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Procedurally-generated space sandbox game Limit Theory launches on Kickstarter

Limit_Theory

It’s easy to compare any open-ended spaceship sim to Elite, but Limit Theory’s designer, Josh Parnell, describes a game with quite a lot more to it. You’ll be able to take control of entire fleets that you’ve customised according to your tastes and “engage in far more than just combat or trading.” Limit Theory will straddle genres as “an RPG, RTS, and sandbox space exploration game,” according to the pitch.

It’s up to you whether you prefer playing as a trader or a warrior, as an admiral with a fleet or a prospector with a mining vessel. What is certain is that space is very, very shiny, thanks to a custom-built game engine, and Parnell says that this picturesque and procedurally-generated universe will be infinite. “The algorithms behind the universe have been designed very carefully,
such that they are mathematically-guaranteed to generate universes of
infinite size,” he says in his pitch.

Absolutely everything is procedurally-generated, not just the universe itself. Space stations, ships and even textures are created in this way, as are the game’s missions and events. Parnell is also promising a “powerful and deep” AI that will be working away behind the scenes, controlling the behaviour of other ships and fleets.

You can find Limit Theory on Kickstarter here, asking for a relatively modest $50,000 and offering the usual physical rewards for higher pledges. After just one day, funding has already passed the $7,100 mark, which is a pretty solid start.