Projects / The Silence Between the Stars
Game concept / Procedural world research

The Silence Between the Stars

R&D / prototype

Think Mass Effect meets Ocarina of Time. I’m designing a sci-fi adventure with interplanetary travel and third-person firefights, plus sword combat and puzzle-filled temples inspired by classic 3D Zelda. Selene and her Golden Retriever, Cosmo, follow a mystery that connects the two.

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The Silence Between the Stars

Expanded game overview

49 slides. Select the image to open it at full size.

  1. The Silence Between the Stars title slide. Selene and Cosmo overlook a valley beneath a ringed planet.
    01 / 49 The Silence Between the Stars
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    Two kinds of adventure. One connected galaxy.

    Game concept overview

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  2. Slide 2. The central idea
    02 / 49 The central idea
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    Play Selene, an explorer investigating places that have fallen silent.

    Outside the ruins: travel between worlds, investigate human crises, and fight with firearms.

    Inside the ruins: enter culture-specific temples built around sword combat and spatial puzzles.

    Clues and discoveries connect both kinds of play to the same galactic mystery.

  3. Slide 3. The idea in familiar terms
    03 / 49 The idea in familiar terms
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    ReferenceWhat we take from itHow TSBTS uses it
    Mass Effect seriesGalactic travel, mission-led third-person shootingSelene explores stations and planets while following a larger mystery
    Classic 3D ZeldaSword combat, themed temples, puzzle routesDistinct authored dungeons hidden inside a sci-fi galaxy
    Red Dead Redemption 2Credible wilderness with local ecology and landmarksCurated planetary regions that feel inhabited beyond quests
    Trigun / Cowboy BebopWorking frontier, dry humor and melancholyFreight routes, remote towns and people making a living in space
    Jurassic ParkDinosaur wonder, danger and escalating survivalAn intelligent dinosaur chapter built around trust and adaptation

    These are touchstones for feel and structure, not promises of feature parity.

  4. Slide 4. Selene
    04 / 49 Selene
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    An interstellar operative sent where contact has been lost.

    She arrives with incomplete information and must decide what can still be saved.

    Firearms, investigation and technical judgment all belong to her field work.

    Her past and allegiance remain open story decisions.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  5. Slide 5. Cosmo
    05 / 49 Cosmo
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    Cosmo is Selene’s trusted companion, scout and guide—not a vulnerable escort objective.

    A simple harness can expand into sealed protection for hazardous air, vacuum and zero-G.

    Cosmo helps spot hazards, hidden routes and unsettling changes that instruments can miss.

    Their bond may ground Selene against the Whispers; Cosmo can independently reach safety.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  6. Slide 6. Selene’s scanner
    06 / 49 Selene’s scanner
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    One versatile tool connects forensics, planetary exploration, hacking and ancient puzzles.

    At stations, identify damage, power faults, access controls, life signs and forensic traces.

    Outdoors, analyze terrain, biology, signals, hazards, wreckage and concealed routes.

    In temples, match waveforms, map mechanisms, find traps and remotely trigger devices.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  7. Slide 7. Two ways to explore and fight
    07 / 49 Two ways to explore and fight
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    Frontier and galaxyAncient temples
    CombatThird-person firearms, cover, machines and wildlifeSword and melee timing, guardians and room hazards
    ExplorationStar systems, planets, stations, colonies and wildernessAuthored rooms, branching routes, locks and shortcuts
    ObjectivesInvestigate incidents and restore working systemsDecipher a site and reactivate its ancient mechanisms
    PaceWide, open-ended travel and missionsDense, deliberate dungeon progression

    Both modes keep combat and exploration at the center.

  8. Slide 8. Frontier combat
    08 / 49 Frontier combat
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    Third-person firefights unfold in stations, settlements, wilderness and transit hubs.

    Fight rogue machines, hostile humans or aliens, dangerous wildlife and unfamiliar threats.

    Scan heat, motion, weak points, anomalies and evidence to understand the encounter.

    After combat, rescue survivors, investigate clues, repair damage and face consequences.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  9. Slide 9. Planetary exploration
    09 / 49 Planetary exploration
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    Exploration is not confined to isolated mission zones or a handful of landing sites.

