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# A new video of Starboretum looks at trees in an otherwordly light
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/new-video-starboretum-looks-trees-otherwordly-light/
- Published: 2015-02-03T15:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T17:15:18.000Z
- Description: The children of Proteus keep multiplying.
- Author: Ethan Gach
- Tags: News, Art, procedural generation, proteus, trailer, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

Alex May, a game designer best known for his work on the botanical RTS, *Eufloria*, recently posted some new videos highlighting work on his upcoming game, *[Starboretum](http://www.starboretum.com/?ref=killscreen.com)*. *Eufloria* focused on interstellar war between Dyson trees and other types of alien flora, a sort of minimalist *Pikmin* in space, but *Starboretum* looks to be interested instead in the development and differentiation of more ordinary terrestrial plant life. The hook, of course, is May’s heavily stylized, limited-palette renderings of eerie tree-scapes.
  
  
Though both videos are silent, *Starboretum* appears more than a little reminiscent of Ed Key and David Kanaga’s 3D exploration game, *Proteus*, especially if the latter took place almost exclusively in the 1960s aluminum tree lot from *A Charlie Brown Christmas*. Despite the simple, brushstroke look of the trees—or perhaps because of it—each one looks distinct, with its own little history. While the realism and high production value of a game like *Dragon Age: Inquisition* or *Skyrim* can certainly yield lush, detailed plant life, the scale of those projects alone makes it difficult to completely hide their representational artifice. The earth is filled with all kinds of [ancient and bizarre looking trees](http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2015/01/28/beth%5Fmoon%5Fancient%5Ftrees%5Fportraits%5Fof%5Ftime%5Fis%5Fa%5F14%5Fyear%5Fproject%5Fof%5Fsome%5Fof.html?ref=killscreen.com), and yet the ones we find in most videogames can feel overly prosaic.  
  
*Starboretum*, on the other hand, looks lived-in, most likely because of how the trees procedurally grow and change over time. What is the game beyond that? “Functionally, it’s exploration of genetic space; aesthetically it’s otherworldly,” says May. “Ultimately I want \[the\] feel of forests and gardening.” *Starboretum*, which the website simply calls an ”interactive entertainment experience for modern microcomputers,” is still in the prototype stage.