What it is
A biome is the themed visual + spawn flavor of a planet or zone — the bundle of art direction, ambient palette, terrain content, prop mix, enemy bias, and boss-arena dressing that gives a run its mood. Every player-facing planet selects one of six biomes; the biome decides what the player sees, what kinds of things they ram into, which boss they fight at T-zero, and which mastering preset is applied to the camera. Boss encounters layer a separate terrain pattern on top of the biome backdrop for the duration of the fight.
Six biomes are defined: landing site, sunrise city, the voidstar, obsidian spire, delphi, and old earth. They differ along five axes:
- Backdrop nebula style (palette, fog, animation, star shape).
- Terrain prop mix (asteroids, buildings, pillars, mixed).
- Camera mastering (dark or sunlit post-processing).
- Enemy set bias (which spawn pool the planet draws from).
- Boss-arena terrain pattern (open, ring, cross, hazard, corridor, gauntlet).
Stats tables
Biome catalog
| Biome | Player-facing label | Terrain content | Mastering | Buildings allowed | Boss-arena terrain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| landing_site | scorched / grey / amber rocky plain | asteroid field | dark or sunlit (per planet) | yes | pillar ring or open |
| sunrise_city | golden-hour skyline | building grid | sunlit | yes | gauntlet |
| the_voidstar | starless black void | sparse mixed debris | dark | no | open |
| obsidian_spire | obsidian pillar maze | tall black columns | dark | no | corridor |
| delphi | mirror-lake surface with rig platforms and sunken beams | crystal pillars and beams | sunlit | yes | hazard pads |
| old_earth | dirty grey ground with topographic lat/long grid | square ruined buildings | dark | yes | pillar cross |
Planet → biome mapping
Every player-facing planet attaches a biome, an enemy set bias, a boss, and an atmospheric fog overlay. Fog alpha runs 0 (perfect void) through 0.78 (heavy haze). Enemy count multiplier and spawn grace are also per-planet so two planets sharing a biome can still feel different. Shadow multiplier scales drop-shadow Y-offset — 2.0 reads as taller buildings casting longer shadows.
| Planet | Biome | Enemy bias | Boss | Fog alpha | Enemy mult | Spawn grace (s) | Shadow mult | Mastering |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LANDING SITE | landing_site | orb / charger / shooter / mortar | pacemaker | 0.15 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | dark |
| SUNRISE CITY | sunrise_city | gunner / field / sniper / racer | first lady | 0.78 | 1.0 | 1 | 2.0 | sunlit |
| THE VOIDSTAR | the_voidstar | orb / charger / shooter / mortar | cenotaph | 0.00 | 2.0 | 0 | 1.0 | dark |
| SOLARIS | landing_site | mortar-heavy | iron throne | 0.20 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | sunlit |
| SPEEDWAY | landing_site | shooter-heavy | spire | 0.10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | dark |
| EDEN-5 | landing_site | charger-heavy | grand procession | 0.20 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | sunlit |
| OLD EARTH | old_earth | sniper-heavy | ringmaster | 0.25 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | dark |
| NETWORK STATION | landing_site | field-emitter rares | foreman | 0.15 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | dark |
| DELPHI | delphi | racer-heavy | apex | 0.15 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | sunlit |
| DESOLATION | landing_site | mortar + shooter suppression | — | 0.15 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | dark |
| OBELISK | landing_site | all-rare mix | — | 0.10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | dark |
Destructibles per biome
Each planet ships two destructible-density sliders. Both run 0–100, where 100 is the maximum density the engine supports for that category and 0 disables spawning. Crates break on ram and drop XP; debris is metal cloud that chips percentage HP and shield on contact.
