new map generator

paradoxharbinger · #1 August 7th, 2006, 12:17 PM

i've given the multi-platform thing a little thought, but i don't think there is much i can do for it since i'm not at all familiar with the other two api's. maybe after i get the windows version out some one else could make an interface for mac/linux.

as far as the size of the program file goes, right now it's clocking in at 144kb and shouldn't need more than 100kb for data files. the size of the program probly won't grow to more than 200kb.

paradoxharbinger · #2 August 7th, 2006, 12:23 PM

oh, found this in the old version of the mapgen. i've been working on this thing for a while and i've started it over a few times, here's one of the maps that an old version generated. this is the quality (graphically at least) that i'm aiming at for the initial release. eventually i want graphics to be able to be chosen by the user. i will also not that the algorithms used to generate this particular map bear little resemblance with the algorithms i am using now.

Agrajag · #3 August 7th, 2006, 05:24 PM

That actually looks pretty cool. And it would be even cooler if we got to customize colors as well as tree/mountain sprites.

Oh, and what geography does the pinkish color indicate?

paradoxharbinger · #4 August 7th, 2006, 10:46 PM

think the pinkish stuff was wasteland

paradoxharbinger · #5 August 11th, 2006, 12:50 PM

Here is a new map from the generator, with plains (yellow),
forests (green), farmlands (light green), swamps (dark green), mountains (brown), and water (blue). There should be some wastelands in there, but the algorithm is not quite complete.

As of now, I am concentrating my efforts on normal maps, ie the ones that don't wrap around. Once I tweak this to get the wastelands in there I am going to be moving onto to the province boundaries and then to graphics. For the most part, generating the boundaries for the provinces is a generalization of the algorithms used to make the different terrains, so once I get to it, it shouldn't take long to implement.

Agrajag · #6 August 12th, 2006, 12:15 PM

Awww, now that's not as cool as the previous one.
But I guess its because all those extra layers of eyecandy (textures and mountains and the likes)
If I could recommend one thing though, it would be to make the borders smoother, currently they look stitched together rather than blending into eachother. Another welcome addition would be removing any section of land that is really small, there are several spots of brown and blue in the yellow, and they seem a bit too tiny to make sense (Maybe if the brown was a little bigger it could represent a small mountain).

paradoxharbinger · #7 August 15th, 2006, 12:38 AM

the things that you brought up really aren't issues at all, yet anyway. all of the same anomollies appear in the more finished looking map, but because of the way that sprites are placed and some image smoothing they are not noticeable. i am not sure what effect they might have on creating the province boundaries though, so it is a bridge that will have to be crossed when i come to it.