10 Things In Outer Wilds That Will Blow Your Mind
3. The Story Of How It Was Made
Impressive modern games are nearly always very complicated to make. There are several questions that need answering. Outer Wilds was the sum of many parts. It all started as a PHD thesis and slowly became an amalgamation of several other projects. They collectively formed the solar system in game today.
Each planet was approached methodically and collectively built over almost a decade, each presenting its own challenges.
Chief among which was the nature of the game itself. It could not be built normally. Most games are built on a grid, Outer Wilds though was built with spheres. For a programmer this is equivalent to learning a new language. Backwards.
Perspectives were constantly challenged which meant things were built upside down, the wrong way round and fell foul to the physics system. Developed by physics degree holding programmers.
It was programmed so well that the games zero-G cave has no gravity simply because its at the centre of the planet and all the mass of the body pushes out from there, now that is cool. It's a programming feat that deserves to be appreciated as one.