| Planet | Crates | Debris |
|---|---|---|
| LANDING SITE | 40 | 4 |
| SUNRISE CITY | 40 | 16 |
| THE VOIDSTAR | 40 | 14 |
| SOLARIS | 40 | 11 |
| SPEEDWAY | 40 | 19 |
| EDEN-5 | 40 | 10 |
| OLD EARTH | 40 | 16 |
| NETWORK STATION | 40 | 15 |
| DELPHI | 40 | 12 |
| DESOLATION | 40 | 18 |
| OBELISK | 40 | 13 |
Terrain prop sizes
These are the on-screen sizes of biome-defining props. Asteroid sizes are reported as the diameter range after scale variance is applied; buildings and pillars ship at fixed size.
| Prop | Where it appears | Size (radius, px) |
|---|---|---|
| asteroid_sm | landing_site, the_voidstar | 75–112 |
| asteroid_md | landing_site, the_voidstar | 85–136 |
| asteroid_lg | landing_site, the_voidstar | 98–156 |
| asteroid_xl | landing_site, the_voidstar | 100–180 |
| rock_shard | landing_site, the_voidstar | 60–78 |
| building_1x1 | sunrise_city, old_earth | 277 |
| building_2x1 | sunrise_city, old_earth | 322 |
| building_1x2 | sunrise_city, old_earth | 284 |
| building_2x3 | sunrise_city, old_earth | 385 |
| pillar_sm | obsidian_spire, delphi | 576 |
| pillar_md | obsidian_spire, delphi | 768 |
| pillar_lg | obsidian_spire, delphi | 960 |
Boss-arena terrain patterns
When a boss spawns, the arena clears any biome scatter and drops in one of six static layouts. Each layout is sized to the arena and removed at encounter end. Pillar HP is 300, pillar radius is 30; hazard pads are 70-radius and apply 18 damage-per-second while the ship overlaps.
| Pattern | Layout | Used by |
|---|---|---|
| open | empty arena | first lady, cenotaph, default |
| pillar_ring | 6 destructible pillars in a circle at 65% radius | hive queen archetype |
| pillar_cross | 4 destructible pillars in a + cross at 55% radius | doomsayer archetype |
| hazard_pads | 4 damaging floor pads at 50% radius | awakened mech phase 3 |
| corridor | 2 walls of 4 pillars each along the long axis | reactor core |
| gauntlet | 6 low pillars staggered into two rows of 3 | junkrat captains |
Nebula backdrop zones
The animated nebula behind every level is one of roughly 250 named archetypes. Archetypes are organized into eleven thematic zones plus seven advanced render-mode pools. The zone name on the left is the curated thematic group; the right column lists representative archetype names players see in the level intro.
| Zone | Tone | Sample archetypes |
|---|---|---|
| The Outer Acheron | entry / threshold | Sparse Silent Void, Asteroid Belt, Low Orbital, The Terminal, Watercolor Dream, Frozen Glacial, Gravity Well, Comet Trail |
| The Tartarus Grid | industrial / ruin | Ancient Ruins, Wireframe Sim, Game Boy Matrix, Cyber-Noir Rain, Steampunk Brass, Heavy Metal, Rust Foundry, Abandoned Station |
| The Abyssal Styx | liquid / organic | Verdant Cavern, Bioluminescent Deep, Eldritch Abyss, Microscopic, Blood Moon, Ink and Paper, Spore Drift, Jellyfish Bloom |
| The Phlegethon Wastes | radiation / chaos | Chaos Warp, Solar Flare, Radioactive Slime, Dune Spice Storm, Darksynth, Vaporwave Highway, Lightning Storm, Magma Core |
| The Elysian Anomaly | surreal / divine | Cosmic Rift, Princess Dreamland, Candy Core, Acid Psychedelia, Stained Glass, Aurora Borealis, Memory Palace, Enchanted Garden, Prism Cavern, Golden Baroque |
| The Aquatic Layer | atmospheric haze | Dusk Haze, Emerald Mist, Coral Dawn, Moonlit Haze, Amber Drift |
| The Fog Realm | volumetric fog overlay | Morning Mist, Poison Cloud, Cinder Smoke, Dawn Haze, Phantom Fog, Nebula Veil, Ink Cloud, Pollen Storm, Volcanic Ash, Sea Spray |
| The Molten Core | heat-shimmer surfaces | Magma Flow, Blue Flame, Sulfur Fields, Ember Rain, Solar Surface, Dragon Fire, Volcanic Night, Forge Floor |
| The Crystal Wastes | prismatic refraction | Black Ice, Frost Cathedral, Diamond Dust, Glacier Blue, Crystal Cave, Snowblind, Arctic Night, Amber Prison, Rose Quartz |
| The Dark Sector | gravitational lensing | Event Horizon, Dark Matter Web, Singularity, Quantum Foam, Graviton Field, Null Space, Cosmic String, Void Bloom |
| The Hybrid Nexus | mixed FX combinations | Drowned Temple, Plasma Storm, Thermal Vent, Frozen Lightning, Acid Ocean, Mirror Dimension, Brimstone, Ghost Reef, Neon Abyss, Celestial Furnace |
Advanced render-mode pools
A second wave of archetypes routes through dedicated render modes that produce specific space phenomena rather than generic nebula fog. These run in parallel with the eleven zones above and can show up on any planet.