    Travel between systems, approach planets from orbit and descend into their atmospheres.

    Choose a landing area, then cross connected terrain to settlements, ruins or wilderness.

    Follow clues across an entire world, not merely the small patch surrounding a mission.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  10. Slide 10. Whole worlds, not tiny landing zones
    10 / 49 Whole worlds, not tiny landing zones
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    A direct answer to the tiny playable slices of planets in many space RPGs.

    Fly around the globe, descend through the atmosphere and land where terrain allows.

    World geography remains continuous as terrain and local detail stream around Selene.

    Hand-authored destinations coexist with vast procedural expanses and discoveries.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  11. Slide 11. The size of the galaxy
    11 / 49 The size of the galaxy
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    Most stars provide scale. Selected worlds carry deep play.

    A point of light can become a surveyed system, then a reachable planet.

    Important landscapes are generated, inspected, and deliberately curated.

    The mountain seen from orbit can be the mountain Selene later climbs.

    Empty places make rare discoveries feel earned.

  12. Slide 12. A lived-in frontier
    12 / 49 A lived-in frontier
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    Humanity is new to the stars, but ordinary jobs follow it.

    Freight crews, mechanics, miners, and tiny settlements build a practical economy.

    Transit routes create busy hubs and places left behind.

    Alien law, protected ecosystems, and older claims complicate expansion.

    The mood can be funny, lonely, and occasionally rough.

  13. Slide 13. A galaxy of assignments
    13 / 49 A galaxy of assignments
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    Outside the temples, the game has more than one mission pattern.

    Calls for help arise from freight routes, stations, settlements and unexplored worlds.

    Gunfights and travel sit beside conversations, investigation and local consequences.

    A brief action job can lead into a personal side story or a major discovery.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  14. Slide 14. Short action assignments
    14 / 49 Short action assignments
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    A single encounter can make one corner of the frontier feel real.

    Illustrative job: a cargo terminal calls for help when rogue machines trap a crew behind blast doors.

    Selene crosses the loading decks under fire, reaches the crew, and secures a way out.

    The job can resolve locally, with a human consequence or a small clue worth following.

  15. Slide 15. Side quests with their own stories
    15 / 49 Side quests with their own stories
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    Optional work can carry more than a combat objective.

    Illustrative arc: an Einstein-4 settlement loses its water processor and blames a neighboring crew.

    Selene speaks with both sides, traces the failure, and fights through the damaged facility.

    The outcome affects the residents’ lives and may reveal a wider problem without requiring a temple.

    Other quests can center on a missing ship, alien law, a research dispute, or a survivor’s request.

  16. Slide 16. People between the plot points
    16 / 49 People between the plot points
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    The Mass Effect influence includes the lives surrounding each mission.

    Freight pilots, mechanics, miners, scientists and modern alien citizens share an uneasy frontier.

    A small rescue can make a person memorable; an optional story can change how a later crisis lands.

    Selene’s conversations and discoveries give combat a context beyond clearing a room.

    Exact party, dialogue and choice systems remain design decisions.

  17. Slide 17. Campaign-scale investigations
    17 / 49 Campaign-scale investigations
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    Some assignments become massive plot points across worlds.

    A silent signal may link a lost crew, a remote mine and a buried Watcher site.

    Firefights, planetary travel, conversations and scanner work build the case over several locations.

    The discovery changes how Selene reads First Contact and the spreading silence.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  18. Slide 18. One frontier mission
    18 / 49 One frontier mission
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    “Silent Ruins” gives the opening a concrete playable shape.

    Hades Station Beta on Einstein-4 stops transmitting.

    Selene lands nearby and enters a facility occupied by hostile autonomous machines.

    She fights through the station and restores power, networking, and life support.

    Recovered evidence points beyond this local disaster.

  19. Slide 19. Selene’s role
    19 / 49 Selene’s role
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    Selene is investigator, soldier, problem-solver and reluctant archaeologist.

    She negotiates, rescues, follows evidence, hacks networks and stabilizes failing stations.

    In temples, she deciphers rules, solves linked puzzles, masters melee trials and faces guardians.

