Introductions, Terrain Generation and Plopping
Greets from the Caret Farm. First off, let me introduce myself: my name is Paul Kerchen, and I've been developing games professionally for the past ten years. A few weeks ago I took a game developer position at Stardock Link, so in this blog I'll be documenting my contributions to and observations about the next hit titles to be released by Stardock. While I'll try to keep it interesting and fun to read, I make no guarantees: there's a reason I became a programmer and not a writer. Also, let me just say this once now and you can apply it to everything you read here: pun intended.
Okay, introductions are done. Now on to the good stuff: Terrain Generation and Plopping. In Galactic Civilizations II, there are a number of cool new features going in, but the one that's nearest and dearest to me is the planet surface feature. In GalCivII, the player will be able to build improvements on the surface of planets they've colonized. Furthermore, each planet will have its own unique terrain and geography, so no two will look alike. Don't worry: it'll be realistic enough to be fun but not realistic enough to not be fun. Right now I'm experimenting with various terrain generation algorithms and so far midpoint displacement (aka plasma fractal) is looking the best, but it's just not quite what we're looking for. I'll keep digging, I guess. In parallel to that effort, I'm also developing the interface mechanics that will allow the player to place (plop) improvements on the planet. Nothing earth-shattering to report about that, but, hey, game development isn't all Ferraris and Boddingtons. Well, that'll have to do for now. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks and months!