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Author Topic: Random Generation  (Read 6642 times)

John514

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Random Generation
« on: August 14, 2013, 10:56:10 am »

Outerra uses a dataset for ground elevation etc..
But can it create land on its own? I`m thinking about an exploration game, but that could be used to randomly generate the ground of hypothetical planets that you could discover as you fly through space. Also, will space itself be infinite?
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Timmo

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Re: Random Generation
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2013, 07:27:56 pm »

Fractal terrains/planets can, of course, be created arbitrarily (and existing engines do this)....I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to pre-calculate a low-ish resolution DEM (i.e. similar to the SRTM base DEM that is used in Outerra) and store it on another server.

But then again, since other engines already allow this I'm not sure there'd be much demand....I think most people like the idea of visiting 'real' places.
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John514

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Re: Random Generation
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2013, 03:48:27 am »

Its not like we are going to get rid of real places, but some fantasy is always appreciated!
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cameni

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Re: Random Generation
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2013, 05:29:37 am »

It could, but right now the planets would be extremely uninteresting because the fractal algorithms are currently tuned to augment existing terrain datasets, and they would not produce interesting terrain features globally.

People usually use some form of a ridged perlin noise that gives a better look of the terrain than the generic noise, but it's still incomparable to the natural terrain. We want to do a multi-layer approach to this, having separate generators tuned for continent shapes, river basins, mountain ridges, biome distribution etc.
But for now we are focusing on Earth.
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John514

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Re: Random Generation
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2013, 05:32:21 am »

Thanks for explaining!  Each of your answers give me more ideas, so more questions!
But please keep responding!
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You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling

Note: I do not claim to know everything.
I just like to help people around the forum.