| Mode | What you see | Mode-specific knobs | Pool size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enriched classic | nebula plus dense twinkle stars plus shooting-star streaks | sparkle intensity, shooting-star angle and variance | 37 |
| Spiral / warp portal | rotating galactic spiral or warp-portal funnel | arms, twist, bulge | 25 |
| Black hole | gravitational lensing with accretion ring | horizon radius, ring radius, ring width | 18 |
| Planet horizon | planet-edge flyover with parallax cloud bands | horizon Y, curve amount, band speed | 25 |
| Aurora ribbons | flowing additive light ribbons | ribbon count, wave amplitude, vertical drift | 12 |
| Warp tunnel | forward-flying hyperspace tunnel with radial streaks | tunnel speed, intensity | 10 |
| Cavern | volumetric depth-fog cavern walls | none | 11 |
Star shapes used in the near layer
Near-layer stars are drawn as one of eight glyphs depending on archetype. The shape is a flavor knob — sharper shapes read as energetic; rounder shapes read as calm.
| Shape | Where it shows up |
|---|---|
| sq | rocky, industrial, void-leaning archetypes |
| dot | calm, atmospheric, organic archetypes |
| dia | crystalline, baroque, mirror archetypes |
| tri | radiation, slime, magma archetypes |
| hex | brass, prism, acid archetypes |
| star5 | dream, divine, enchanted archetypes |
| spark | flare, ember, storm, ice-shard archetypes |
| cross | wireframe / simulation archetypes |
Color and animation knobs per archetype
Each archetype tags itself with the following knobs. The values are not numbers to memorize — they are the dimensions designers tune when authoring a new biome backdrop.
| Knob | Effect | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| pa / pb / pc / pd | cosine palette parameters that define the color sweep across the nebula | three-channel vectors |
| warp | domain-warp strength | 0 (flat) to 3 (chaotic) |
| density | nebula opacity / fill | 0 (sparse) to 1 (opaque) |
| speed | palette and animation drift rate | 0.02 (glacial) to 0.6 (frantic) |
| thresh | visibility threshold — higher leaves more void around the nebula | 0 (full fill) to 0.7 (mostly void) |
| bg | background base color tint | three-channel vector, 0–1 |
| nf | noise frequency multiplier | 0.3 (smooth) to 1.5 (detailed) |
| nt | noise type | 0 = classic, 1 = ridged veins, 2 = voronoi cells |
| ec | emission color for star glow tints | three-channel vector, 0–255 |
| sat | saturation multiplier | 0.4 (washed) to 1.2 (saturated) |
| lum | luminosity multiplier | 0.5 (dim) to 1.2 (bright) |
| fg | fog overlay intensity | 0 (none) to 1.2 (heavy haze) |
| spk | sparkle / twinkle star intensity | 0 (none) to 1 (dense) |
| ssa | shooting-star base angle | radians |
| ssv | shooting-star angle variance | 0 (parallel) to 1 (chaotic shower) |
Boss-arena surface effects
Some archetypes flag additional surface effects reserved for boss arenas. Designers turn these on when the boss fight needs an environmental hook beyond the standard backdrop.
