Robowars Name Database

Huh?

A valid concern for Robo, if we're going to have the processing power to create thousands of star systems, is how the hell to name them all? Not everyone can come up with a planet name, or a fitting system name, and comming up with 15 planet names or system names just gets exponentially harder!

The need for something like this is not very pressing now, but it will be a valid concern when we get to a more developed and popular point in the game, don't you?

If we have a big registry of names, then we won't have a problem of a bunch of multiply-used names. This might be accomplished by a web-page search and mail-reply engine in the future. Sound good?

Some points I outlined in my sketch book:

• We might be able to put the unix words list to work here. I know that Joey has played with this before with and anagram program he wrote, so I'd really like his feedback.

• Something I heard about this summer from a novelist was the availability of "names lists" from other countries. Data like that might be useful to incorporate into Robo, too.

• We don't have to name everything...just what needs a name. Astronomers often have naming conventions like AJ-301 where AJ is the astronomer's initials, and that's the 301st star he recorded. Planets in systems don't need names often, either. Planets can be referred to as seventh planet of ... or moons as fifth moon of the seventh planet of ....

• here is a small heiarchy of naming I jotted down:
  • system
    • stars of system
  • planets of system
    • moons of planet
    • rings of planet
  • non-planets of system
    • asteroids
    • comets

• In terms of the way I name planets while I'm gaming, I usually assume that there's just one planet per systems that's inhabited or inhabitable, and the system and the planet have the same name, e.g.: planet Arduct of the system of Arduct. I know that's a contradiction to the heirarchy, but not completely.

If you have any response

please mail me!

Sept 29, 1995