Outerra forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Outerra Tech Demo download. Help with graphics driver issues

Author Topic: Continuity  (Read 9752 times)

DurMan667

  • Jr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 15
Continuity
« on: March 31, 2012, 08:24:08 pm »
My question is, since many details like the placement of trees are procedurally generated, will these objects stay in the same place each time an area is loaded?

Imagine if inside the game there is a small town.  Just past the last huddle of buildings were three trees on one side of the road.  I would find it jarring if, upon leaving the town and returning at some point in the future, the trees had moved, disappeared, or increased in number.

Has this sense of continuity been taken into account?
Logged

Jagerbomber

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1563
Re: Continuity
« Reply #1 on: March 31, 2012, 09:44:37 pm »
procedurally generated != random
Logged
"Perhaps this speaks to some larger trend within society today...  A prevailing desire on the part of indie developers to recreate the entire world into one where you can charge more than $15 for your game design degree coursework." - Yahtzee ;) :P

DurMan667

  • Jr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 15
Re: Continuity
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2012, 11:04:24 pm »
They could conceivably enact a system by which procedurally generated content is saved after the initial generation to be reused.  This would relieve the world builder of the burden of placing everything by hand without losing continuity.
Logged

Jagerbomber

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1563
Re: Continuity
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2012, 12:12:18 am »
Well I can tell you now that the trees in the area I'm working in haven't moved.  (More specially the single tree by my main spawn hasn't moved anywhere.)
Logged
"Perhaps this speaks to some larger trend within society today...  A prevailing desire on the part of indie developers to recreate the entire world into one where you can charge more than $15 for your game design degree coursework." - Yahtzee ;) :P

cameni

  • Brano Kemen
  • Outerra Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6721
  • No sense of urgency.
    • outerra.com
Re: Continuity
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2012, 03:18:32 am »
As Jagerbomber says, procedural doesn't mean random. More specifically, the pseudo-random number generator used doesn't depend in any way on any real random value (such as the current time or anything derived from it). Technically, it's not a RNG being used, but a random-number permutator, that computes pseudo-random value from existing stable values of the world.

So for example, tree placement is computed via random permutation from the coordinates of tree cell, plus some seed from parent terrain tile.
Logged

DurMan667

  • Jr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 15
Re: Continuity
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2012, 02:05:42 pm »
Well I'm pleased to hear that.  I guess the follow-up question would be if there will eventually be procedurally generated cities, and if they would follow a similar set of rules.
Logged

cameni

  • Brano Kemen
  • Outerra Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6721
  • No sense of urgency.
    • outerra.com
Re: Continuity
« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2012, 02:32:10 pm »
Yes, it's the plan. No April :)
Logged

DurMan667

  • Jr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 15
Re: Continuity
« Reply #7 on: April 02, 2012, 07:39:01 pm »
Awesome!  I'm looking forward to seeing that, especially once hit detection and human characters are implemented.
Logged