did I mention I'm only using a text 'mode' for the time being?
I will add graphics, but only when I'm happy with the base design.
I have made a space game before, but I started with graphics from the start and it was tough constantly changing them when I had to add new things.




@SIDEWINDER
I plan to make it very detailed because I would like to be able to allow the player to explore the planets surface and this will require the planets to have lots of details so that it has something to build the surface from. I will have solar systems, but I'm not sure what would be the best way of placing each particular system and whether or not I should have two map modes, one to explore the galaxy(hyper-drive) and one to explore the system that you enter from the 'Hyper-drive map'. I call it a map even though it will actually be the main view the player will use to fly around in.

Here's a list of what I plan to add, but its not final and will grow and be edited as needed.

Size/Radius
Mass
Gravity
Name
Description(Might give this a miss, unless I can figure out how to add flourishes to the text, other wise you might as well just read the stats of that particular planet)
Orbits(Sun with planets around it, like our Solar System. Easy to do, but will need a lot of tweaking)
Structure/Composition(like you mentioned)
Atmosphere/Weather(these may need to be separate from each other for many reasons)
Local star or stars AKA suns(will need research)
Minerals/Metals/Resources(This would affect the magnetics's of the planet)
 
Please suggest more variables if you can think of any, not matter how trivial you think it to be...

I have not thought about how the storyline will work, I suppose if I use time as a factor for orbits and so forth, then I suppose it would be logical( ) to have time constraints for certain missions and story lines. Its something which could turn out really badly if not done correctly, but would add a LOT of realism to the mission/story aspect of the game.

Please feel free to tell me what you would do if you were in my shoes or better yet, hop on board and help me program this sucker, I'm using Dark Basic Pro  though so you would have to find copy from somewhere nudge nudge.




@HORACE
Once again you have shown me the way, I WILL use that idea of using parts of real or fake names, but I will have 3 or 4 categories for certain parts of names. Anything from Cat1(always the start of a name) will fit with Cat2 and anything from Cat2 will fit with Cat3 and so on, then I can randomize how many categories to use and then randomly pick from each category.

I suppose the last category would be numbers and so forth, like Omicron Percei 8 which would be split up like so, Omi(CAT1)-cr(CAT2)-on(CAT3) Per(CAT4)-cei(CAT5) 8(CAT6), that particular name would need 6 categories to choose from, maybe less if  I revise the method. Its such a great way of getting decent sounding names. Although there may be some odd ones on the occasion, but I can just say its because of the alien language, .

Like I stated earlier in this long post, I am currently coding in Dark Basic Pro, but so far my code is so simple and similar to Amos Pro that would only take me an hour or two to convert it, but I doubt I could do such a detailed game in Amos with graphics included. There will most likely be a lot of searching and referencing needed by the language, like FOR_NEXT loops and DO_WHILE, which will not be good if it needs to be done for 500 planets or more.
However, if SIDEWINDER wishes to join me as a joint and equal designer/coder, then I would be more than happy to make it an Amos project which can be hosted here on the site.




I shall apologise now about the long and difficult to read post, hope no-one gets a head/nerd-ache
I've added the big gaps to make it easier to read, so don't ask .
Please give opinions, design tips, warnings or anything else for that matter, since this will be a big project for a lone gunner and any help is greatly appreciated. Horace and Sidewinder, you have already helped me immensely with your previous posts and have saved me a lot of time and effort, so thank you very much.

. .The End...

[Sidewinder]

@skate

I'd be happy to  help, although I don't have Dark Basic Pro nor the spare $70 to buy it at the moment.  I could design psudocode routines though that you could code in Dark Basic.  If you're planning on making this a space sim game with 3D graphics then AMOS probably isn't going to do it justice so I'd stick with Dark Basic for the moment.

On that note, what is your overall idea for the game?  A space sim like freespace?  A space strategy game?  Or something different?

Are you planning on using real physics?  Don't forget the types of plant and animal life on the planets.

I'll give it some more thought, but a better idea of what the game play will be like will help.

[skateblind]

I will definitely be doing it all in 2D. Since its 2D it wont be in completely real physics, if at all. If your willing to help code then I want to do it in AMOS, since I have a feeling horace may help us out some time, he is a genius when it comes to doing it right. He might not want to code anything, but Im pretty sure he would help with the structure and simplest/quickest way of doing certain functions and so forth.

Are you willing?

[FOL]

Yeh, im willing,



TO BETA TEST for you,

[SamuraiCrow]

@skate

Let me know if you have problems with that tile-map editor we discussed on IRC.

[skateblind]

I've not had a look yet as I don't need it yet, but will have a look sometime this weekend or next week.

I've typed up a document outlining my goals and details for the space game, feel free to add to it and change it, but please highlight what you have done so I can 'review' it with ease

Ill attach it to this post

[skateblind]

Sorry to double post but if I modify my previous post you wont see it in the recent posts on the front page and may miss it...

I've updated the design document and have added some details concerning the generation of the galaxy and its contents. I've started on the star generation, but would like to ask your opinions on whether or not we should allow the player to mine stars. This will affect the detail and difficulty when generating the stars.

Please let me know what you think.

[SamuraiCrow]

It looks like you're on track!  And no, I don't think stars are mine-able.

[skateblind]

I didn't mean in real life, but in a fantasy setting, as there can be shields which would negate the harmful effects of a star allowing it to be mined/scooped. I don't like the idea of mine-able stars, but it could add nice freelancing/money-making element that could keep the player interest just that little bit longer.

I've added a new section to the document explaining two possible methods of handling the way the galaxy is displayed to the player and how they would interact with it, i.e travel and fights. I will do a lot more to the document before I post another copy, but I doubt you chaps will read it in any detail due to the amount of content it will have after a few versions/revisions. Saying that, is there anything in particular you would like me to add so that you can get an idea of what I have planned or how I envision it will be coded?

[SamuraiCrow]

I think stars still shouldn't be mine-able in the game.  It would change the mass of the star and then the planets' orbits would be screwed up.

I think you should put something in the section on space ports on how they can be upgraded as alien technologies dock there and they become exposed to new technology.

[skateblind]

Ok, that shall be the first thing I add when I return to the document, but I don't think waiting for aliens to visit the ports in-game before they start having access to the technology is a good idea. The game would have to simulate the movements of all these aliens, the types of technology they carry and the influence/effects they have on a certain ports. I shall document a few possible methods of implementing this into the game, but I feel that the easiest/simplest or less demading way will be the obvious solution. My first thought would be to pretend/simulate that these visits have happened based on the surrounding systems and the aliens that inhabit them. I think maybe calculating a growth rate for each planet/station would be useful for this task as well, since it could calculate the speed at which a certain planet/station would adopt certain technologies and to what level/detail.

Any ideas or thoughts on how best to accomplish this or tweaks to my current proposed method?

[SamuraiCrow]

Maybe it could be related to the availability of resources at the aforementioned star ports and planets.  I guess the type of game I'm thinking of is the strategic element of StarControl where you can build and design a fleet of ships rather than just one ship with a bunch of stuff following it around.