RWG: Terrain Stamp Templates

[Damocles]

In Empyrion they use an interesting system to generate details into the hightmaps for topograhy: greymap "stamps".

 

They get scaled and rotated randomly, and then define the hightmap (added to the procedural layer).

 

This allows very detailed terrain structures such as craters, cliffs, mountains, lakes, river-deltas.

 

The advantage here is, that the designers have more control over the outcome than just relying on the procedural noise functions.

For example, if a crater looks too boring, its quick to add some streaks, and bumps to the greymap of the crater-stamp.

 

Its also an easy method for modders to add new stamps, to create new features in a (client local) generated world.

For example, a mountain with a road that ramps up at the side to the top. Or a rough area with a canyon.

There is more control than just hoping the noisemaps make something similar interesting.

 

Here a random example of a higthmap-stamp.