Strata

📍 Warsaw, Poland (PL)

🏷️ Video Games

It all started when I got my first kid-o-toy telescope. I was 12, and communism was just about to go away in Poland. And then — somehow — everything happened so fast. A few years back, I took these photos from my backyard.

After long hours of stacking and composition, each time I saw the final image I felt the same thing in my gut: This is so amazing — more people should see this! Everyone should experience that there is more out there than what we see. It’s just hidden a bit (mostly behind light pollution).

So what would a technical artist, seeing beautiful shapes and colors through his telescope, do? Replicate some of that. Preferably on the GPU!

Now imagine a game where you are the caretaker of planetary evolution — the curator of your own small cutout from the vastness of the cosmos. 

Every world is unique, because it’s constructed from the randomness that fills space with different initial conditions (mass, temperature, velocity)... ...and it's up to you to evolve it over time. 

When the proto-planets collapse into a more-or-less solid core, you can zoom in — and things get more interesting.

Each planet has its own evolutionary timeline that depends on your actions. Using resources gathered on the planet’s surface, you can influence its orbital statistics.You can select and spawn anywhere on the planet.

Without an atmosphere, the surface is a harsh and volatile place. Terrain is extremely dynamic and reactive to forces and temperature. It changes periodically depending on the planet’s rotation speed and axis (day and night cycles!).

You can collect elemental resources from any debris you can identify. Rare elements require more time to identify, and are all very volatile.

You can spend elements to build structures on the surface, or send them into orbit and use them there. Any geothermal vent you build steadily adds pressure, contributing to the atmospheric density. More density means fewer destructible meteorites devastating your garden.

Progression in the game unlocks more structures, more materials to interact with, and more sandbox mechanics (accumulation / evaporation / freezing cycles). There is also block-by-block building (digging caves!) and a special type of block used for seeding the planet.

The biosphere is what I am currently working on. The biosphere gameplay layer will be connected to another game mode — called Microsurface Mode. You will be able to zoom in and locally tinker with the internals of chaotic chains of non-organic matter. Each successful attempt will give you bio-markers needed to build a cellular organism. And if that happens in the right area with suitable conditions — you might just create the first life in a lifeless universe!

Further in the biosphere development, the player will be able to tinker with evolution — add or mix new genes and develop new kinds of flora and fauna that will populate the planet and adapt (or not!) to the conditions maintained on the surface.

Even further in development: player statistics and a technological-tree progression! This includes player ranks and skills, like time to unlock elements, availability of building features, hit points, resistances and other attributes — so the game feels like the player’s build-up is on par with the world’s expansion.

As you can see, this initially small project quickly grew beyond what a one-man army — me, myself — can realistically handle. And yes, this is one of the reasons I want to share it here. Gathering the right team to help is also an important milestone.

This project does not use AI for visuals or any art. For the nerds: It’s a procedurally generated, hierarchical open world that uses simplified astrophysical principles to populate and evolve each layer over time. Hence the name.

Do I really have to say this? No micro-transactions, no loot boxes of any kind, and no in-game purchases. Buy once, get updates for life. Community-driven development is the way to go.

What is the GOAL of this campaign? 

1. To get this project for release as a Steam Early Access game somewhere in between: Q3 2026 - Q1 2027
2. Establish community (including modding!), provide regular updates, engage & listen to feedback
3. Gather a dev team!
4. Plan road map beyond alpha version (multiplayer focused!)
5. Establish a version-publishing roadmap and target platforms
6. ...and so much more (I need a vacation!)