The galaxy generation is not random, it is procedurally generated, meaning it is consistent over different hardware platforms as it does not use the random number generator at all.
I'm aiming for as much realism as possible as long as it supports the gameplay. For instance, the game's galaxy "only" has around 500 million stars while our Milky Way has nearly a thousandfold. Then again, my galaxy is 2-dimensional while the real Milky Way is at around 1000 light years thick to the third dimension, so one might claim my galaxy is as realistic as a 2-dimensional representation of our Milky Way could ever be.
The galaxy generator algorithm is based on the real galaxy image taken by Hubble, and the star densities vary according to the apparent brightness of the various parts of the galaxy image. Therefore there are distinctive differences in matter distribution so that galactic arms are generated more dense than the dark ridges between the arms. IMO, that's enough matter distribution variances the game needs.
I'm aiming for as much realism as possible as long as it supports the gameplay. For instance, the game's galaxy "only" has around 500 million stars while our Milky Way has nearly a thousandfold. Then again, my galaxy is 2-dimensional while the real Milky Way is at around 1000 light years thick to the third dimension, so one might claim my galaxy is as realistic as a 2-dimensional representation of our Milky Way could ever be.
The galaxy generator algorithm is based on the real galaxy image taken by Hubble, and the star densities vary according to the apparent brightness of the various parts of the galaxy image. Therefore there are distinctive differences in matter distribution so that galactic arms are generated more dense than the dark ridges between the arms. IMO, that's enough matter distribution variances the game needs.