By Meghann Bledsoe
We’ve talked previously in a dev blog about procedural generation and how Playable Worlds leverages it to make infinite worlds possible. The procedural generation of new landforms is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to giving players new things to see and explore however. Let’s take a higher level look at how we approach making the lofty dream of infinite worlds a reality.
ARE THERE INFINITE WORLDS SITTING OUT THERE JUST WAITING TO BE DISCOVERED?
Not exactly! The amount of active worlds are in flux! Worlds can be spun up or down incredibly quickly depending on the needs of the game’s population. When a new world is needed, our system makes a choice in multiple categories to create a world that has never been seen before.
THE STARTING BLOCK
Topography is the bedrock of each new world we spin up. The system looks at a bunch of different types of topographies that we’ve created with procedural generation and then picks one. It then randomizes the seed that the procedural generation algorithms that make the landforms are using. This means that whatever landforms were chosen, for example, a river running through a valley, will have the same vibes but a different look. The number of rivers, their location, their size could change, but it’ll always be rivers in valleys in this case.
NOT ALL VALLEYS ARE THE SAME
So far the system has picked out a type of topography, but how do we push this even further to make each world unique? The temperature of the planet this topography exists on is the next step. Using our previous example to illustrate the power of this, think about a river valley. The look and feel of one in Nevada is very different to one in Alaska. The system assigns a random temperature within the allowed range and moves to the next step.
This choice affects so many things. The temperature dictates what kinds of plants will/can grow, the types of animals that love living here, and even what the grass itself will look like.
THAT’S NO MOON, IT’S THREE
Another choice that our system makes to differentiate the worlds that players can explore from each other is what the skybox is like. Will this planet have 1 moon or 3? Will there be rings around the planet you can see from the ground? What colors of light are created by the suns and other factors on this planet?
How much of a difference does this make you ask? We’ve got the perfect example! Check out the 2 photos below. They’re both screenshots from Gaimar, but the entire feel of the world has changed.
ADVENTURE IS NOW OUT THERE
All of these choices, swirl around, blend, and combine to create something unrecognizable yet uniquely exciting. When I go to the next planet, what will be waiting for me? Will it be huge overgrown forests that challenge me to navigate them, will it be a desert that I work to spread life across by rerouting a river through it, or will it be a mountain so treacherous that I have to plan and prepare to survive. They’ll all be waiting out there for someone to find.