Hi everyone!
For the assault missions in my game, I really want to incorporate trenches. Trenches are one of the oldest types of fortifications.
The problem is that the Unreal Engine Landscape isn't very well-suited for this task:
It requires labor-intensive 'dressing' of the trench edges with 3D earth models to hide ugly, stretched materials.
Moving, modifying, or reusing trenches within a Landscape is extremely time-consuming.
After struggling with it for a while, I decided to switch from Landscapes to voxels. Voxels are 3D pixels that allow for vertical 'walls' of dirt or stone, requiring almost no additional masking with 3D models.
Beyond just trenches, I have successfully adapted voxels for road placement and heavy vehicle mud tracks. Currently, I’m working on adapting my Unreal PCG forest spawners for voxels.
Since voxels support real-time terrain deformation, it opens up the possibility for players to build trenches themselves. It’s thrilling to imagine how player-built trenches, minefields, and firing positions could help stop an enemy assault.
