3 replies to this topic

[autogyro]

Have we received confirmation yet whether maps will be generic or planet specific? Given that we will be fighting for many worlds, unless there are lots of individual maps representing each planet, we will be doubling up on map representations.

In light of this I am assuming there will be something like 8 maps to represent different urban, rural, forest, snow, tundra etc maps. I hopethere will be some variation and randomness in layout and environment. Soldier of fortune 2 was able to do this with their maps, instancing objects at random like bunkers, bases etc so maps always varied. I hope we will be able to achieve a similar result. It would be nice to have a few generic map templates and vary them based on time of day, weather, fog, layouts of buildings, etc to give some variation in the world.

This also has the added effect of making the gameplay more dynamic as it is less likely for a player to remember the ins and outs of a map, especially if it is not their home planet. It brings in more role warfare and adjusting on the fly.

What do you guys think?

Edited by autogyro, 16 February 2012 - 12:31 AM.

[IxxxI]

Here is my thoughts on the subj. Shortly: diversity gives life, monotony leads to death.

Edited by IxxxI, 16 February 2012 - 01:04 AM.

[autogyro]

Hi Ixxxl, I like your suggestion. However, although possibly more realistically achievable in a game, considering we have something of the order of several hundred to several thousand worlds possibly at stake, it still leads to repetition in maps which represent different planets.

This is why I suggest partly procedural generation of generic maps with set environment modifiers.

For example, there are two jungle worlds represented within the meta game. These are, for most intents and purposes, different planets.

The first orbits a G star, and has light fog. There's a normal yellow skybox.

The second orbits a B star, has heavy storms, fog and has a blue skybox.

The generic map itself is relatively identical. There's an algorithm to generate contours for the map, using a procedurally generated alpha map on a rather flat terrain. Tree and shrub density can also be procedurally generated for each world.

When you play it, they look vastly different - different elevations at different locations, different weather conditions, gravity, trees, etc.

Because it's procedurally generated the algorithm is fixed as is the inputs - everytime you return to the map of this world it'll look the same, but go to another jungle world and it'll look different, go to another and it'll look different again. The only art assets you need are various trees, shrubs, rocks, grass textures, etc. Rather than hand place trees in each map, you could generate 10 jungle maps on the fly that look and play differently, and save data space and modelling work. But these aren't random maps, you won't suddenly find yourself in an inhospitable moon-like surface when revisiting the same planet.

However, I have no idea how CryEngine 3 maps work. From what I recall of some youtube videos it's quite standard fare with maps and placing of objects, so I'm not sure whether integrating procedurally generated maps becomes a worthwhile endeavour. I would like to see variation between the maps though in some form or another, unless we all somehow end up fighting for control over 8 planets or something.

[Phelan Adam Davion]

In the end we will all be fighting on Solaris VII every day... the rest is just "history" in the ComStar News Blog