Atlas improvement

[Llanos]

I don't know if it's realisable, but I have two ideas to improve atlas to make smoother and more realistic maps.


(1) Layer system

• At first the bedrock(s) and soils should be defined. Multiple bedrocks could be possible if it's composed of different sediments. Like the soils, their appearence can be restricted to specific heights.
• Add the biome with basic textures: grass, shrub, plants, sand, forestfloor, cliffs and roads. (first layer)
• Implement the second layer. This could be to remove 25%, 50% and 75% of the first layer, so that the soil (dirt, clay) or the rock appear or to add 25%, 50% or 75% of snow or gravel/stones to the first layer. This way the transition between the main textures would be smoother. For example adding gravel and stones below a cliff, slope texturing with a percentage of rock/cliff or giving the map a touch of snow without changing the whole map.

(2) Biome ageing

• Instead of having many different textures it would be easier to melt them down to basic textures. For example the temperate biome: dense grass, thin grass, grass herbal, grass clovers, grass mossy, grass plants, plants.
• Implement an ageing status (like "sky set"), for the temperate biome this could be: spring, early summer, late summer, autumn, winter no snow, winter medium snow, winter much snow. In spring the grass would be fresh and green, some parts might be flooded or wet. In spring and early summer some flowers might be added to the textures. In early summer the grass is taller and darker. In late summer the grass dries and in autumn it browns and deciduous trees change colour. In autumn and winter the layersystem of point 1 could be usefull to reveal mud/dirt and add snow. The ageing could also occure depending the isohypses.
• Other biomes could work similarly. Like dry season, early wet season (short grass) and late wet season (tall grass) for the subtropics (India, Sahel, south China, Mesoamerica) and steppe (+winter). Or spring, early s., late s., autumn and winter (rainy) for the mediterranean.

I think these ideas could improve the random map creation and make life easier for manual map designing. What do you think?

[FeXoR]

In general I like the idea.

However, there are some things to consider:

- Will maps be easier to create with this (Atlas)?

- Will everything be possible with this system that is possible now (and if not it is worth to maintain two systems)?

General side note:

Atlas interacts with the engine, Random map generation is not. So those parts are entirely different (That's a flaw IMO in the first place but has to be considered). So adding this to Atlas and RMGen (Random map generation) needs different libraries (or better get fused).

Whatever is chosen this will be a big pile of work.