    Her actions connect everyday lives, hard choices and discoveries that reshape the mystery.

  20. Slide 20. The temple reveal
    20 / 49 The temple reveal
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    The resemblance to ancient Earth cultures should be nearly perfect.

    At first glance, a temple may look Egyptian, Greco-Roman, or Maya in layout and detail.

    Selene sees familiar forms on worlds far beyond Earth.

    Behind those recognizable facades, each site has its own ancient mechanisms and history.

    The likeness itself becomes a question the player wants to answer.

  21. Slide 21. An Egyptian temple
    21 / 49 An Egyptian temple
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    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

    Pylons, obelisks, reliefs and a hypostyle hall read as Egyptian before the alien mechanism appears.

    Desert and burial themes can shape its paths, traps, and guardian encounter. The art shows a design direction, not a final site.

  22. Slide 22. A Greco-Roman temple
    22 / 49 A Greco-Roman temple
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    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

    A colonnade, pediment, processional steps and coastal sanctuary remain legible on another world.

    Light, reflection and proportion could govern its puzzle logic. Each temple still needs an original story purpose.

  23. Slide 23. A Maya temple
    23 / 49 A Maya temple
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    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

    Steep stairway, roof comb, plaza, stelae and surrounding rainforest establish a distinct ancient culture.

    Vertical routes and overgrowth could shape exploration. The visual resemblance is meant to be uncanny.

  24. Slide 24. What the resemblance means
    24 / 49 What the resemblance means
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    The player should notice the near match before anyone explains it.

    The ruins are not generic “ancient alien” architecture with a few Earth motifs.

    Their recognizable forms create a mystery about Watcher contact and cultural exchange.

    The fiction need not claim that aliens built humanity’s historical monuments.

    Each culture deserves specific research and respectful treatment.

  25. Slide 25. Temple combat
    25 / 49 Temple combat
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    Inside a temple, the fighting language changes.

    A site-specific field may disrupt ordinary projectiles.

    Swordplay, dodging, reads, and positioning become central.

    Combat draws on the same environmental rule as its puzzles.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  26. Slide 26. Dungeon exploration
    26 / 49 Dungeon exploration
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    Temples are dense authored adventures.

    Learn a signature rule in a safe room.

    Use it to open routes, cross hazards, and solve spatial locks.

    Reach a guardian and a story sanctum, then find a new way out.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  27. Slide 27. More than one temple per theme
    27 / 49 More than one temple per theme
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    A culture or element can support multiple distinct dungeons.

    Three forest temples need not repeat the same puzzle or route.

    Several desert sites can share an architectural language while revealing different history.

    Optional temples reward players who want more of a theme.

    Each major site should justify itself through a new mechanic and discovery.

  28. Slide 28. Why the two modes connect
    28 / 49 Why the two modes connect
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    The temple game and the frontier game feed one another.

    A station record can locate a ruin or explain a sealed passage.

    A temple discovery can change how Selene interprets a human crisis.

    The scanner works across both modes, but the questions and physical play differ.

    The player returns to the galaxy with new knowledge and new destinations.

  29. Slide 29. A dinosaur chapter
    29 / 49 A dinosaur chapter
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    One major world asks Selene to understand a different intelligence.

    She becomes stranded among dinosaurs that learn and remember.

    A Tyrannosaurus can become an ally through repeated acts of trust.

    Its first ride should be an earned story and gameplay payoff.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  30. Slide 30. The story hook
    30 / 49 The story hook
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    The first silence looks like a machine failure.

    Other stations, ships, and expeditions may disappear or stop responding.

    Watcher sites suggest the incidents reach much farther into the past.

    The threat slowly challenges Selene’s assumptions about intelligence and perception.

  31. Slide 31. Earth behind the Veil
    31 / 49 Earth behind the Veil
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    Earth is a rare “thin world” at a weak dimensional boundary.

    Natural interference makes signals leaving Sol difficult to interpret.

    Surviving Watchers amplified it into the Sol Veil and obscured the route.

    A few modern factions later found Earth and kept the quarantine secret.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  32. Slide 32. The Watchers
    32 / 49 The Watchers
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    An ancient spacefaring civilization, separate from modern aliens.

