After the feedback I received from my first presentation from my peers and tutors, I decided that ‘Stars’ would be the topic that I would research further for my potential game idea.
I wanted to look further into the ‘star navigation’ topic, as I feel like it has a lot of potential as a game mechanic:
I also delved further into the life-cycle of stars specifically, as it was a topic I brushed on during my first presentation that could have had interesting mechanic implications.
Further Astronavigation research
After looking into astronavigation further, I noticed a large presence of constellations and celestial bodies. So I also wanted to do more in-depth research into certain cultures and peoples that were heavily influenced by constellations and star navigation as a whole.
One of these cultures was Babylonian culture, an ancient Mesopotamian culture that flourished between the 18th and 6th centuries BCE – as their culture was behind the 12 zodiac constellations. Dividing the sky into 12 segments of 30 degrees along the suns path and gave each one a name and meaning.
This influenced another culture, being the Greeks – naming more constellations after heroes, gods and animals from the mythology. Constellations that are widely recognized today, such as: Orion, Leo, Ursa Major (The Great Bear, also containing the Big DIpper)
However there was another notable culture that – although was not heavily inspired by constellations – very prominently used the stars to navigate themselves while sailing the ocean. This being the Polynesian people around 13th to 9th century BCE.
This was a culture that really intrigued me, as Polynesian culture isn’t very prevalent in mainstream media at the moment. Its something that I believe should have more light shed on it and their seafaring culture reminds me of my own heritage (Being Filipino) and of games that inspire me – Like Spiritfarer.
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