An extension of previous concepts, I've been thinking about how to go about generating a universe.

I figure a universe can effectively be modeled in a tree structure like so:

Universe
|-- Galaxy
..|- Systems
....|- Stars
......|- Planets
........|- Satellites
........|- Asteroids
......|-Nebulas

A bit simplistic but for game purposes I think it works. The next step is generating the tree from the top down.

I can work with this a couple of ways. One, I can make the universe object the core controller. This is a pretty clean (in my opinion) method as everything is kept in the tree and isn't purely administrative.

Alternatively, I can move the controller object one level up and make it purely administrative. The benefits of doing so are primarily separating control and function, and it allows me to explore some ideas regarding parallel universes (a common sci-fi theme).

In any event, I think I'll want to leave the creation of sub-components in the hands of the components. For example, the Universe object will handle creating galaxies, galaxies will handle creating systems, systems create stars, planets, nebulas, etc.

Now within such objects I want to provide a way of quickly describing an object. The Traveller game setting as a nice way of doing so called the Universal World Profile. Using such a system would allow me to declare a world to have a UWP of, say, C77A9A9-6 (as per the example in the link). This by itself will tell me the quality of star port (useful information for aspiring captains), the size of the world, what it's atmosphere is like, it's hydrosphere, what kind of government is predominant, the overall stricture of law there, the population, and the technology level. All from a simple 8 digit code.

In a space-faring setting such as the one I'm trying to build, a system like this serves two purposes. One, it makes it easy for experienced players to tell at a glance what planets have what. And second, I can use that generate worlds on the fly.