Welcome to Limit Theory, a vast, procedurally-generated universe ready to be explored, exploited, and conquered.

[ OPEN ]

Go anywhere, do anything. No story, no limits, and no rules. Experience the synergy of total freedom and boundless opportunity.

[ DEEP ]

Reach beyond the usual drone of trading and mining. Build stations. Amass fleets. Explore planets. Make friends. Plan raids, ambushes, and even full-system assaults.

[ INFINITE ]

No hand-crafted assets. The universe is built procedurally from the asteroids to the planets right down to the ships so each game is completely different. Each universe is also infinite in expanse: you'll never finish exploring, learning, or conquering.

Backstory / "Limit Theory"

The people of the Ancient Colony believed that all limits - physical, technological, even cosmological - could be overcome with the mind. "You are your only limitation," they said. It was unrealistic, perhaps even childish. But it worked. This so-called 'limit theory' thrived in the minds of the people. Idealism drove overwhelming progress. Far-fetched aspirations became concrete realities. Wide-eyed dreams fueled breakthroughs in all fields. Limit theory prevailed, and it took civilization from the surface of one planet to the farthest corners of the universe.

You are part of this great lineage of idealists. You, like your ancestors, are free of limitation. You, like your ancestors, see exploitable potential in everything around you. You, like your ancestors, are a limit theorist, and you will carve your own story in this radiant universe.

Gameplay Features

Infinite, Open World

Each universe generated by the Limit Theory Engine has an infinite number of star systems to explore. As far as your journeys take you, you will never encounter the edge of space. Truly, you can never exhaust the possibilities of this universe.

All Things Procedural

All of the content that populates each universe is generated by the computer, using a technique known as procedural content generation. This means that next time you start a game, not only will the universe be different - but all things therein as well, including factions, goods, weapons, ships, mission opportunities, stations, planets, AI pilots, and more. Each universe is a totally unique experience without end.

Large-Scale Combat

Encounter epic battles between massive fleets with hundreds of ships. Take sides and join the fight, or earn enough wealth to purchase and command your own fleet to crush your adversaries.

Dynamic Economy

You won't find fixed prices here. The Limit Theory economy is dynamically driven by supply and demand. Moreover, events that occur in the universe - raids, blockades, factional takeovers, and so on - may change the entire dynamic of a region's economy. Your actions are no exception. As you become more influential, you may find your operations to have a significant impact on the surrounding systems.

Immersive Mining

Actively search for ore in asteroid fields, then physically extract it using weaponry or, even better, specialized mining beams. While scanning may be necessary to ascertain the exact contents of an asteroid, ore-rich asteroids can be spotted visually from afar.

Living Universe

You aren't the center of the Limit Theory universe. AI players live their lives as well, and throughout your journey in the universe you will see factions fall, planets overrun, wars waged, treaties signed, and so on. Inevitably, you will cross paths many times with the NPCs trying to forge a life in the universe - for better or for worse.

Ownable Fleets, Stations, and Planetary Buildings

Not only can you purchase more than one ship, but you can also expand your operations to include any number of custom space stations, as well as buildings on planet surfaces. The game isn't over just because you've acquired the best ship and weapons...far from it.

Dev Blog

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Hoorah! The first day of Limit Theory of the glorious year of 2^11 - 33 has come and gone :D The day consisted of a visit to the park with ye olde notebook, much time spent with the master planning tree (or, more lovingly, tree.txt), an exciting excursion into LTSL-based planning, and a bout of coding cave remodeling :monkey:

I've continued to flesh out my planning tree as much as possible, especially under the gameplay sub-tree. Although I sometimes feel daunted by the size of the branches that remain marked as 'in progress' (thankfully very few branches continue to bear the dreaded 'not started' mark), I remind myself that most of the planning tree is actually marked 'complete' -- but I've not been so thorough in writing down branches that I've already completed or those that have been simultaneously created and completed in those swift bouts of midnight coding. So I took a bit of time as well to flesh out some of the branches that have already been completed before the planning tree was ever built, or those that were completed too quickly to make it into the tree. After doing so, it's rather nice to see that, indeed, many vast and 'heavy' (difficult) branches bear the honorable mark of 'complete.' Not surprisingly, 'tech,' which is one of the three top-level branches (and is appropriately-massive), is almost entirely marked complete :roll: :shifty:

After digging into the tree for several hours, I once again started to feel annoyed at the inadequacy of my project management tools. As I've written about before, I've tried every online project management tool under the sun. Planners, fancy to-do lists, industrial-strength team coordination tools, mind-mapping tools, etc. None of them have hit the spot just right, which is why, despite retaining a rather massive online mind-map of the LT project, I often fall back to working exclusively in the humble little tree.txt. But the thing is, with LTSL being where it is today, building small-to-medium-sized development tools is an easy and fun endeavor :geek: It only seemed natural that I should attempt to put together a quick tool to embody the master planning tree in true, interactive (and hierarchical) format. With only about an hour or so spent on it today, I can't say much yet, but am getting pretty excited, and remain optimistic that a simple, LTSL-based planning tool will be just what I need to manage the ever-growing detail of tree.txt

:crazy: Other than that, I've worked to clean up my coding cave, re-arrange things for maximal coding zen, and, in general, get 2015 started with a fresh and productive atmosphere. Never before has my coding cave been as inspiring as it is today :D With Star Wars and Elder Scrolls posters aplenty and a new, higher-feng-shui furniture arrangement, it's really starting to feel like a place fitting for the completion of LT's development. I'm considering ordering an EVE online poster to complete the spacey touch :) Oh, and I'm also considering a small mini-fridge. You know, to shave some valuable time off of those trips to replenish the Diet Coke :shifty:

Happy to be back on the LT train, and with RTB hitting the tracks on Wednesday, I'm ready to drive this thing home :)

(Also, I went a full day without touching Wikipedia. Binge learning seems to have worked pretty effectively :sick: :lol:)

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FAQ

When Will it be Released?

We're shooting for an early 2015 release.

Will it be Online?

Multiplayer is not planned for the first release. We would love to pursue the option when the time is right, but our primary focus for now is on exploring gameplay concepts and building a fun, deep game. We feel that dealing with networking at this stage would distract from that focus. That being said, don't rule out the possibility of a Limit Theory Online in the future!

Will There be a Story/Campaign?

No, part of the emphasis of Limit Theory is the lack of a story/campaign! Now, that's not to say that you won't have anything to do in game. There are plenty of missions, quests, and "stories" going on inside LT, if you're the type that likes missions and such. Of course, they are all procedurally generated. You can take part in plenty of epic "stories," but there is no "main" story to guide you through the universe. That's up to you to craft!

Will it be Realistic?

Yes and no. Our focus is on enjoyability and fun gameplay. We certainly want it to feel more like a space simulator than an arcade game, but we won't implement features that we think aren't interesting solely for the sake of realism. Much of our philosophy can be summed up as "stylistic, not realistic." In other words, we wish to achieve a very pleasing and interesting "stylized" depiction of space, both graphically and in gameplay. Still, rest assured that we will never use this as an excuse for not polishing a feature, or implementing something poorly!

Will There be Seamless Space-to-Planet Transitions?

Not likely in the first release. We'll certainly prioritize this technology for future releases, as we feel that, in the long run, it's an absolute necessity for this genre. However, our focus for the first release is on compelling gameplay, which may, at times, come at the expense of graphical ammenities.

What Engine Does it Use?

We've written a custom engine from scratch using c++ and OpenGL. Having an intimate knowledge and control over the engine has allowed us to design it from the ground up to most efficiently support the level of procedural content generation that Limit Theory calls for. We're also just crazy enthusiastic about game engine and graphics engine design...so it seemed like the natural choice!

How Will it be Distributed?

We'd like to distribute via Steam and Desura. If that plan fails, we'll revisit another distributions scheme when the time comes.

What's With All the Fog in the Screenshots?

It's not fog, it's dust from asteroid fields. And no, not all systems are like that! In fact, most space that you fly in won't be dusty. But it turns out that we really like the dusty aesthetic, so we tend to take most of our screenshots in dense asteroid fields :) Sorry!

Can I BETA Test it?

Maybe so! We'll post information about BETA access on the forums when the time comes.

Procedural Ships? Space Stations? Not Possible.

We realize that there are an enormous number of misconceptions circulating concerning this still-embryonic technology known as procedural content generation (PCG). Many people think that PCG is strictly capable of such things as "fractal" terrains, vegetation, and so forth. But PCG is not inherently tied to any particular type of content, it just happens to be quite easy to write algorithms that generate terrains and vegetation. Procedural ships and space stations, however, are completely feasible. They just require different kinds of algorithms. As you can see from the screenshots, we have had a fair amount of success already! We don't even have a 3D modeling package installed on our dev machines. We couldn't model something manually if we wanted to. We're serious when we say that everything will be procedural...and if you don't believe it, then you'll just have to get a copy of the game when it comes out and see for yourself!

Doesn't Procedural Content get Dull?

It totally depends on the algorithms. Procedural content can be as varied and interesting as the developer allows it to be. We are pouring an enormous amount of work into making our algorithms as diverse and high-quality as possible. We hope to achieve a level of quality and diversity that would be unattainable even by a full team of professional artists. We know that it's possible - we just have to make it happen.