    Their ruins span many worlds and echo specific ancient Earth cultures with uncanny precision.

    Rival researchers came to Earth for its thin boundary and the unusual human Gift.

    Their experiments ended in collapse. Survivors hid Sol; their fate is unresolved.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  33. Slide 33. Why the Watchers came
    33 / 49 Why the Watchers came
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    The ancient Watchers studied Earth and human consciousness.

    Protective and exploitative factions disagreed over the Gift.

    Ruins across the galaxy echo ancient Earth architecture with uncanny precision.

    The story leaves human achievements and living traditions their own history.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  34. Slide 34. The Gift
    34 / 49 The Gift
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    All sapient species have souls. Human identity may persist across dimensional boundaries in a rarer way.

    The working name is the Gift, or Anchor: a self that can keep saying “I am me.”

    Imagination may help humans enter another perspective without losing themselves.

    The Silent Ones may have strengthened this capacity in deep prehistory.

    Its origin and exact rules are still open; the Whispers may covet what it allows.

  35. Slide 35. Why dogs matter
    35 / 49 Why dogs matter
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    Among known sapient cultures, humanity’s long coevolution with dogs may be unique.

    Two species learned shared cues, trust and attunement; humans may Anchor, dogs may Tether.

    Dogs may sense subtle shifts in presence, emotion or reality before technology detects them.

    Cosmo’s grounded perspective could help Selene hold onto herself—but not infallibly.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  36. Slide 36. The Whispers
    36 / 49 The Whispers
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    Dangerous intelligences beyond ordinary spacetime.

    Dreams, visions and shared thoughts carried their influence through Watcher society.

    They threaten agency and distinct identity. The first danger may be doubt about one’s own mind.

    Their origin, motives and role in First Contact remain open.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  37. Slide 37. The Whispers and the collapse
    37 / 49 The Whispers and the collapse
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    The Watchers opened a channel through consciousness. Something answered.

    Dreams and shared thoughts carried an influence no one could easily identify.

    Their civilization collapsed from within. Survivors quarantined Sol.

    A lost collective of merged minds is one possible origin for the Whispers.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  38. Slide 38. First Contact
    38 / 49 First Contact
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    Circa 2033–2035, an alien scientist discovers structure inside Sol’s strange signal noise.

    His survey team approaches Earth, unaware that an ancient quarantine hides the system.

    An encounter with a frightened teenager on a Florida beach ends in a panicked abduction.

    The departing ship crosses a hidden Watcher boundary and triggers dormant alarms.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  39. Slide 39. When the Veil breaks
    39 / 49 When the Veil breaks
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    A seemingly small encounter becomes a political and existential crisis for two civilizations.

    The containment alarm proves Sol was hidden, not merely overlooked in a large galaxy.

    The expedition, its human witness and a forbidden ancient boundary demand an explanation.

    Secretive factions and public authorities struggle over what should be disclosed.

    The eventual revelation opens the stars to humanity—and reopens an old danger.

  40. Slide 40. After First Contact
    40 / 49 After First Contact
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    The containment breach forces disclosure and brings humanity into an older galactic network.

    Earth discovers alien life; the galaxy discovers a world hidden on purpose.

    Some modern powers secretly knew about Sol; others must now confront the Watcher legacy.

    Humanity gains interstellar technology and forms scattered, still-fragile colonies.

    By around 2049–2051, Selene faces new silences that may reopen the ancient danger.

  41. Slide 41. Mass Effect series
    41 / 49 Mass Effect series
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    A capable interstellar protagonist navigating a galaxy of missions, people and history.

    WHAT THE REFERENCE CONTRIBUTES

    Ship-based travel, squad-scale action, alien societies, dialogue and layered quests make the galaxy feel inhabited.

    A SCENE IN TSBTS

    Selene follows a lost signal to Einstein-4, fights through Hades Station Beta, then traces its failure toward a Watcher site.

    Inside that site, the physical play shifts to sword combat and authored dungeon exploration.

  42. Slide 42. Classic 3D Zelda
    42 / 49 Classic 3D Zelda
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    A temple should feel like a place the player learns.

