666 Splintus obviously needs to have a devil-worshipping splinter religious cult. 4 columns from left, 5 up from bottom.

Also, aren't the original creators of Elite rabid about stopping people from creating clones?

The look of the map just changed a bit because of some new features.
Also the names changed a bit.

I like the suggestion of different sounding names for different races btw :)



There are plenty of elite clones afaik, I really hope they can't sue a game because it's inspired on another one!!

Quote: Original post by silverphyre673
Also, aren't the original creators of Elite rabid about stopping people from creating clones?

Only one of them (David Braben IIRC). The other, whose name I have shamefully forgotten, is actually quite keen on them. In fact I believe he personally lauded some of the more noteworthy "clones" like the X series.


</shameless pimping>

You can hardly corner the market on that sort of thing. It's like authors getting mad at Google for making libraries searchable. There are better things to get mad about.

I suppose I'd live in "Noactus", since I get no action.

Hi I just noticed this and wondered if you might want to see what I'm currently doing as I've had the same problems. I've created a galaxy with 756 million stars and used a procedure I've created which after choosing a letter then picks another letter to follow it but only allows it to be used if it passes certain tests. For example if the letter Q is chosen and then the letter Z then the test fails and a new letter has to be chosen. Obviously in the case of Q the only letter which passes the test is U as Q is always followed by U. Thats an easy example. Other letters can only be used a certain number of times. For example T can be followed by T but only if it the letter before that is a vowel. Then of course the engine has a list of swear words which can't be allowed etc lol.
Anyway I'll try upload some screenshots and a link to my work in progress. Any questions please ask.
Oh btw it is still a very early WIP so I know it aint very pretty but it works

Download FGM_DEV_4.6.rar from FileFactory.com

WIP download link

Hi I just noticed this and wondered if you might want to see what I'm currently doing as I've had the same problems.

I think the OP died of old age.

First thought: "OH! Elite clone! Cool!" - then I read the post date...

oh bugger yeah i didnt see the date. half the ppl that posted on here are probably dead by now lmao
oh well lol. anyway heres some more screen shots if your interested And yeah it is an Elite clone but gonna be much better I hope.
Going to be able to walk around ship and walk out onto planets. So you may have to get out and repair the hull or a mining machine and may even get attacked by wildlife etc. Thats the plan anyway.

This is a contact Binary Star. The only reason it has 10 gas giants is where I'm working out how to fit all the information on screen. I have a list of 39 different planet types.


And these are examples showing different random names that are made on the fly. Still needs a little work though...

Lode is still active, I wonder what came of this project.

I don't know if your game makes the distinction, but you may look into making a few set of phonology rules based on the controlling region's language.

For example:

Race A has the sounds A, TA, TU, VE. VE may never appear after an A, and TU may never be the first syllable - unless separated by a glottal stop.

Tu'vea, Atave, Veveta, and so on.

Race B has the sounds GA, LU, TOR, MAS, NAL, AS. LU may never be the initial syllable, and the M in MAS changes to V when the previous syllable ends in a vowel.

Masga, Torluvas, Nalluas, Tormasnal.

And so on. From there you generate names based on those races' rules. It will create a much more natural looking distinction between a group's boundaries. Of course, I also recommend the ability for the player to have an alias name for a system - in some cases, a planet I commonly travel to would ring a better bell if it sounded much more natural to me, as opposed to whatever the locals call it. On further thought, unless you're assuming that all systems are known by the player prior to playing, you could use a simple index system to name uncharted systems, thus allowing the player to either learn or choose the name for new systems.

Just a thought. [smile]

I was actually considering starting an Elite inspired Colony simulator, and I think I need to remember this bit. Looks like a far better method of generating names than purely random gibberish.