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As far as I know, the maps are not made by the developers, but procedurally generated. From what I understood, that means that no 2 maps will have the same outcome (unless they include seeds in the map generation)
Don’t know about the map editor though.
That’s correct, the maps are procedurally generated. The seed is usually a random number, but can also be set by the player. In the initial version, there won’t be a map editor, but we hope we can provide such a tool afterwards.
Will we be able to pick some options in the map generator? I am asking for options like cities density, city sizes, hilliness of map, sea percentage etc.
Are there any plans to let us design our own maps? If so, I’d really like to discuss a two things.
- Heightmaps
- Splat maps
Height maps is a common way to transfer height data from real world locations into 3D engines and 3D software. I’ve recently discovered World Machine and had a go with it with both fictional and real world terrain. Let me be the first to tell you; this is an awesome tool!
World Machine cannot only be used to generate, design and alter existing height maps, but it can also export so called splat maps, which are automatically generated depending on slope angle, height and so on. A splat map can then be used to tell the game engine where to put certain textures such as rock, grass, mud, etc.
Using splat maps can give you a far better and more realistic representation of any terrain you’d otherwise hand paint. However, you should be able to paint just about whatever texture you want. But using splat maps would be an option for those who can make those.
Thoughts?
We want to allow the import of user-created maps. However, it’s not yet defined when this feature is available and how it exactly works.
Import of height maps is already implemented (for internal testing).
Given a height map, splat maps are currently generated automatically in a shader on the graphics card. This happens every time the camera changes, and only for the visible region, with higher resolution close to the camera and lower resolution far from the camera. This way, we don’t have to store the splat map, it’s a function of the height map.
It might be straightforward to implement the import of splat maps (and simply disable the shader generation of splat maps but read the imported splat map).
Thanks for the suggestion!
Love the fact that you’re willing to think about it. Quite a big step in the right direction there compared to other devs.
And thanks for the input on how you’re creating splats on the fly. Didn’t know that was possible. 🙂
Good information on splats. Thanks. Ability to spray/brush on varying-radius trees and shrubs would be really cool. I already love TF world’s lighting quality – feels better and more neutral than CitiesXL and CiM2.
Some of the most user-friendly terrain editing I’ve come across – SC4’s God Mode terraforming, and Lumion 3D’s landscape mode.
That’s correct, the maps are procedurally generated. The seed is usually a random number, but can also be set by the player. In the initial version, there won’t be a map editor, but we hope we can provide such a tool afterwards.
So when a friend and I each enter the same number, we both would be able to play the exactly same map? Or when entering the same number, I could play the same map with different character/skill types? I would be happy to get this answered.
That is not my point. When you use a player set number, will this always generate the same map? If this is the case, you could play the same map differently, i.e. by choosing a different character using a different skill set. Why is this important? Since we don’t get a multiplayer with the release, two or more people could play the exact same map and compare their development.
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