Planetfall

Gentle readers, I have just wrapped up a fun side project that will be of great interest to a very small number of you. The result of one of the most technically demanding efforts of my career, I am very pleased to share it with you. Click to have a look at a detailed version. Contact me if you’re interested in a physical copy. Most of you will wonder what this place is, but I hope that, for a few of you, the names clicked into place in your memory. This is the planet Chiron, the setting (and one of the main characters) of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri—a computer game from 1999 that has a cult following; I count myself among the cult. I could go on about the game—which is deep and thought-provoking and has a remarkably beautiful and carefully considered visual language—but I’m here to talk about the map. This project pushed my skills into some new places, so even if you don’t care about the game, I think it’s worth talking about the technical details behind it. But first, before we ge ... Read full article.