Stephen M. Webb - 2012-07-04

The Story So Far…

The Earth has become overcrowded and resources are running out. Starvation is rampant, disease is becoming uncontrollable, and riots are a daily occurrence in many of the more populated regions. Something had to be done.

With the development of cold sleep, and the improved hibernacula for those who can afford them, interstellar flight offered one solution to the overcrowding problem. Remote sensing technologies revealed a plethora of possibly habitable planetary systems, systems with a Sun-like star and rocky Earth-like planets with liquid water and nitrogen-oxygen atmospheres. A consortium of the world's industrialists, governments, and interested ruling families developed a program to attempt to establish colonies on these far-off worlds. Crews of intrepid adventurers would embark on one-way missions to the stars to establish permanent settlements on the new-found worlds, preparing for the colonists to follow.

You are the leader of one such crew. You are furnished with a colony ship and a pool of credits with which to upgrade and outfit your expedition. You pick your crew, you pick your destination, and you all set of with 300 colonists in cold sleep. You don't know what you find when you reach your destination, and there's no turning back. Good luck.

What is Legacy2345?

Legacy2345 is a simulation game. The player generates a world, selects his or her expedition, and launches into space. On arrival at the destination planet,he or she must establish a colony, survive, and prosper. The expedition can bring only limited resources and must survive by exploring and exploiting the local resources.

In 2345, interstellar space travel is possible, not because of the invention of faster-than-light travel but because of the invention of suspended animation, the ability to put spacefarers into a deep sleep of effective suspended metabolism, slowing the ageing process by a factor of about 200. A 30-year-old man who embarks on a 200 lightyear journey at up to 90% of the speed of light will physically age only about 5 years, given the acceleration and deceleration time required for such a trip. This means that travel is practical for individuals, but two-way communications or a return trip is not.

The biosphere and history of the target planet is procedurally generated, so each expedition will face a completely new, unknown challenge.

How To Get Started

Legacy2345 is still under development. Participation is welcome by all. Immediate-mode communication is through IRC on freenode.net (channel #legacy2345) or via the development mailing list legacy2345-development@lists.sourceforge.net. Right now is get in on the game design or the game architecture action.