The main issue with conventional fractal heightmaps is that they are isotropic and self-similar, i.e. they look similar at any scale and in any direction, which makes them rather dull. There are ways to remedy to this but they are rather non-standard and not obvious to implement, and also reduce performance.
Hopefully more realistic terraforming algorithms perhaps based on plate tectonics will become standard soon, but as Colinhect says it is not immediately obvious how to put this to use in the context of a "infinite world" kind of game. That said it should still be useful when it comes to pregenerating very high quality maps for, say, an MMO or a flight simulator.
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#1Bacterius
Posted 09 April 2012 - 10:58 PM
The main issue with conventional fractal heightmaps is that they are isotropic and self-similar, i.e. they look the same at any scale and in any direction, which makes them rather dull. There are ways to remedy to this but they are rather non-standard and not obvious to implement, and also reduce performance.
Hopefully more realistic terraforming algorithms perhaps based on plate tectonics will become standard soon, but as Colinhect says it is not immediately obvious how to put this to use in the context of a "infinite world" kind of game. That said it should still be useful when it comes to pregenerating very high quality maps for, say, an MMO or a flight simulator.
Hopefully more realistic terraforming algorithms perhaps based on plate tectonics will become standard soon, but as Colinhect says it is not immediately obvious how to put this to use in the context of a "infinite world" kind of game. That said it should still be useful when it comes to pregenerating very high quality maps for, say, an MMO or a flight simulator.