    WHAT THE REFERENCE CONTRIBUTES

    Sword combat, a distinct environmental rule, branching routes and a guardian make a dungeon memorable.

    A SCENE IN TSBTS

    A possible resonance temple teaches Selene to move stone with sound, then asks her to use that rule in traversal and combat.

    Multiple temples can share an architectural theme while offering different rules and discoveries.

  43. Slide 43. Red Dead Redemption 2
    43 / 49 Red Dead Redemption 2
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    A landscape can reward attention between objectives.

    WHAT THE REFERENCE CONTRIBUTES

    Terrain, wildlife, light and small human traces make the long journey feel like time spent in a real place.

    A SCENE IN TSBTS

    Selene marks an outcrop from orbit, lands in a valley, follows a freight track and reaches a settlement shaped by water.

    The aim is carefully curated planetary regions. The full galaxy supplies scale around them.

  44. Slide 44. Trigun
    44 / 49 Trigun
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    The frontier is harsh enough to make small conflicts matter.

    WHAT THE REFERENCE CONTRIBUTES

    Desert worlds, isolated towns, scarce resources, armed trouble and humor can coexist with serious human stakes.

    A SCENE IN TSBTS

    On Einstein-4, a failed water processor could pit residents against a company while a missing crew leads Selene toward ruins.

    The western mood grows from logistics, distance and scarcity within a young interstellar society.

  45. Slide 45. Cowboy Bebop
    45 / 49 Cowboy Bebop
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    The frontier has bills to pay.

    Freight pilots, recovery agents and mechanics share transit hubs.

    Failed routes leave towns with aging equipment and people who cannot easily leave.

    Quiet personal histories fill the space between cosmic discoveries.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  46. Slide 46. Jurassic Park
    46 / 49 Jurassic Park
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    A dinosaur encounter begins with wonder and becomes a test of survival.

    WHAT THE REFERENCE CONTRIBUTES

    Scale, sound, ecological behavior and sudden danger turn a creature sighting into a memorable event.

    A SCENE IN TSBTS

    Stranded on a dinosaur world, Selene studies herd routes and pack behavior. A T. rex becomes an ally through repeated trust.

    The chapter gives its animals memory, judgment and relationships that can change Selene’s choices.

  47. Slide 47. Stargate SG-1
    47 / 49 Stargate SG-1
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    Ancient evidence changes what Earth thinks it knows.

    Expeditions link recognizable ruins to an older galactic history.

    Egyptian, Greco-Roman and Maya-style temples on other worlds look nearly exact.

    Their uncanny familiarity suggests a hidden history connecting Earth and the stars.

    ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT ART

  48. Slide 48. The short version
    48 / 49 The short version
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    A coherent galaxy contains two tightly linked kinds of adventure.

    Mass Effect-style shooting and planetary exploration across the frontier.

    Zelda-style sword combat and puzzle-rich temples that resemble ancient Earth cultures.

    RDR2-like attention to geography, with the human texture of Trigun and Cowboy Bebop.

    A mystery about why those temples exist, and what has begun to silence the stars.

  49. Slide 49. The Silence Between the Stars
    49 / 49 The Silence Between the Stars
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    Explore the frontier. Enter the temples. Find the connection.

    Expanded game overview / November 2026

My approach

I’m exploring how to connect the view from orbit to the terrain players walk through. I use Space Graphics Toolkit for planetary and space rendering, MapMagic 2 for procedural terrain, and Unity and C# to connect the tools and experiment with gameplay.

Explore my planet and landscape generation slideshow ↗

A VIEW FROM EARTH

Looking up from home

A red and green night sky above mountain silhouettes and buildings.
A colorful night sky

A photograph of the night sky from my Colorado collection.

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Procedural universe travel

I recorded this footage in MeditateVR. The sequence is my rough draft of how travel and exploration could feel in a procedural universe in The Silence Between the Stars.

What I’m testing

I’m investigating how to generate continents, climate, and drainage at planet scale and carry that data into local terrain and streaming. My next milestone is a small exploration area where I can show how that workflow fits together.

Unity assets

Project tools

Tools I use across outdoor environments

Kubacho Lab add-ons I use across my Unity projects

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