World Gen Variation ideas

Suggestions
1

This idea came late last night so it might meander, but im gonna talk about map variations of world gen. Now currently, we only have the ‘valley’ map type, which has a good mix of forest, stone, whatever, but what if you wanted a bigger challenge? ive been thinking of a few different map types that might be neat

  • Skylands: Simple enough idea, you have an island, or multiple islands, suspended in the sky, and the only way to get to the other islands is to build a bridge of some sort, or if possible, use a mod for an airship, with the expenditure in resources being turned into access to more and/or different resources

  • Archepelago: Similar to above, only theres water, allowing for fishing and whatever is planned for water by RadEnt, would allow for beach parties, palm trees, crab legs, etc

  • Plains: Relatively flatter map with groupings of trees and only a few stones, but lots of animals and berries, and more frequent caravans and traders due to ease of travel, as well as more raids

  • Cliff: Two tall plateaus with a yawning gap in the earth between them, and a small river at the bottom, can be arid or lush with nature, build a bridge across or build stairs to the bottom

again, just a few general ideas, but any feed back is appreciated :3

1 Like
2

Sounds great, something I think is a long way off but nice to think about.

3

interesting ideas indeed! if memory serves, this would be something in @Albert’s camp…

4

Interesting new discussion! It’s been a while :stuck_out_tongue:

I think this fits well alongside the discussion that was had ages and ages ago regarding alternate planes: Alternate Planes - How should they work?

I remember with alternate planes @tom had said that they didn’t just want “oh hey look it’s the fire plane, and the water plane” and all the really generic stuff that has been done, they wanted to branch out a bit.

It would definitely be interesting to have a mix of the standard expected biomes when it comes to world gen such as tundra, desert, swamp etc. etc. - I’m sure you could just borrow everything from the book of Minecraft. But it would be interesting to mix it up with some perhaps less than generic areas?

I have no idea what myself … perhaps some sort of “wasteland”? Dead trees and bushes litter the place, poisoned food that seriously damage your settlement if you don’t have the correct abilities to farm them. Who knows … there’s lots to play around with!

5

Perhaps there could be some sort of Magic Biome, that would have magical trees and elemental monsters? It would be a more dangerous place to traverse, but you would be more likely to find enchanted loot!

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6

Just going to quietly link this here :slight_smile: …

7

I like your ideas. Especially the Skylands!
What about an old volcano: big mountain (without lava), but with lots of berries and trees around the hill slopes and not that much free space to build.
I would also like to settle in an abandoned town with old ruins. You could either repair and use them or tear them down to get new, maybe special/uncommon building materials.
Oh and @Vince5754: Magic Biome :smile: !

8

well, i orginally made this thread to talk about the initial world gen, before any of those fancy alternate plane things, and maybe nudge a modder in the proper direction (cause C++ sounds like my old high school GPA), but i like the ideas of different biomes too :3

9

Well since were talking about biome ideas, here’s another one I came up with: The Magma Frost Biome

Or something along those lines. as the name may suggest, its a biome with land consisting of patches of Magma Rock and Perma Frost blocks, and lakes of Ice and Magma. Volcanoes and Ice Spires are also common. And the enemies would be Fire and Ice related elementals accordingly.

If this wasn’t something in the game, it would certainly make a cool biome to be modded in!

10

So basically Iceland?

2 Likes
11

or maybe greenland :stuck_out_tongue:

12

Got a bit more time now, and… really, I think this is the only proper “world gen” option here - with the emphasis on world generation. The others (archipelago, plains, cliffs) I would certainly like to see, but I think they’ll appear as biomes within a world (think Minecraft). It’s hard after all to have a skylands biome next door to an ocean biome (although the waterfall into the bottomless pit might look cool :wink: , and maybe an air elemental plane will be like skylands?), but crossing an ocean to find an archipelago off a big mainland would be cool.

13

couldnt biomes be considered ‘world gen’ as well? id just like to see what ideas the community has along the line of that anyway >.>

14

Well, Radiant’s already promised us a glacier biome, complete with igloos etc (KS stretch goal). Oh, and they’ve also promised seasons, which will be good. So… hmm. I think I’ll start with some thoughts I had on better Minecraft biome generation:

  1. Slap a 1-block bedrock floor down.
  2. Add a few bedrock “bumps” to this, so it doesn’t appear totally flat as you dig down.
  3. Generate biomes. Position sensibly - no tundras next to deserts etc.
  4. Generate basic landmasses, plus ores. Mountains, plains, oceans, etc. Some overlap with biome generation here - can’t very well pop a mountain range in an ocean biome after all.
  5. Add ravines. Biggest landscape scars first.
  6. Add strongholds. Shouldn’t intersect ravines.
  7. Add in mines. Shouldn’t intersect ravines or strongholds (well could, but Minecraft handles that poorly).
  8. Dungeons, caverns, liquid-filled caves: they’re up next.
  9. Drop terrain: check to see if any sand/gravel can fall. If so, drop it.
  10. Water: add it to relevant areas.
  11. Plant life: Add.
  12. Mobs: Add.

I think that doing the above will give you pretty good results as far as the look of the game goes (no? thoughts?). As for biomes though, I think we should really split it into two categories: biomes, and terrain features:

Biomes
Glacier: Ice, ice and more ice. ALL bodies of water freeze over in autumn, winter & spring.
Tundra: Covered in ice during winter, sometimes patches of permafrost all year round though.
Cool Temperate: Think UK & northern Europe - snow in winter, chilly autumn, wet, etc.
Warm Temperate: Think Italy or Spain. Snow in winter is rare. Ideal climate, especially for newbies.
Tropical: Hot most of the year round, never snows, very wet. Diseases a-plenty.
Savannah: Hot and dry, but full of life. Wildfires are a danger, as is water. Monsoons are fun.
Desert: Hot and dry and basically empty.
Ocean: Big, occasionally with islands dotted about. Storms are a real threat.

Terrain Features
Lonely mountain: All by itself, surrounded by much flatter land.
Ravine: Shortcut to the depths. Just, you know, climb carefully…
Riverlands: Big river splits into many smaller ones before reaching the sea, or perhaps many smaller ones join a big one. Very fertile.
Volcano: Doesn’t need to be the active kind. Yet…
Plains, mountain ranges: forests, rivers, lakes etc: Yeah, at this point I’m just listing really obvious stuff :smiley: .

Mind you… when I say “mountain ranges”, I really mean ranges, and not something I can scroll over in a few seconds. Honest-to-god mountain ranges, complete with hidden valleys, towering peaks and such would be far (far!) superior to regular game-style mountains you can cross in 30 seconds.

1 Like
16

Personally, I’m most excited for the dimensional planes in the far future–lots of opportunities for unusual gameplay variations. They sound perfect for @Vince5754’s Magic Biome and Magma Frost Biome.

One biome that would be interesting to me would be some sort of Petrified Forest. These rare, unusual (and large)trees could mix the game up by providing stone instead of wood (or a combination of the two?), plus occasional ruins or explorer camps. The trade-off could be having to survive the giant, ancient creatures roaming the remains of the massive woods. Think of it as an alternate challenge biome with greater resources and greater enemies. Maybe the only way to survive at first is to build upwards into the trees and stay above the surface enemies below.

(And yes, definitely, to restoring and settling old towns and ruins, @Spododo!)