What would it take to make a video game that incorporated a WHOLE PLANET system?

Question

With standard consumer-grade computing power of today, would it be possible to make a 3-d, 360-degree video game where one can fly around a planet and its moons, and land on them? Maybe only get OUT of one's ship at certain sites...

I imagine graphics quality being secondary to game physics, but what kind of graphics could such a game handle? Could it run smoothly if it were as intricate as the old 90's TIE Fighter game? That game used textureless polygons just complex enough to define unique spaceship shapes. Or could there be some low-res textures even? And while we're at it, what would it take to incorporate a whole SOLAR system that you could fly around in?

I think MS Space Sim already did a 3-d planet once, but I haven't seen anything else like it. I'm thinking more like a space combat sim where the Northern and Southern hemispheres of a planet fight for domination....

is it to scale, or is there just a cartoony planet-thing hanging around?

Answer 1

Mired in controversy, you can do this in several games of the Battlecruiser series, by Derek Smart. Don't get your hopes up, though, as the worlds are sparsely populated and not too interactive.

From the horsepower standpoint, it's certainly possible with several different scalar game engines. Let's take the engine for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as an example. I'm probably oversimplifying, but it should serve as a good illustration...

It can faithfully render interior locations, and ground-level exteriors including people, vehicles, scenery and environment. The trick is, it only renders line of sight in detail, and detail drops out beyond a given visual cone. As you move around, it fills in detail as needed.

When you jump in a vehicle, and as you start moving faster, it can narrow down the cone of detail, because the game can better predict the direction you'll continue to travel due to physics. The faster you race through the environment, the fewer minute details are rendered to focus more power on the game engine rendering basic scenery in a wider area (since you can move a greater distance). A neat trick is the game starts blurring the periphery, simulating high-speed tunnel vision (and hiding the lower detail on scenery).

Hop into an aircraft, and start gaining altitude or zooming around at high speeds, and the game is rendering much less fine detail in favor of basic geometry so it can render the largest area. Several aircraft allow you to go so high that you can barely see the ground. Due to the constraints of the GTA storyline, you can't go into outerspace, but there doesn't seem any reason why you coulnd't if the game called for it.

The Hulk, Spiderman and Superman movie games also did this kind of thing pretty well.

They all pretty well demonstrates going from a pretty detailed ground-level perspective to upper atmosphere perspective as a technical possibility.

The biggest limitation will be how much detail can a developer reasonably construct. The more populated the world is, and the more ongoing tasks available that it has to map, the more work it'll be for the developers. There's only so much time and resources a developer can afford to put into a project.

Another ish is the whole micro versus macro issue. If you're in command of fighting a planetary war, do you need to go into such minute detail as to see what's going on at street level? That's a big concern about the Battlecruiser games. It can be hard to focus on the bigger events, because you spend so much time and effort micromanaging minute details that have little or no real bearing on the world events.

And, if you're infantry fighting at street level, you're probably too busy to focus on anything beyond 100 yards of you (let alone hundreds of miles).

But, then, it could probably be pulled off by some of the better developers. There are some things that sounded bad on paper, but the right developer pulled off (for isntance, Half Life 2's advanved physics engine sounded like it would be frivilous and laborious, but HL2 wound up being one of the best games in ages).

Answer 2

Well, if you really like LittleBigPlanet, you could go for the PS3, but that might be moving too quickly. The xBox used to be the de facto 'shooter' console, but with most shooters being multiplatform, the only advantage xBox really has is Halo for first person shooters. Other games that are very fun to play in my experience are the complete Mass Effect series (highly recommended) and Gears of War. Xbox hardware is also starting to show it's age, and PS3 titles are starting to get better, graphically, than the aforementioned console. You also have to pay for online play. That's not good. The price of an xbox is up there, but not quite as expensive as the PS3 in most cases. In addition to the standard multiplatform games, the PS3 has Resistance and Uncharted (and littlebigplanet), both of which are very fun to play. The PS3 also has free online, which is a bonus. However, the PS3's price tag is the most expensive of the bunch. The Ratchet and Clank series is also Sony(PS3) exclusive. Demons Souls and God of War are also exclusive, and very fun. The Wii is sort of an iffy purchase. It has some very fun games like Super Smash Bros., The Conduit series, and the Legend of Zelda, but does not offer much else. In my experience, the Wii was fun, but there weren't that many fantastic game to play; although the fantastic games that it DOES have you could play forever, so take that into consideration. The Wii's online play is somewhat strange to navigate but it is free. The Wii also has the cheapest price tag of all three consoles. Overall, I would say that If you can afford it, get the PS3. If not, then you should pick between the xBox and the Wii. The most important thing to note is that you needn't worry. All three systems are fun to play, and you won't be making a "wrong" choice with any of them. For the record, I also own and play al three systems.

Answer 3

EVE online is currently working on making it possible for you to exit your ship in stations while docked (this is just a rumor). After that, I am sure that walking on and exploring planets will follow. EVE online is an amazing game and you should check it out at http://eve-online.com

Answer 4

Can't that be done in starwars galactic battlegrounds?

I could be wrong