Rune Skovbo JohansenJul 9, 2025

I got translucency working on the trees ☀️🌳

Hell yeah, let's stroll!

#GameDev #ProcGen

Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 11, 2025

Here's a fly-by with the new trees. The fact that they cast/receive shadows even in the distance makes a huge difference compared to the old Unity billboard ones, which destroyed the sense of depth in the distance.
#ProcGen #GameDev

(Video of old trees here: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@runevision/112186261304893345)

Noisy OwlJul 12, 2025
Show threadRune Skovbo Johansen
The tree leaves are now swaying in the wind. The "Grasslands - Stylized Nature" pack the trees are from actually already included a wind effect, but I implemented some simple tweaks to make it more to my liking. What do you think?
#GameDev #IndieGameDev
Jul 12, 2025 at 12:27pmWeb
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 13, 2025

I found this postcard perfect view while exploring.

Also, the trees are now a bit more scruffy and not so smooth and rounded, which particularly changes how the tree coverage looks in the distance.
#ProcGen #GameDev

Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 17, 2025
I needed to get proportions in my game sorted out, so I spawned these reference humans along the paths. This helped me better be able to tell if they look right compared to the trees and environment, and whether the player camera height also looks right compared to them.
#GameDev #ProcGen
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 17, 2025

The trees are larger in this video compared to previous ones. And usual for first person games, the camera height that looks best to me is at clavicle height.

I think I got things looking fairly natural now? Only issue is, what I arrived at works out to 1 meter being 0.85 units. 😫 That's a pain to work with, but it would also be a pain to scale everything up by 18%.

Show threadMartin KiftJul 17, 2025
@runevision looks great, nice work.
Show threadPer VognsenJul 17, 2025
@runevision Weird nitpick: wind noise generator sounds too low pitch and might also need more dynamics over time? Probably not what you're concerned about right now. :) Been loving your nature procgen progress videos!
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 17, 2025
@pervognsen Right! I haven’t paid attention to the ambient sounds for a long time. I’m not even aiming for wind, but a sound of “nothing” in nature is elusive for me. I think I need a combo of BG subtle brown noise and a tree rustling sound which dynamically adapts to the tree density and directions around the player.
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 18, 2025
@pervognsen How's this?
https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@runevision/114875416330511637
Rune Skovbo Johansen (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 video I tried to implement the sound of rustling leaves using the same point cloud sound system that I'm using for the water. #GameDev

Gamedev Mastodon
Show threadPer VognsenJul 18, 2025
@runevision Really good!
Show threadPer VognsenJul 18, 2025
@runevision The trailing edge on one of the alternating foot step sounds is a little uncomfortable to my ears but that's a nitpick; huge improvement and I can't wait to play this when you're done with it. :)
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 19, 2025
@pervognsen Which step sounds? On gravel path, grass, or forest floor? There's some of them I'm not too fond of myself; gotta find and evaluate more footstep sounds at some point.
Show threadPer VognsenJul 19, 2025
@runevision Sorry, yeah, that was non-specific. One of the alternating step sounds on the brightest green grass is the one sounds a bit jarring and uncomfortable to me.
Show threadPer VognsenJul 19, 2025
@runevision BTW, are you synthesizing these dynamically from scratch?
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 19, 2025
@pervognsen No these are purchased sound effects that I assume are recorded.
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 19, 2025
@pervognsen I think that's the same one I don't care for either. Good to get a push to do something about it. :)
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 18, 2025
I tried to implement the sound of rustling leaves using the same point cloud sound system that I'm using for the water.
#GameDev
Show threadPaul LalondeJul 18, 2025
@runevision Ok, you just made me miss gamedev. For the first time in decades.
Show threadJames O’LoughlinJul 18, 2025
@runevision Its coming along so beautifully. Hope you can add even basic VR cam/input mapping just so I can vibe/explore here.
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 18, 2025
@jamesoloughlin Thanks, but sorry, I don’t do VR anymore. I’ve developed an aversion to even putting on a VR headset.
Show threadJames O’LoughlinJul 18, 2025
@runevision oh wow, that’s unfortunate.
Show threadBen ThroopJul 19, 2025
@runevision So basically you define the volume where the sound is via a bunch of points, but keep it to one or two voices?
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 19, 2025

@benthroop Yeah a single AudioSource for the leaves actually. The water has four, with four different water intensity AudioClips.

The system sets not only volume but also calculates a weighted average direction (avgDir), where the directions being averaged are normalized but the result is not. The weights are the respective volumes, normalized to a sum of one. I use this average direction both to set the sound direction and the spread. The spread is (1 - avgDir.magnitude) * 180.

Show threadRicJul 19, 2025
@runevision even your test sprites look more polished than anything of mine! 👀
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 19, 2025
@dev_ric Haha, I did actually end up iterating a fair amount on them, as I needed them to not look too distracting or weird in order to be able to use them for judging the scale of things. :) And also to be visible against different backgrounds without glowing too much.
Show threadAras PranckevičiusJul 13, 2025
@runevision this does look lovely, yes!
Show threadSébastien de GraffenriedJul 12, 2025
@runevision nicely done!
Show threadJoni KorpiJul 12, 2025
@runevision Good choice: massive improvement!
Show threadThe Seven Voyages Of SteveJul 12, 2025
@runevision that’s way better, the original looks like some of the dancing tree effects even some AAA games have shipped with
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 12, 2025
@sinbad Glad you think so! And yeah, I find that odd-looking wind effects are widespread. Now, it's possible to go very deep with complex effects relying on lots of clever info baked into the meshes, which is a lot of work to implement. But sometimes simple changes can go a pretty long way too.
Show threadYegor WienskiJul 12, 2025
@runevision that's a very elegant trick!
Show threadKornelJul 12, 2025
@runevision is the change in color from the change of normals, or an unrelated change?
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJul 12, 2025
@kornel Untelated changes. I’m not changing the normals; I’m projecting the wind direction onto the normals to get a new wind direction per vertex to move that vertex along.
Show threadthomastc | frozenfractalJul 12, 2025
@runevision Excellent work. It looks much better.
Show threadRobin HübnerJul 12, 2025
@runevision not bad! think I'll be looking a lot closer at how trees sway in games now after this 🤔
Show threadJonJul 12, 2025
@runevision looks great! As a web developer, game development blows my mind - very well done!
Show threadTom ForsythJul 13, 2025
@runevision That is a significant improvement, yeah!