Environment

Reddit AMA with Raph Koster

"Stars Reach uses simulation to a degree never seen in an MMO before. We know the temperature, the humidity, the materials, for every cubic meter of every planet. Our water actually flows downhill and puddles. It freezes overnight or during the winter. It evaporates and turns to steam when heated up.

And not just our water -- everything does this. Catch a tree on fire with a stray blaster bolt. Melt your way through a glacier to find a hidden alien laboratory embedded in the ice. Stomp too hard on a rock bridge, and watch out, it might collapse under your feet. Dam up a river to irrigate your farm. Or float in space above an asteroid, and mine crystals from its depths. And this works everywhere, it's not special-cased handcrafted moments."

Later Raph added, "We track temperature diffusion through the world. We track humidity by aggregating smaller cells to determine larger area humidities.

Then we make all the rendering be dynamic based on what the sim is telling us. The plants turn brown, the dirt gets cracks, etc."