Here is a series of videos I captured over the weekend.
The first one shows a bit of the architecture, also how a couple of useful underground passages can save you time while travelling:
The second is a trip I did to get close to a tower I saw. It seemed simple at the beginning, but the terrain had some severe accidents so I had to figure out my way. I found some caves that helped me get there, also saw I needed to do a quick bridge over a chasm. It runs at double the speed so you would not get bored by all the wandering. Also note that at the end of the video I carve some holes into the tower walls.
The next video also runs at double the speed. It shares the same beginning as the first video posted here, but goes a lot farther.
And the last video shows how the caves can sometimes go really deep underground. You often see cave openings into the surface, but also they could be right under your feet and you would not know. I cheated in this video by showing the wireframe, otherwise it would have taken an awful lot of time to find these caves.
Showing posts with label Caves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caves. Show all posts
Monday, December 3, 2012
Sunday, November 11, 2012
A System of Caves
A true exploration and adventure game-world needs a decent system of caves.
Caves are exiting. You do not know what lies next. It could be that motherload you have been tracking for hours, it could be a band of nasty creatures.
Caves are also beautiful and interesting. I like it when caves surface and create openings in the face of mountains, or when a large portion of ground has collapsed and you can see part of the cave's profile like a giant ant farm.
Over the past few weeks I did many attempts on creating a good cave system. It is a lot more difficult than it seems, especially if you want to generate them in real time.
I tried different solutions until I hit what I thought it was the winning formula. The key wast think of the cave system more like a dungeon in a castle, pretty much like roguelikes do in ASCII. You end up with a system of narrow tunnels that connect in meaningful ways and often lead to large interior spaces. It is then possible to give an interesting rhythm to the system. You can count on the system to reward the explorer with awesome crypts after enough tunnels have been explored.
Another challenge was to create the connections between the caves and the surface. I wanted caves to be fun and beautiful, and actually help you get around the world. For instance they often serve as shortcuts below mountains.
I also had to pay close attention on how the caves played with the rest of the terrain. If you had all the time in the world this would be hardly a problem. To generate this on-the-fly and make sure there are no odd floating bits, it is kind of tricky.
I leave you with a series of screenshots showing some caves I have encountered in my travels. At the end you will find a wireframe video that shows the profile of a cave system. I hope you like them.
Here is the video:
Caves are exiting. You do not know what lies next. It could be that motherload you have been tracking for hours, it could be a band of nasty creatures.
Caves are also beautiful and interesting. I like it when caves surface and create openings in the face of mountains, or when a large portion of ground has collapsed and you can see part of the cave's profile like a giant ant farm.
Over the past few weeks I did many attempts on creating a good cave system. It is a lot more difficult than it seems, especially if you want to generate them in real time.
I tried different solutions until I hit what I thought it was the winning formula. The key wast think of the cave system more like a dungeon in a castle, pretty much like roguelikes do in ASCII. You end up with a system of narrow tunnels that connect in meaningful ways and often lead to large interior spaces. It is then possible to give an interesting rhythm to the system. You can count on the system to reward the explorer with awesome crypts after enough tunnels have been explored.
Another challenge was to create the connections between the caves and the surface. I wanted caves to be fun and beautiful, and actually help you get around the world. For instance they often serve as shortcuts below mountains.
I also had to pay close attention on how the caves played with the rest of the terrain. If you had all the time in the world this would be hardly a problem. To generate this on-the-fly and make sure there are no odd floating bits, it is kind of tricky.
I leave you with a series of screenshots showing some caves I have encountered in my travels. At the end you will find a wireframe video that shows the profile of a cave system. I hope you like them.
Here is the video:
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