Planet size

Hey I'm new here and if there is already a post with this info please point me in the right direction. I am wondering how big the worlds are going to be. Is it going to be like big enough that we will have to spend a couple of nights just to get around the whole world or will it be little and we could get around the world in a matter of game hours. Also how many worlds are there going to be in the picture of the Spector on the home page I think it showed like three or four dots so I'm guessing those are systems and about 4-12 planets a system that would make a rough estimate of about 25-30 worlds is this about right?

And one more thing will the planets be round or flat like in Gary's mod or star made. I really hope they are round!

Hi, the planets will not be round. For each planet you are given a set explorable area.

The map size will alter depending on the planet and it's contents. E.G, you can expect a desert planet to have a much larger playable area than a jungle planet. Due to the fact that deserts are practically empty, and jungle planets will require dense forests covering most the terrain. It's all a matter of performance balancing.

To give you a rough idea of the size of the planets, the Stoddaria playable area is currently 9km squared. This is midrange planet in terms of performance/content, so you can expect denser planets to be smaller than that, and sparse planets fairly larger.

Each system features anywhere between 1-4 planets, some explorable some not (e.g gas planets). More systems may be added after release.

Space areas are considerably larger. Though not yet confirmed how big. Essentially, whatever feels suitable.

Ok thanks for the reply. And one more thing. Are there going to be different atmospheric makeups, I could have seen somewhere that some planets will have poisonous atmosphere. So this tells me yes there will be different makeups. But I am also wondering if some atmospheres will be denser than others so that some planets you could just speed right into and others you'll have to control you speed and altitude or you will burn up. And lastly will there be different sized atmosphere, like will one planets atmosphere be real close to the surface and another would have the atmospheres wayfarer out.

"wayfarer out"
The planets will be round from orbit, right?

Of course no one likes a square planet

Marrowmatt wrote:Hi, the planets will not be round. For each planet you are given a set explorable area.

The map size will alter depending on the planet and it's contents. E.G, you can expect a desert planet to have a much larger playable area than a jungle planet. Due to the fact that deserts are practically empty, and jungle planets will require dense forests covering most the terrain. It's all a matter of performance balancing.

To give you a rough idea of the size of the planets, the Stoddaria playable area is currently 9km squared. This is midrange planet in terms of performance/content, so you can expect denser planets to be smaller than that, and sparse planets fairly larger.

Each system features anywhere between 1-4 planets, some explorable some not (e.g gas planets). More systems may be added after release.

Space areas are considerably larger. Though not yet confirmed how big. Essentially, whatever feels suitable.

This is the answer I was looking for but how will you land on the planet?, will it done by a cutscenes.

And how will the space station docking be handled?.

On that note, how will you have the edges of the explore-able area marked? I'd hate it if I just ran into a wall, or came to the edge of a massive cliff, etc. Will there be an in-game reason why I can't go visit the mountains just outside the area?

PS: I don't know much about programming, but is there anyway to procedural generate an entire planet with the fidelity that you want?

Yes there will be logical and non immersion breaking reasons as to why some areas you will not be able to travel, for example a message may appear saying, "you see nothing but a sprawling mass of jungle ahead, you can not go any further," or "you see nothing but vast desert" something along those lines rather than just invisible walls preventing you from continuing.

The game Precursors had it's explorable planet areas surrounded by unclimbable mountains although you could fly over them, can't remember what happened if you did either the game automatically turn you around or told you to return.

If you are going for cutscenes showing the ship landing/takeoff or docking at station try and get 2 or 3 variations in them as their nothing worse than looking at the same cutscene over and over again.

when you want to land the ship you just pick an area and do so theres no cutscene

Bayliun wrote:when you want to land the ship you just pick an area and do so :)theres no cutscene

Nice    

Will that involve some sort of scanning the planet from orbit to pick the landing site?.

^Yes please!

its more you will approach the planet and based on your angle will be where you appear above the map

Even better. :-)