youenI just discovered #Hesiod https://github.com/otto-link/Hesiod, a node-based free and #OpenSource #terrain generator.
Looks very promising! It looks surprisingly complete and usable, given it's mostly developed by a single person.
I think I can now officially announce that I love this tool! How could I know I liked combining mathematical functions that much?
Beside, I created in a few hours this first version of my game map, which is way beyond anything I could cobble together in the last days (I was trying to combine real Earth elevation maps, but with disappointing results).
To give an idea of scales, the map is 16x16km, which means the cliffs on the coast are about 300m high, and I don't know exactly but the highest mount probably 2km high.
In-game we are really much closer than this preview. So the heightmap needs to be exported at high resolution (my target is 8192x8192), which means one point every 2m of terrain.
I couldn't achieve such details with real elevation maps, and of course I can't draw that kind of data by hand.
It's not finished yet, notably I need to configure the erosion simulations to make mountains look more realistic, place big rivers strategically for gameplay reasons (this is of course where the #FluidSimulation https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@youen/115860872576805368 will come in action). And there are tons of things that could be improved. It can look cool in the preview, but not that much in-game with the different perspective.
And then, that's only elevation data, I also need to work on texturing, vegetation, etc 😅
I've spent some time improving on the same idea of an island with mountains. The most difficult part is to get coherent river beds (always going downhill, even though the terrain is made up of random noise).
It's not finished, but I think it looks cool for a starting point, to define scales and place the main elements.
Here is how it looks in the game, and also with the #FluidSimulation to have actual rivers infinitely flowing from the sources I've placed, until it gets to the sea.
It's still very empty, but there should be some potential for interesting perspectives.
Nikita Lisitsa@youen Wait, you aren't simulating water on the whole map all the time, are you? 🤯
@youen How do you generate the rivers?