Terra Project - Map Generator
By: Jason Erskine (December 23, 2024)
Whenever I find myself in need of inspiration for new game concepts, I prefer to turn back the clock to some of my old favorite PC games from the 80's and 90's. As for terrain generation, one game that has stood out to me is The Oregon Trail version 2.0.
The Oregon Trail was a planned route measuring just over 2,000 miles from Independence Missouri to the Territory of Oregon, now Oregon State. Travelers known as Great Plains Pioneers would load a wagon with clothes, food, firearms and ammunition, supplies, and family members to travel along the Oregon Trail to seek out a better life further west.
During game play, food is necessary to keep the player and family fed during the journey along the trail. Food is automatically consumed at a low yet constant rate. The player has two options for acquiring food which include purchase from local stores, and hunt along the trail.
When the player chooses to hunt for food, the game will generate a random map in which the player is placed at a random location on the screen. The hunting environment is decorated with obstacles such as trees, boulders, and bushes of which all hinder the players movement. At random times, animals such as rabbits, deer, and bison will enter the screen and follow a linear path until the animal either exits the terrain or hits an object and reverses direction to exit at the original entry point.
One noteworthy feature of The Oregon Trail, for the purpose of this article, is the random terrain generation. Now, given the fact that this game was released in 1990, as well as the graphics being primitive for today's standards, the terrain generation is something to be marveled simply based on the fact that the player was not made to play the same exact map over and over again. In addition, one factor to consider in terrain generation is the number of potential biomes for which to generate.
The Oregon Trail game appears to have a few biomes available based on the distance traveled and location in-game. Although the background is a fixed color of black, the various biomes are represented by oak trees, pine trees, small and large boulders, bushes, and ferns of varying colors. With consideration to simplicity of this game from 1990 and with consideration to the analysis of this game's features as a learning process, I embarked on my Terra Project with the goal of creating an up-to-date terrain generator for my own games.
The Oregon Trail Screenshots
While pondering how many biomes to generate for, I realized there is such a thing as too many biomes. Based on this, I decided to limit the number of available biomes to 7. These 7 biomes a listed below with accompanying screenshots:
Biome: Plains
Biome: Desert
Biome: Forest
Biome: Mountains
Biome: Tropical
Biome: Snow-Clad
Biome: Swamp
The images above represent the results of the completed terrain generation algorithm, Terra Project. Per the purpose of this article, I plan to write a series of tutorials which will cover the basic process of random terrain generation. A link to the series will be posted below when it becomes available.
Thank You for your time and interest.
Notes on Inspiration: Take inspiration from everywhere. Look for the big picture in even seemingly small ideas.
