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[Outcast Orange]

I'm really hating this 3D gravity thing right about now, so I'm highly considering just going ahead and letting you zoom in, and having
a nice flat local map tile with ground and downwardness!
I mean, the world only takes about 30 seconds to generate, and I can use the overall height values, and pressure,
and temperature to help with the tile drawing.

I just want to get to a more tolerable mode of physics.
Once the local maps are running, you will be able to zoom down into any tile of that, to actually start manipulating the game
world in whatever way I see fit.
Basically, the only problem is that WORLD tiles will probably never meet up at the seams,
making each world generated really just a load menu for you to pick the tile where you want your sub-worlds to be stored.
But I intend for you to be able to pick an underground/inner tile for your world if you want,
and start off in a tiny underground air pocket.

Any objections?
I just don't see how directional gravity will add anything to a game world, if all it does is makes the layers really hard to think about.
So I'm actually considering going back to the one way gravity, and adding a made up pressure/stability system to that.
Basically, because it's more interesting then a regular round world.

[bjlong]

I apologize--I was talking about squaring the delta, so you don't have to have all that stuff in front trying to keep signs straight. (You could also define an absolute value function to the same effect.) It wouldn't be a big improvement, but it would make the code more readable, so easier to see where things are going wrong, possibly eliminate some problems.

Directional gravity would help lots for geography, especially if you're planning on having plate tectonics.

[Outcast Orange]

Okay, better yet, if directional gravity isn't going to have a greater purpose,
we can revert back to the flying mountains and such.

Never mind, I've just thought of a much better idea.
Prepare for a fantasy universe with physics like you've never seen before!

EDIT:
Sorry, plate tectonics are probably out if I take this in a more super insane direction.
Will we miss them?
I will.
But it is for the greater good.
Just wait and see what I've got up in my brains.
I should have a working demonstration by tonight.

[Outcast Orange]

Okay.
Time for something really strange.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Basically, a ton of "golden cores" are added all over the universe, fairly spread out.
Then, plates of a special land type which I'm currently thinking about as "plate" is added in the shape of a half-planet
below the golden core.
Basically, any plate material connected to a golden core will be able to stay suspended against the downward push of gravity.
Then, regular land can be added around and above the core.

I'm going to be thinking about features like land bridges that connect close plates, and other special features.

But for now I'm going to add a huge blanket of random land tiles at the ceiling of the universe, and have it all fall down.
The stuff that lands on the plates will obviously stay,
while stuff that falls all the way down will either:
-Stay at the bottom (form a new sort of landmass)
-Recycle (be re-added to the top at a random position)
-Delete (stop existing)

It would be cool to be a faction on your plane, that controls the golden core.
You could try to destroy it to cause the whole continent to fall!
Or you could protect it.
Either way, it just spells awesome.

Also, the whole thing only takes about a second to start up now,
and you can still play around with orange.

Any suggestions?

[timmeh]

Any suggestions?

Yes, a playable release, this sounds fun! 

Out of curiosity, do you have any ideas for actual game play in a "completed" version of your game?

[Outcast Orange]

Try the latest version. It's playable.
It should be compatible on all computers.
Check the first post.

Final version:
Not really sure.
I'd like to see some civilizations running around,
and a working ecosystem...

I'm not really sure what the game play will be.
It can be anything.
Right now, each tile is supposed to represent a 300x300 local map.
So "Orange" is really just a tool for checking out the universe.
Really, this whole thing is just a fun pet project to make my own little universe.

New ideas:
The bottom layer can end up being a hellish plane.
Plate that doesn't have a plate connection to a golden core will become regular land.
I'd like to add some template for a "giant citadel", large enough to take up 3x3x10 map tiles.

[Outcast Orange]

Check it out:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That big cloud of regular land tiles at the top will soon be affected by new and improved downward gravity.

[Outcast Orange]

I'm going to get back to work on my game today.
Each layer of random earth that falls, takes about 1.5 seconds.
Once I get it acting the way I want it to, we should get some interesting results.

[Outcast Orange]

Here we go:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That should get you all going.
Currently, it takes around 30 seconds to generate the universe.
As you can see from the picture, large enough plates will have their own magma.
A tile type called "coreguard" has been added which surrounds all cores,
except for the cores of small (rare) plates.

Request it now and I'll upload.
I'm pretty sure you can still run around orange, his physics are unchanging.
Basically, if the tiles are empty, he can run around in them.

Just thought I'd keep you guys updated.

[Outcast Orange]

Something Fresh:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Do you all see that strange tower thing on that mountain top?
That, my friends, is called a "waterplate".
Waterplates will be the source of water in this universe.
Water will sort of rain/fountain out off waterplates, and then flow and cascade down the plates.

Basically, "waterseeds" rain down when the universe first forms.
Then, if possible, they grow upwards and expand outwards into round plates.

If you are very observant, you will notice that a water seed is trapped under a mountain nearby.
Imagine if you could mine away the whole mountain, and release the waterseed.
Imagine that thing sprouting out and growing, in real time.
I can't wait to try my hand at that.

Also, I've sort of decided that each tile will represent 30x30x30 tiles in local view.
That would make each of those waterplates about 1.5 screens across.

Anybody want to pitch their ideas now?
I'm open to trying anything out.

[timmeh]

Not so much an idea as a couple questions...
1.  How are you planning on dealing with water pressure?
2.  How much do you plan to allow water to rise?  If the example picture, if water was allowed to rise indefinitely, large portions of the map would likely end up flooded...

[Outcast Orange]

The "waterplates" are supposed to be solid structures made of a super-tough material that takes on the appearance of marble columns.
I'm planning on adding a water pressure system, as close as I can get it to reality.
If you are worried about flooding the map, you will be happy to know that when things get zoomed in,
there will be water features on most tiles, and the reason flooding will be unlikely,
is that the planes drop off at the edges, so it should all run off.

[Alexhans]

How did I miss this...?  Posting to check it out later.

[Outcast Orange]

Cool, I look forward to your input.
I'm always wondering why this thread is so vacant.
I try so hard to make these updates interesting.

I actually have a super-new version linked on my blog (in my signature).
It's buggy, and doesn't run about 1/3 of the time, but when it does,
the results are pretty cool.
I'm having a problem with the way my waterplates grow upward,
so I'm not super proud of the current version.
Once I get them growing correctly, and the bugs fixed, it will be pretty neat though.

Any fantasy geo-features you would like to see added?

[qwertyuiopas]

How about rare but valuable magmaplates? A source of heat and rock!