| Effect | Reads as |
|---|---|
| hm | heat shimmer |
| wv | water waves |
| gl | glow / bloom |
| ca | chromatic aberration |
| pr | prismatic refraction |
| ln | gravitational lensing |
| sm | surface scale modifier |
| sb | surface brightness modifier |
| sp / ss | surface preset flags |
How it works
When a player selects a planet on the hub swiper, the run loads that planet’s biome record. The biome decides the level preset (which controls terrain density and hub-and-spoke topology), the enemy set (which spawn pool the wave director draws from), the post-processing mastering preset (dark or sunlit), and whether buildings are allowed at all. The fog overlay alpha is applied per-planet over the biome, so two planets sharing the landing-site biome can still feel atmospherically different.
The nebula backdrop is selected per-level from the archetype pool, then rendered by either the classic single-program nebula renderer or one of seven advanced render modes (enriched classic, spiral, black hole, horizon, aurora, warp tunnel, cavern). When the boss spawns, the engine clears biome scatter inside the arena and drops in one of six terrain patterns for the duration of the fight. On encounter end the pattern clears and biome scatter resumes.
Per-planet meta-progression runs in parallel: completing runs and challenges on a planet awards XP toward a ten-level reward track, with rarity tiers ramping from common at levels 1–2 up to legendary at levels 9–10. Each track unlocks a planet-specific sub-event, signature ships across all rarities, two signature weapons, an alternate boss, a planet-master variant, and one permanent global buff. Harder planets require proportionally more XP (Sunrise City at 1.5× Landing Site, Voidstar at 2.0×).
Interactions
- With ships and weapons. Each biome’s mastering preset shifts how ship and projectile colors read on screen — sunlit planets push warm tones, dark planets push cool. Signature weapons unlocked from a planet’s reward track use that planet’s enemy set as their balance reference.
- With enemies. Enemy set bias means each biome favors specific archetypes from the 16-base roster, so the same player build solves Speedway (shooter-heavy) and Solaris (mortar-heavy) very differently.
- With bosses. Each planet pins a specific boss at T-zero. The boss’s arena replaces biome scatter with a fixed terrain pattern selected per boss, so the biome’s normal look only frames the fight; inside the arena, the pattern dominates.
- With destructibles. Crate density is flat across all planets at 40 of 100; debris density varies from 4 (Landing Site, almost none) to 19 (Speedway, dense metal cloud). Higher debris means more contact damage threat from drifting metal.
- With fog. Sunrise City at 0.78 fog alpha is the haziest planet in the roster; the Voidstar at 0.0 is the only planet with no fog at all, which is why its starless void reads as “negative space”.
- With the meta-track. Each planet’s reward track is a closed loop: rewards unlocked there gate ships, weapons, alt-bosses, and a permanent stat buff on every other planet.
What it does NOT do
- A biome does not generate the world layout. Hub-and-spoke topology, scatter density, and asteroid placement are decided by the level preset attached to the planet, not by the biome string. The biome is only the look + feel + enemy-bias bundle.
- A biome does not pick the boss. The boss is keyed per-planet, not per-biome, so two planets sharing the same biome can run different bosses.
- A biome does not lock the nebula backdrop. The 250-plus archetype pool is independent of biome; any biome can show any archetype, and the eleven thematic zones are curated groupings, not biome filters.
- A biome does not modify enemy stats. The enemy set selects which archetypes can spawn; rarity tiers and stat multipliers come from the enemy system.
- A biome does not change boss-arena terrain. That is a separate per-boss terrain pattern that overrides whatever the biome was rendering once the encounter starts.
- Planet 99 (Obsidian Spire) is data-only and not in the hub swiper — it exists for testing the obsidian-pillar biome and is not player-accessible.