| Starflight |
| Developer: | Binary Systems |
| Publisher: | Electronic Arts |
| Released: | 1986 |
| Perspective: | {$perspective} |
| Platforms: | Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, Genesis, Macintosh |
Description
Starflight is a space exploration game with RPG and adventure elements, from an era when genres were still being defined. The player explores hundreds of star systems, each with multiple procedurally-generated planets. Starflight was a major influence on subsequent space exploration games, particularly Star Control 2 (and, apparently, Mass Effect).
Use of Procedural Content Generation Methods
The planets in Starflight are procedurally generated and seeded with minerals, biological specimens, and other things to discover. The entire game fits on two 5.25" 360KB disks.
The Planet Builder
"About nine months after we started the actual programming, we came up with the idea for the fractal generator. A fractal generator so powerful that it could create surfaces in space. It took 6 man-years to create the technology, but it gave us the ability to cram 800 complex and unique planets into each game, instead of the 50 we'd had before. There are so many that even we haven't explored them all."
—From the inside of the original box
External Links
Starflight - Wikipedia entry for Starflight.
Starflight on Mobygames - Mobygames entry for Starflight.
Greg Johnson Interview - Interview with one of the creators. Rogue is mentioned.
