Island/Continent Based Map?

[loftar]

Rules like mountains must be a certain size

Well, part of that kind of a map generator is that it doesn't know the concept of "a mountain"; they are emergent phenomena which its basic rules cannot define. That's why they are so hard to control.

[Fluffy]

Is it possible to limit it by color though? It may not know the term mountain but I'm assuming it sure knows it by it's coloring.. I don't know much about Fractal Generation so I may be wrong.

[Cain]

Rules like mountains must be a certain size

Well, part of that kind of a map generator is that it doesn't know the concept of "a mountain"; they are emergent phenomena which its basic rules cannot define. That's why they are so hard to control.

Let me preface this by saying I know nothing at all about programming.
Based on my understanding of how fractals work as mathematical equations it seems like it would be possible to limit "unusually small mountains" Basically run the equations to generate the map, than run another program which would treat each mountain square as a node. say add an equation to every tile like MB=20/n^2. where MB=mountain bonus and n=tile from the nearest "naturally" occurring mountains tile. In this case you would make all mountains about 13 tiles larger. as 10 tiles gives a .2 terrain bonus and 15 gives .08

Maybe not applicable, but it seems like it must be possible.

Or hell, I'm sure people would be willing to volunteer to go through every mountain and give it a manual "quality check"

[Peter]

I'll go along with whatever you choose. But I think I've got some new maps that'll address some of your issues.

In particular:
-The way that I built the generator is prone to that, yes. But it is not an inherent fault.
-Since when are small ponds unnatural? They only form in places that are already close to water level, where you might expect to find pools. Anyway, while there is a minima problem, and small "mountains" appear, these aren't so different from small clearings and other small natural formations. You can't expect procedural generation to create maps that look exactly like the current ones, so you have to interpret them somewhat differently. For instance, current mountains appear to be perfectly conical and emerging from table- like landscape; procedural mountains are only those areas above the tree line, and are part of the terrain. You might think of a small mountain as just a bare rock clearing at the top of a hill, rather than a whole mountain that is inexplicably tiny.
-I think you'll find that that is not the case with my new continents. Unless you are going to have not only hundreds, but thousands of multigrids, it won't look like mud.
-Well... maybe I'm thinking of the terrain around my location, but hills, mountains, even river-washed plains all have a irregular noise pattern, much like perlin noise, which is the basis of my maps. Other height map generators are better about that.
-It's very highly tweakable. I've chosen these settings because they show off the coastlines, but any settings from isolated lakes to Waterworld can be done with a few keypresses.


Here, like before, the diamonds mark corners of multigrids:

One Multigrid:


3x3, nine total multigrids:


35x35 1225 total multugrids:


I just can't imagine needing larger-scale details, but adding these is possible.

Well, Whatever you choose, I'll live with it. And thanks for taking the time to experiment with the system.

[kaka]

Since when are small ponds unnatural? They only form in places that are already close to water level, where you might expect to find pools.

Not once in my life have I seen a pond right next to a larger body of water,
which is where most ponds on this map are located. That is what we find unnatural.

Another thing is the endless sandbeaches; I don't really mind the 1 tile wide ones,
but there's nothing but sandbeaches next to water. It's been bothering me since
your very first post on this. :P

[HamburgerBL]

Since when are small ponds unnatural? They only form in places that are already close to water level, where you might expect to find pools.

Not once in my life have I seen a pond right next to a larger body of water,
which is where most ponds on this map are located. That is what we find unnatural.

[sikgamer]

One gripe I have with your maps is that bodies of water look more like lakes / bays than seas. Also there are areas where there is absolutely no water at all. Do you plan to add rivers going from mountains or other high locations?
Other than that, the maps are good (although they start to look flawed with large multipliers)

[Jest]

Since when are small ponds unnatural? They only form in places that are already close to water level, where you might expect to find pools.

Not once in my life have I seen a pond right next to a larger body of water,
which is where most ponds on this map are located. That is what we find unnatural.

This.

[Jackard]

One gripe I have with your maps is that bodies of water look more like lakes / bays than seas. Also there are areas where there is absolutely no water at all. Do you plan to add rivers going from mountains or other high locations?

So he has said...

[Agarrett]

I'll go along with whatever you choose. But I think I've got some new maps that'll address some of your issues.

In particular:
-The way that I built the generator is prone to that, yes. But it is not an inherent fault.
-Since when are small ponds unnatural? They only form in places that are already close to water level, where you might expect to find pools. Anyway, while there is a minima problem, and small "mountains" appear, these aren't so different from small clearings and other small natural formations. You can't expect procedural generation to create maps that look exactly like the current ones, so you have to interpret them somewhat differently. For instance, current mountains appear to be perfectly conical and emerging from table- like landscape; procedural mountains are only those areas above the tree line, and are part of the terrain. You might think of a small mountain as just a bare rock clearing at the top of a hill, rather than a whole mountain that is inexplicably tiny.
-I think you'll find that that is not the case with my new continents. Unless you are going to have not only hundreds, but thousands of multigrids, it won't look like mud.
-Well... maybe I'm thinking of the terrain around my location, but hills, mountains, even river-washed plains all have a irregular noise pattern, much like perlin noise, which is the basis of my maps. Other height map generators are better about that.
-It's very highly tweakable. I've chosen these settings because they show off the coastlines, but any settings from isolated lakes to Waterworld can be done with a few keypresses.


Here, like before, the diamonds mark corners of multigrids:

One Multigrid:


3x3, nine total multigrids:


35x35 1225 total multugrids:


I just can't imagine needing larger-scale details, but adding these is possible.

Well, Whatever you choose, I'll live with it. And thanks for taking the time to experiment with the system.

You have gone back to the blobby shapes?