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Stellaris Developer Diary Begins With Wonder

Find out how a galaxy is made

Most developer diaries are pretty boring, trapped between the desire to offer insight and the desire to always present an alluring marketing image of the game being made. I think perhaps the developer diaries for Stellaris [official site] couldn't be boring if they tried. The 4X space game is being made by Paradox, who normally deal with historical settings but here are procedurally generating a galaxy, including the very races you fight against. It was Adam's favourite game at Gamescom and now there's going to be weekly updates talking about the making of it.

Part one talks about the studio's "vision" for the game, and is written by game director Henrik "Doomdark" Fåhreus:

"The vision statement the for Stellaris is: "The galaxy is ancient and full of wonders." That sounds pretty vague eh? However, I think it captures the spirit of what we are trying to do, when you recall the type of games we make at PDS... I want to make Stellaris the most replayable of all of our games (which, granted, is a pretty tall order!) The galaxy should always be unknown and surprising. That is why there are no "major races" in the game, and such a great variety of discoveries you can make. In the same vein, there is no fixed technology tree - but more on that later."

It's interesting already for highlighting how the game differs from Paradox's other games, in that it features a symmetrical start and you always start small, and how it differs from other 4X games, by putting a larger focus on exploration, "which I personally feel has always been the most neglected" of the Xs.

Next week will deal with the art style, but I'm hoping future weeks delve into the generative systems that create Stellaris' galaxy.

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