SquashMonster wrote
I think I can make the whole worldmap generation thing a whole lot simpler, and way easier to add new locations to. Maybe I could even port it to a script file instead of people having to touch code to add dungeons.
I vote we put Squash on the payroll.
That stuff about the OWTERRAIN macro really clarifies things for me (a bit), thanks!
SquashMonster wrote
I have no clue what the two names are supposed to mean, they're both overworld terrain.
I think gwterrain is supposed to mean ground-world terrain, or everything on the world map that is the ground, in the same way that glterrain refers to ground-level terrain.
SquashMonster wrote
(which you unwittingly made with that OWTERRAIN macro)
Certainly it was unwitting, as I say, it was reverse engineered
It strikes me that the world map generation may be the most antiquated part of the code, since it has that hand-made feel to it.
SquashMonster wrote
New Attnam is not actually on a continent.
Maybe we need an island spawner, or that a certain proportion of the continents generated are islands (jeez, where's that Sid Meier at?). I don't know. If the island is placed last then it will be fine, there will be a way even if it is hacked. It would be good to have a general way of doing it though. Hmm. I think it would pay to put the island close by underwater tunnel. What about an inland island on a lake on the continent that PetrusLikes??
SquashMonster wrote
The game doesn't even look for a tiny island for it. Wherever the exit to the underwater tunnel goes, the game looks a certain radius outwards for some ocean and builds a tiny island on the spot, midway through the part where the other locations are looking for a place in the already-existing world.
This explains everything that I ever wanted to know about how New Attnan comes to be upon Valpuri, thank you
SquashMonster wrote
Anything that reduces special locations to objects instead of classes has another benefit. It's the prerequisite to being able to port that off to a script file. But learning how to make new script files is a big challenge in and of itself, I'd say this is something that should be done in two steps.
Learning to make (and make) dungeons is labour intensive no matter what. I have already been asked to document dungeon building in IVAN and I'm happy to do it, regardless of whether there is an overhaul of world generation or not. The way I see it is that basically there is no end to the power of cut-and-paste, and the IVAN community is endlessly creative, so if it is easier to make dungeons without coding then I imagine people will be attracted enough to that feature + good documentation to script their own dungeons.
SquashMonster wrote
So... go for it, or use your tutorial as the official way to add new things to the world?
I say go for it. It is such low-hanging fruit
. The existing manner in which continents are generated is too clunky and converting the classes to objects fulfills a step toward making novel world locations scriptable.