Outerra forum

Outerra Engine => Ideas & Suggestions & Questions => Topic started by: Toptag on June 18, 2010, 07:43:15 am

Title: Some ideas
Post by: Toptag on June 18, 2010, 07:43:15 am
Hi guys. First off I have to say this is a great idea. This might be the greatest game concept I have ever come cross, and I wish you luck with it.

OK, now for the ideas.

1- is it possible to add multiplayer capability? I think if this engine can support it then it would make it a lot more appealing for people wanting to develop an MMORPG or tactical FPS game.

2- destructible terrain. It would be nice if every time I ran into a tree it either bent, broke or got a slight dent depending on the size.

3- other types of roads. I loved the roads in the gallery, but I think there should be a few more types of roads.

4- going underground would be cool.

5- multiple planets. Make a few planets (maybe 3-4) with each their own themes. Like a fantasy world with huge beautiful trees and nice fantasy cities, a sci-fi planet with a dead eco system and industry everywhere and then the Earth as it is right now.

Ill post more as I think of them.
Title: Some ideas
Post by: cameni on June 18, 2010, 08:38:55 am
OK, let's go by the list

1- Multiplayer is possible, I'd say this is pretty independent from other engine chores - generating and rendering the world. The generation is random but deterministic, meaning the same stuff is generated at the same place every time. Sure, there are complications resulting from the huge world and how it all will be managed, but we have some ideas of how it should work.

2- Destructible terrain is possible; dirt roads can be seen as an example of it too. Of course heavier modifications aren't a problem as well. We have been thinking also about having destructible trees, this may be possible too once all other more significant issues are resolved.

3- There are other types of roads already but of course more road types can be added too. It involves defining a road profile, a dirt overlay texture for tinting the road surface (combined with parametrized fractal colorization) and defining what materials constitute the road layers (border/pavement/markings). Types of markings can be defined separately. Other parameters can be specified when physically placing the roads, per road segment - width, border, slant, elevation above the terrain and current marking.

4- Well there should be at least tunnels. Caves would need a generator. Anyway, it's doable.

5- We are more inclined towards making real planets now, but to allow for different settings, "realms". So we could have Earth in a prehistoric state, a current one and some futuristic and apocalyptic one. It would all share the common basis (elevation and climate data) but will use its own textures, vegetation and distribution rules and overlay it atop the world.
As for other planets, we can do Mars and Moon and other rocky planets for which there are some data. Of course it is possible to create a completely artificial planet too, if one provides its elevation and climate data and compiles it to a dataset usable by the engine.

But the priority is to make Earth as it had looked some thousands years before, without effects of civilization, and to have vector data layer where these effects will be recreated. Probabilistic fractal engine can then show the world slowly decaying back to the natural state too.
Title: Some ideas
Post by: dwell6277 on November 07, 2010, 06:40:49 am
Good morning everyone.  This is my second post on this site and let me tell you how impressed I am with all the work you have done.  I see in the ideas list above about underground you stated the use of another generator could be used.  What if a generator for planetary city development could be added.  This way not only could terrain be set up but entire civilizations be created.  I reference Youtube Subversive City Generator.  If we look at night time satellite pics of earth we see the demographic dispersment as light.  A generator could be tailored to map out infrastructure on a planetary level.  This could allow for greater scalability of planets as well.

Man looking forward to playing with this tool.

Dwell
Title: Some ideas
Post by: cameni on November 07, 2010, 08:23:19 am
Yes we have been thinking about that too. There are data that can be used for this task, for example OSM vector data but also the land class data contain urban area type. A generator of various city areas would populate polygons between the roads, creating cities as we know them. Certain areas/monuments could be also specifically modeled.