Transcendence (video game)

Transcendence is a sci-fi themed freeware PC game designed and created by George Moromisato, which he says is inspired by NetHack and Star Control. The game is viewed in 2-D, but contains elements reminiscent of the 3-D adventure game Elite.

Transcendence is still under development, with roughly half of the game completed. It is modifiable in the form of XML files.

Overview
The player begins the game in one of three ships with basic equipment, a few credits, and a near-empty cargo bay. The goal is to reach the galaxy's core, where the mysterious beings "Oracus" and "Domina" are rumored to reside. The player must fight or trade their way through star systems interconnected by a series of "stargates", devices used for faster-than-light interstellar travel, left behind by an unknown race. In their travels, the player will encounter various traders, members of the Commonwealth, outlaws, factions separated from the now-abandoned Earth, and ultimately, alien races.

The player collects money by several means, such as trading, looting the remains of destroyed ships or stations, escorting freighters, or agreeing to medical experiments. There are a variety of missions, such as military assignments, smuggling, and defense missions. Some missions provide access to better technologies and the ability to upgrade equipment on the player's ship.

Most of the game is algorithmically generated, meaning that instead of having pre-planned levels, the challenges faced by the player are generated at runtime, in a semi-random fashion. Planets are randomly positioned within each star system, though a few of the game's twenty to thirty systems guarantee special station and enemy placement. A few systems feature the same stations and enemies in each game session, including the starting, middle, and ending systems.