April 15, 2008 6:00 AMFrictionless Insight has published a new article which offers a nostalgic look back at Binary Systems' Starflight. Placed in command of their own starship players could explore hundreds of unique planets, communicate with several alien races, and eventually unravel the secret behind a threat to the entire galaxy.These worlds were made possible by the power of [gasp!] fractals. The use of these algorithms allowed developer Binary Systems to create around 800 unique planets using mere kilobytes of data. Each world was unique, with geography that made intuitive sense and remained constant through every visit. After a little exploration, several worlds became familiar friends as I returned repeatedly to harvest minerals and capture the dangerous, tentacled aliens that could be sold to fund my expeditions. There were so many worlds that the designers themselves claimed not to have visited them all. Soon, the joys of exploration fell before the onslaught of fear. No longer was I just outfitting a better ship, identifying worlds for colonization, and hauling precious cargo back for the people of Arth. A little contact with the aliens wandering through the inky blackness of space revealed that Arth might be doomed by an alien threat. Diplomacy and sheer firepower became my tools for prying the secrets of the universe from other sentient beings.Click over to the link below to read the rest of the article.Frictionless Insight: When Emergent Play Was Only a Floppy Away

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