Flying Through the Stars in Noctis: A Unique Space Simulator

In the world of video games, spaceships come in all shapes and materials. I’ve piloted spaceships made of futuristic alloys and energy bubbles, as well as ships constructed from wooden planks and metal bolts. But it wasn’t until I played Noctis, a “dreamable space simulator” developed by Alessandro Ghignola and released in 2000, that I experienced flying a spaceship made entirely of glass.

The spacecraft in Noctis, known as the Stardrifter, is a chunk of polarised quartz with a single-square room resembling a conservatory. It features Centerparcs-style viewing domes that protrude both above and below. Players affectionately refer to the Stardrifter as a “catbox” due to the game’s lore, which states that it is inhabited by the Feltyrion voyagers, said to be descended from cats.

When you hit the Depolarise button, the electrical current running through the hull of the spaceship turns off, making the glass walls transparent. This transforms the Stardrifter into a prism, creating a mesmerizing display of colored light and refractions, with each color deriving from the nearest star. The game’s 320×200 display resolution enhances the beauty of these refraction effects, adding an artful and tactile quality to the experience.

The Stardrifter is not just a spaceship but also a screen. Text commands for scanning celestial bodies and engaging the ship’s autopilot are displayed on the forward viewing window, incorporating boxy white Casio fonts among the constellations. Despite the unwieldiness of the interface, with its wide window requiring scrolling and minimizing, it adds to the overall concept of Noctis as a game focused on playing with and exploring the nature of light and vision.

Aside from sightseeing, Noctis offers a gameplay loop of visiting planets, exploring their surfaces, and uploading names and descriptions to a community database accessible within the game. The process of landing on a planet involves selecting a landing site from a pixel map and being transported to solid ground, with your Stardrifter’s viewing domes coming together to form a landing vessel.

The exploration of the planet’s surface is a gradual transition from the skybox to a colorful and moody landscape. From mineral slabs to scraped earth, bright liquid pools, and vegetation, each planet offers unique features to investigate. However, many of the planets lack landmarks and support visible lifeforms, making navigation a challenge. The barren planets, reminiscent of space photography from the 20th century, become captivating in their own way.

Noctis, after 23 years, remains an incomplete but enchanting experience. Despite its dated graphics and clunky mechanics, it continues to captivate players with its unique approach to space exploration and the beauty of its glass spaceship, reminding us that sometimes, it’s the smaller and less glamorous moments that leave a lasting impression.