Monday, April 13, 2009

Planets as landscapes

In Spore, I wanted to make the player feel like they were on a planet in space. Not just on a flat playing-field with a painted sky above, but actually on a planet, in a solar system, orbiting a star, with other planets visible in the night sky. Planets that you'd eventually be able to visit.

I wanted the space above you to feel like a volume, not just a backdrop.



Once we got the simulated solar system filling the sky, I would walk up to the north pole, and watch the sun spin through the course of a simulated day. There would be the occasional eclipse, but sadly we didn't have time to hook them up to our lighting system, so the other planets don't actually cast shadows.


Here's a few screenshots from the first time we got the night sky working. I was pretty pleased with them at the time, but in retrospect they look a little like art you'd see painted on the side of a van in 1977.  It's those early childhood influences!

(click to enlarge)
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 15, 2009 at 10:24 AM

    I never noticed or thought about this until now, though I've played the game for hours--it must mean you did your job well! The only time I remember thinking about it consciously was with my first species, looking up at another planet, and thinking "I'm going to take over that planet first!" And, that's what I did!

    Is there any possibility of hearing about how the planet terrain system itself works? (That is, how the height of a planet at any given point is calculated?)

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  2. Ocean QuigleyApril 15, 2009 at 10:33 AM

    Thanks! Yeah, that would be great subject for a post. I'll come up with one in a bit...

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  3. AnonymousApril 16, 2009 at 8:49 PM

    Great post, its always good to see the insides of game production!

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